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garden spade

garden spade

2.7
A hand tool with a flat rectangular blade for digging and edging soil
  • noun
translation icon : pala de jardín
  • He let his garden spade rest against the fence while he took a break from digging.

Examples

  • After gathering the tools, I grabbed my garden spade and headed outside to start planting.

  • I ran to the garage and got a garden spade.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • She made a mug of strong black coffee and got her garden spade from the basement.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • The man in the fedora sold a garden spade for five dollars to a couple wheeling a baby in a stroller.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • I finally spotted a long-handled garden spade against a trellis and helped her, saying: "I use a rake handle myself, but this is probably better."

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Billie picked out a heavy garden spade, shiny as chrome, its handle clean pine lacquered to a high sheen.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Fiona used her garden spade to dig a hole for the new flowerbed.

Synonyms

spade
vsgarden spade
25 1.0

A tool with a flat blade and long handle for digging

is narrower, meant for plant care and for digging and edging soil
garden tool
vsgarden spade
2 1.0

A tool used to work in a garden, like a spade or rake

is a specific digging implement for plant care and edging soil

How Heavy

garden spade
2.7

Surface Forms

garden spade singular
garden spades plural

Morphology

garden + spade

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'garden' (an outdoor plot for cultivating plants) with 'spade' (a flat-bladed digging tool); together they denote a spade used for gardening. This noun–noun compounding is a regular, compositional pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the phrase.

Etymology

Garden spade comes from the two words garden and spade. Imagine a flat, rectangular metal blade that you push into the ground to cut and lift soil at the edge of a flower bed. That's why it means 'a spade used for digging and edging soil'.