dig

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of touching someone suddenly with your finger or elbow

   The salesman emphasized their joke with a sharp dig in my ribs.

2. 2
   noun

   a small gouge (as in the cover of a book)

   the book was in good condition except for a dig in the back cover

3. 3
   noun

   the site of an archeological exploration

   they set up camp next to the dig

4. 4
   verb

   create by digging

   dig a hole

5. 5
   verb

   thrust down or into

   dig the oars into the water

6. 6
   verb

   remove, harvest, or recover by digging

   dig salt

7. 7
   verb

   work hard at a task

   The student was digging away at their math homework.

8. 8
   verb

   To move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More generally, to make any similar hole by moving material out of the way.

   They dug an eight-foot ditch along the side of the road.

Etymology

From Middle English diggen (“to dig”, 13th c.), an alteration of dīken, from Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, mound up earth”), from Proto-West Germanic *dīkōn, which see for cognates. This verb is denominal from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz (“pool, puddle; dyke, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to stab, dig”). The form with g may have been influenced by Old French *diguer, a variant of dikier, itself from the West Germanic verb above. French forms with g are attested only in the 15th c., thus 200 years later than in English. On the other hand, French has according forms also for the…