HOW TO PRONOUNCE
shovel
/ˈʃʌv.əl/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does shovel mean?
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.
- A mechanical part of an excavator with a similar function.
- Any shovel in the above senses, or any spade.
More meanings (3)
noun
- Ellipsis of shovel hat.
verb
- To move materials with a shovel.
- (figuratively) To move with a shoveling motion.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈʃʌv.əl/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
“The widow, hey?—and who told the widow she could put in her shovel about a thing that ain’t none of her business?”
Jurgis was given a shovel, and along with half a dozen others it was his task to shovel this fertilizer into carts.
More book examples (3)
Half our floor is deep in snow, and it is so cold that we cannot open the door to shovel it out.
As he grew older he rode the horse in plowing corn, raked hay, wielded the shovel and the hoe, and chopped wood.
The only way in which the night-watchman could keep the hourly observations was to dig his way out frequently with a shovel.