US /ˈdɪɡɚ/ UK /ˈdɪɡə/
noun Freq #12264

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A large piece of machinery that digs holes or trenches.

    The cables are placed from 16 in. to 2 ft. down, and to save time and labour use was made of a mechanical digger lent by the Swedish State Railways.

  2. 2
    noun

    A tool for digging.

    The post hole digger did look ancient. I was pretty certain myself that it hadn′t dug any holes for a long, long time.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · a large piece of machinery... excavator
Word family
Derived forms bonediggerclamdiggersdiggeressgumdiggeroil-diggerwelldigger

Etymology

* Derived from Australian Colonial goldfields terminology. The term represents the mateship of common interests and activities where most of the population were gold miners, and almost everybody was a mate, a "digger", with a common cause against the troopers, the traps, the mining license inspectors.

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