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.
With mother's dug between its lips. --Shak.