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dig

verb
/dɪɡ//dɪd͡ʒ/

Etymology

From Middle English diggen (“to dig”, 13th c.), an alteration of dīken, from Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, mound up earth”), from Proto-West Germanic *dīkōn, which see for cognates. This verb is denominal from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz (“pool, puddle; dyke, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to stab, dig”). The form with g may have been influenced by Old French *diguer, a variant of dikier, itself from the West Germanic verb above. French forms with g are attested only in the 15th c., thus 200 years later than in English. On the other hand, French has according forms also for the underlying noun (cf. digue) and the phonetic development is more plausible in French than in English.

  1. derived from *dʰeygʷ-✻
  2. derived from *dīkaz✻ — “pool, puddle; dyke, ditch”
  3. derived from *dīkōn✻
  4. derived from dīcian — “to dig a ditch, mound up earth”
  5. inherited from diggen

Definitions

  1. To move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a…

    To move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More generally, to make any similar hole by moving material out of the way.

    • They dug an eight-foot ditch along the side of the road.
    • In the wintertime, heavy truck tires dig into the road, forming potholes.
    • If the plane can't pull out of the dive it is in, it'll dig a hole in the ground.

  2. To get by digging

    To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.

    • to dig potatoes
    • to dig up gold

  3. To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.

  4. ›+ 20 more definitions

    1. To work like a digger

      To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.

      • Peter dug at his books all the harder.

    2. To investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.

      • to dig up evidence
      • to dig out the facts

    3. To thrust

      To thrust; to poke.

      • He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.
      • You should have seen children […] dig and push their mothers under the sides, saying thus to them: Look, mother, how great a lubber doth yet wear pearls.

    4. To defend against an attack hit by the opposing team by successfully passing the ball

    5. An archeological or paleontological investigation, or the site where such an…

      An archeological or paleontological investigation, or the site where such an investigation is taking place.

    6. A thrust

      A thrust; a poke.

      • He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.

    7. A hard blow, especially (boxing) a straight left-hander delivered under the opponent's…

      A hard blow, especially (boxing) a straight left-hander delivered under the opponent's guard.

      • […] 'let him go, I tell you, or I'll be after breaking your ugly mug,' and with that I gave him a dig that knocked him into smithereens.

    8. A defensive pass of the ball that has been attacked by the opposing team.

    9. An innings.

    10. A cutting, sarcastic remark.

      • Buckram ! that's a dig at my trade.

    11. The occupation of digging for gold.

      • Don Quixote told us that Western Australia was the same to him as any other country, except that it possessed the charm of novelty, and he assured us that as soon as he was well enough he would be off on the "dig" once more.

    12. A plodding and laborious student.

    13. A tool for digging.

    14. A rare or interesting vinyl record bought second-hand.

      • a £1 charity shop dig

    15. To understand.

      • You dig?
      • McCord has blown. Mitchell has blown. No tap on my telephone / Halderman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, and Dean / It follows a pattern if you dig what I mean

    16. To appreciate, or like.

      • Baby, I dig you.
      • «And dig her!» yelled Dean, pointing at another woman. «Oh, I love, love, love women! I think women are wonderful! I love women!»
      • Oh, but California / California, I'm coming home / I'm going to see the folks I dig

    17. Digoxin.

      • dig toxicity

    18. A duck.

      • Powltrey, &c, &c. Item ten turkeys … Item three Digs [an old Cheshire word for duck] and a Drake … Item ffower Capons … [The word's gloss has been inserted by Earwaker]

    19. Initialism of dwarf irregular galaxy.

    20. dwarf irregular galaxy

The neighborhood

Derived

crate-dig, dig a hole for oneself, dig around, dig deep, dig down, dig for victory, diggable, diggety, dig in, dig in one's heels, dig into, dig oneself in a hole, dig oneself into a hole, dig one's grave with a fork, dig one's grave with a fork and spoon, dig one's heels in, dig one's own grave, dig out, dig out of a hole, dig over, dig round, dig up, dig up dirt, dig yourself, double dig, gold-dig, he who digs a pit for others falls in himself, misdig, redig, underdig, undig, dig box, dig on

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at dig. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01dig02excavations03excavation04excavating05excavate06digging07digs

A definitional loop anchored at dig. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at dig

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA