shovel
/ˈʃʌv.əl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.50 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A hand tool with a handle, used for moving portions of material such as earth, snow, and grain from one place to another, with some forms also used for digging. In strict usage differentiated from a spade, which is designed solely for small-scale digging and incidental tasks such as chopping of small roots.
noun
A mechanical part of an excavator with a similar function.
noun
Ellipsis of shovel hat.
Example Sentences
- "It was said that such train crews kept a spare shovel on board because, on numerous occasions, the beginner had not only zealously thrown coal into the firebox but had let the shovel go as well."
- "No one seems to like the offer, and the umpire is just coming down, when a queer old hat, something like a doctor of divinity's shovel, is chucked on to the stage […]"
- "The workers were shovelling gravel and tarmac into the pothole in the road."
- "After the blizzard, we shoveled the driveway for the next two days."
- "I don't mind shoveling, but using a pickaxe hurts my back terribly."
- "Off again, a fierce light now trailing out behind us from the open furnace door, lighting up the fireman as he shovelled more coal on to the furnace, [...]."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *skublō Proto-Germanic *skuflō Old English sċofl Middle English schovele English shovel 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)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈʃʌv.əl/
- British English: /ˈʃʌv.əl/
Usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb