dug
part of speech
verb form (past and past participle of dig: dig, digs, dug, digging)
meaning for a pupil
1) Dug is the past form of dig: to make a hole in the ground or move earth with a spade, hands or paws. tree →
2) Dug can mean searched for and found: I dug out my old toys. tree →
3) Dug in means pushed something into something: the cat dug its claws in. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and history: archaeologists dug up Roman coins; in gardening lessons, pupils dug holes to plant seeds and found worms and insects in the soil. In stories, pirates dug for treasure and dogs dug up bones. Safety: do not dig near cables, pipes or deep in sand (sand holes on beaches can collapse). Phrases: dug up, dug out, dug a hole, dug in.
examples
- The dog dug a hole in the garden. tree →
- We dug up potatoes from the vegetable patch. tree →
- Archaeologists dug up an old Viking sword. tree →
- I dug out my winter coat from the cupboard. tree →
- The cat dug its claws into my leg. tree →
- The pirates dug for treasure on the island. tree →
- Our class dug a pond for frogs. tree →
- They dug a little grave in the garden. tree →
note
Irregular verb: dig, dug, dug — never «digged». «Dug» is also an old word for an animal's teat, but children will rarely meet that.
In the corpora
- Scientists dug up chimp nut-cracking stones about 4,300 years old.
- He dug up his tunnel: «he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged», muttering to himself «Up we go!
- "Six feet under" means dead and buried, because graves were dug about six feet deep.
- He got away with it all winter and nearly forgot — then Dad dug the pieces up planting tomatoes in spring.
- A canal is a waterway dug by people, a shortcut where nature left none.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «dug» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.