Hypertext Webster Gateway: "digging"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Dig \Dig\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Dug}or {Digged}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Digging}. -- Digged is archaic.] [OE. diggen, perh. the same
word as diken, dichen (see {Dike}, {Ditch}); cf. Dan. dige to
dig, dige a ditch; or (?) akin to E. 1st dag. ???.]
1. To turn up, or delve in, (earth) with a spade or a hoe; to
open, loosen, or break up (the soil) with a spade, or
other sharp instrument; to pierce, open, or loosen, as if
with a spade.

Be first to dig the ground. --Dryden.

2. To get by digging; as, to dig potatoes, or gold.

3. To hollow out, as a well; to form, as a ditch, by removing
earth; to excavate; as, to dig a ditch or a well.

4. To thrust; to poke. [Colloq.]

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. --Robynson
(More's
Utopia).

{To dig down}, to undermine and cause to fall by digging; as,
to dig down a wall.

{To dig from}, {out of}, {out}, or {up}, to get out or obtain
by digging; as, to dig coal from or out of a mine; to dig
out fossils; to dig up a tree. The preposition is often
omitted; as, the men are digging coal, digging iron ore,
digging potatoes.

{To dig in}, to cover by digging; as, to dig in manure.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Digging \Dig"ging\, n.
1. The act or the place of excavating.

2. pl. Places where ore is dug; especially, certain
localities in California, Australia, and elsewhere, at
which gold is obtained. [Recent]

3. pl. Region; locality. [Low]

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

digging
n : the act of digging; "there's an interesting excavation going
on near Princeton" [syn: {excavation}, {dig}]

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