Link Centre Dictionary

shovel

sho·vel

UK/ˈʃʊv.əl/ US/ˈʃʌv.əl/ fairly common us
noun (4) verb (1)

noun

1.

a hand tool for lifting loose material; consists of a curved container or scoop and a handle

2.
3.

a fire iron consisting of a small shovel used to scoop coals or ashes in a fireplace

4.

a machine for excavating

Synonyms

verb

1.

dig with or as if with a shovel

  • “shovel sand”
  • “he shovelled in the backyard all afternoon long”

Origin

From Middle English schovele, schovel, showell, shole (> English dialectal shoul, shool), from Old English scofl (“shovel”), from Proto-Germanic *skuflō, *skūflō (“shovel”), equivalent to shove + -el (instrumental/agent suffix). Cognate with Scots shuffle, shule, shuil (“shovel”), Saterland Frisian Sköifel (“shovel”), West Frisian skoffel, schoffel (“hoe, spade, shovel”), Dutch schoffel (“spade, hoe”), Low German Schüfel, Schuffel (“shovel”), German Schaufel (“shovel”), Danish skovl (“shovel”), Faroese skupla (“shovel”), Icelandic skófla (“shovel”), Norwegian skyfle (“shovel”), skyffel (“shovel, hoe”), Swedish skyffel, skovel (“shovel”). Compare typologically Russian пешня (pešnja) (akin to пиха́ть (pixátʹ)), сово́к (sovók) (akin to сова́ть (sovátʹ)).

Phrases

  • banker's shovel
  • call a shovel a shovel
  • call a spade a shovel
  • call a spade a spade and a shovel a shovel
  • coal shovel
  • fire shovel hat
  • mechanical shovel
  • picks and shovels
  • shovel out
  • shovel up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.