shovel
part of speech
noun (a shovel, shovels); verb (shovel, shovels, shovelled/shoveled, shovelling/shoveling)
meaning for a pupil
1) (noun) A tool with a long handle and a wide, slightly curved blade for lifting and moving earth, snow, sand or coal. tree →
2) (verb) To lift and move something with a shovel: shovel snow. tree →
3) (verb, informal) To put a lot of something somewhere quickly and roughly: "He shovelled food into his mouth." tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life people shovel snow from paths (very common in Canada and the northern USA), dig gardens and fill wheelbarrows. In stories "shovelled food into his mouth" shows someone eating greedily or fast. In history, workers shovelled coal into steam trains. Phrases: shovel snow, a snow shovel, shovel it in.
examples
- Dad used a shovel to clear the snow from the drive. tree →
- We shovelled sand into the bucket. tree →
- The builder picked up a shovel and started digging. tree →
- He shovelled his dinner into his mouth and ran out to play. tree →
- In old steam trains, the fireman shovelled coal into the fire. tree →
- Bring a shovel and a bucket to the beach. tree →
- "Come here and sit on this shovel!" tree →
note
UK spelling: shovelled, shovelling; US spelling: shoveled, shoveling. A shovel has a wider, scoop-shaped blade; a spade has a flatter blade for digging, but people often mix the two words up. In Australia "shovel" is the common word for both.
In the corpora
- Long ago tunnels were dug by hand with picks, shovels and gunpowder by the light of candles and lamps.
- And Hiram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins.
- And Huram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «shovel» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.