Shovel Definition

shŭvəl

shoveled, shoveling, shovelled, shovelling, shovels

noun

shovels

A tool with a broad, deep scoop or blade and a long handle: used in lifting and moving loose material, as earth, snow, gravel, etc.

Webster's New World

Any machine, as a steam shovel, equipped with a large scoop or blade for lifting and moving loose material.

Webster's New World

The amount that a shovel can hold; a shovelful.

One shovel of dirt.

American Heritage

Webster's New World

(US) A spade.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

verb

shoveled, shoveling, shovelled, shovelling, shovels

To lift and move with a shovel.

Webster's New World

To use a shovel.

Webster's New World

To convey or throw in a rough or hasty way, as if with a shovel.

He shoveled the food into his mouth.

American Heritage

To put or throw, in large quantities.

To shovel food into one's mouth.

Webster's New World

To clean or dig out (a path, etc.) with a shovel.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Shovel

Singular:

shovel

Plural:

shovels

From Middle English shovele, schovel, showell, shoule, shole (> English dialectal shoul, shool), from Old English scofl (“shovel"), from Proto-Germanic *skuflō, *skÅ«flō (“shovel"), equivalent to shove +"Ž -el (instrumental/agent suffix). Cognate with Scots shuffle, shule, shuil (“shovel"), Saterland Frisian Sköifel (“shovel"), West Frisian skoffel, schoffel (“hoe, spade, shovel"), Dutch schoffel (“spade, hoe"), Low German Schüfel, Schuffel (“shovel"), German Schaufel (“shovel"), Danish skovl (“shovel"), Swedish skyffel, skovel (“shovel"), Icelandic skófla (“shovel").

From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English scofl

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition