Spade
A spade is a tool designed primarily for the purpose of digging or removing earth.
Etymology
The word in Old English is spaedu, cognate forms being Dutch, Swedish and Danish spade, German Spaten; also related is spoon. It is derived from the Greek spathe, a broad blade of wood or metal, and so used of the blade of an oar or sword,which was latinized as spatha, and used of a broad paddle for stirring liquid, of a piece of wood used by weavers for driving home the woof, and particularly of a broad two-edged sword military without a point, as in the title spatharius.
The Spanish playing cards had swords for the suit which we know as spades, and the suit was called espada, hence spade in English; in Dutch schoppen, which also means 'spades', not swords.
Designs of spades
Spades are made in many shapes and sizes, for a variety of different functions and jobs. There are many different designs used in spade manufacturing. The most common spade is a garden spade, which typically has a long handle, is wide, and is treaded (has rests for the feet to drive the spade into the ground). An Irish spade is similar to a common garden spade, with the same general design, although it has a much thinner head. A turfing iron has a short, round head, and it used for cutting and parring off turf. A digging fork, or grape, is forked, much like a pitchfork and is useful for loosening ground, and gardening.
Digging tool
In gardening, a spade is a hand tool used to dig or loosen ground, or to break up clumps in the soil. Together with the fork it forms one of the chief implements wielded by the hand in agriculture and horticulture. It is sometimes considered a type of shovel. Its typical shape is a broad flat blade with a sharp lower edge, straight or curved. The upper edge on either side of the handle affords space for the used's foot, which drives it into the ground. The wooden handle ends in a cross-piece, sometimes T-shaped and sometimes forming a kind of loop for the hand.
Small and/or plastic toy versions of the same tool are used to dig sand castles on a beach or in a sand-box.
Other use
In the oil and chemical process industries, a spade is a round piece of metal with a small tab that is placed in between two pipe flanges to give positive isolation from the central atom; usually to prevent cross contamination between fluids or to allow work on the line. The name comes from the shape: a little like a garden spade. The small tab lets one see that the spade is in place.
Sources and references
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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