What is "spadeful"

Usage examples of "spadeful".

Nelson Hall was in the Land of Ago, as was the man who had gone there to dig a spadeful of earth and inaugurate construction of the Shipman Library.

That was why the last moment, when the completion of the work was only distant by a few spadefuls, was so tense and exciting.

Danube wind, Heidi Stolpe turned over the first spadeful of earth that had entombed for centuries the fabled Nibelungen Hoard.

After the first ceremonial spadeful of earth had been dug by each of the Lanthanides, accompanied by speeches in varying degrees of pomposity, Jim and Dale took turns digging the three-foot hole.

Mildred complained as she shoveled another spadeful of sand into the cement mixer.

The digging was a gentle process during which they slowly laid small neat spadefuls of earth in a sculptured pile at each side of the armspan-wide trench they were making.

Outside, all the children except for Saturday and Jeopardy were filling in the hole, bringing spadefuls of soil from other areas to make it level and invisible.

He turned back to the burials to see a large orange cat drop a final ferf into the grave before the last few spadefuls of earth covered it.

They threw another layer of weed on top, a tarpaulin over that, then spadefuls of sand.

A hundred or so were digging a long trench, six feet deep, spadefuls of the light chalky earth flying up.

That shoulder rose and fell rhythmically and convulsively, but spadefuls of earth were already being thrown over the whole body.

Each spadeful was nearly weightless, but the number of spadefuls was nearly endless.

You take a spadeful of earth from the hill-side and put it in a large tin pan and dissolve and wash it gradually away till nothing is left but a teaspoonful of fine sediment.