The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dig \Dig\ (d[i^]g), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dug (d[u^]g) or Digged (d[i^]gd); 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. [root]67.]
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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. To get by digging; as, to dig potatoes, or gold.
To hollow out, as a well; to form, as a ditch, by removing earth; to excavate; as, to dig a ditch or a well.
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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 like; enjoy; admire. The whole class digs Pearl Jam. To dig down, to undermine and cause to fall by digging; as, to dig down a wall. To dig from, To dig out of, To dig out, To dig 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.
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To entrench oneself so as to give stronger resistance; -- used of warfare or negotiating situations.
to dig in one's heels To offer stubborn resistance.
Usage examples of "to dig up".
Here they could find familiar things to eat that they had almost forgotten about, roots and berries, mushrooms, tubers in the ground if you knew which were the right plants to dig up.
Even if he changed his name afterwards, we ought to be able to dig up some kind of a trail.
She moved purposefully on, eyes on the ground, stopping here and there to dig up things that looked either collectible or totally unfamiliar.
He wanted Ted to use Bonner-Hunter's contacts in England, respected colleagues in the private-security trade, to dig up all available information on the United British-Continental Insurance Association and on the solicitor J.
For the two years it took them to build the house they lived in a tiny mud but with a pet mongoose that used to dig up the floor looking for worms, a dog, two cats - and a baby.
I lowered the window to greet her and was nearly bowled into the next county by her preferred scent, Eau de Mothballs, but in the name of preserving the honor of all Transients, I managed to dig up a smile of my own and paste it to my face.
All this proves is that you've had me investigated, and managed to dig up some dirt on my life.
But as there wasn't an alibi, I would have to dig up someone who wanted Dawn dead and also had no alibi.
He'll find out for me whether or not this Kane babe tried to dig up any dough.
A German businessman, Heinrich Schliemann, who implicitly believed the essential truth of the Iliad (minus its gods), amassed wealth and in the late nineteenth century used it to go to Greece and Turkey, where he hoped to dig up the ruins of Troy and some of the great Greek cities of the time.
For when there is no contest at home, unnumbered knaves will be found at Rome to dig up contests out of the earth and assail livings at their will.
The same was true when religious groups tried to send shovels to Laos to dig up some of the unexploded shells left by American bombing.
We managed to dig up the auctioneer's list at the London Public Records Office, and on it were the contents of a captain's chest full of books.