spud
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A sharp hand shovel for digging out roots and weeds.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
spuhdIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈspʌd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A sharp hand shovel for digging out roots and weeds
A tool, similar to a spade, used for digging out weeds etc.
A digging fork with three broad prongs.
A game for three or more players, involving the gradual elimination of players by throwing and catching a ball.
A barking spud; a long-handled tool for removing bark from logs.
A movable post through a sleeve in the hull of a work barge to anchor it to the bottom of a body of water.
verb
transitive
To dig up weeds with a spud.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A sharp hand shovel for digging out roots and weeds
Used this way, spud is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A sharp hand shovel for digging out roots and weeds.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.