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 underlying noun (cf. digue) and the phonetic development is more plausible in French than in English.
Meanings
An archeological or paleontological investigation, or the site where such an investigation is taking place.
Any act of digging to find or retrieve something.
Iron Springs offers a guided clam dig for first timers or those who are rusty at spotting the clam's show at low tide. It includes a license and all the equipment you'll need to catch your limit on Copalis Beach […] 2014, Karen Gaudette Brewer, Seafood Lover's Pacific Northwest, page 128:
A thrust; a poke.
He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.
(archaic, slang) A hard blow, especially (boxing) a straight left-hander delivered under the opponent's guard.
[…] 'let him go, I tell you, or I'll be after breaking your ugly mug,' and with that I gave him a dig that knocked him into smithereens. 1836, The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée, volume 7, page 167:
A defensive pass of the ball that has been attacked by the opposing team.
An innings.
A cutting, sarcastic remark.
She could have made a dig about the size of his rockets. 2021 December 8, Arwa Mahdawi, “Elon Musk is learning a hard lesson: never date a musician”, in The Guardian:
Buckram ! that's a dig at my trade. 1838, John Baldwin Buckstone, The Irish Lion. A Farce, in One Act, page 15:
Why this already very fast train should be speeded up still further, when none of the other more easily timed S.R. West of England trains has a single minute pared from its schedule, is unexplained - unless this is a playful dig at the Western Region, most of whose expresses, by reason of additional stops, will be decelerated from the same date. 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593:
In 'Sorted for E's and Whizz', Pulp's Jarvis Cocker wrote about losing an important part of his brain somewhere in a field in Hampshire, and took a dig at the rave scene for being hypocritical – idealistic and friendly when everyone was coming up on their pills, less so when everyone's coming down and you're trying to get a lift home – and essentially meaningless. 2018, Paul Maunder, The Wind At My Back: A Cycling Life:
Unfortunately, the man was too busy, although he said hello to the Young Man politely enough and found the time to make a few digs about the postponement of the elections. 2013, William T. Vollmann, An Afghanistan Picture Show: Or, How I Saved the World:
Entitled 'On Several Mistakes of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia', this document is broader, more theoretical and more rambling than the Polish equivalent, identifying deep problems in many spheres. But it does get in a few digs at Slánský, accusing him of having made mistakes in recruitment to the communist party. 2012, Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56, page ccxcix:
The occupation of digging for gold.
Don Quixote told us that Western Australia was the same to him as any other country, except that it possessed the charm of novelty, and he assured us that as soon as he was well enough he would be off on the "dig" once more. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 207:
(US, colloquial, dated) A plodding and laborious student.
Between the two extremes of college men the unsocial dig and the flunking swell, lies the majority, who, acknowledging the duty and merit of hard work, see the value in social and recreative line, but are at somewhat of a loss, seemingly, how to proportionize the time given to the different sides of college life, or how far to allow themselves to go on the more attractive side. 1892, Occident - Volume 22, page 36:
(UK, dated, dialectal) A tool for digging.
(slang) A rare or interesting vinyl record bought second-hand.
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 underlying noun (cf. digue) and the phonetic development is more plausible in French than in English.
Meanings
(intransitive, transitive) 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.
If the plane can't pull out of the dive it is in, it'll dig a hole in the ground.
Miss Thorn began digging up the turf with her lofter: it was a painful moment for me. ¶ “You might at least have tried me, Mrs. Cooke,” I said. 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
They dug an eight-foot ditch along the side of the road.
In the wintertime, heavy truck tires dig into the road, forming potholes.
My seven-year-old son always digs a hole in the middle of his mashed potatoes and fills it with gravy before he starts to eat them.
(transitive) To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
to dig potatoes
to dig up gold
To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
(US, dated, slang) To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.
Peter dug at his books all the harder. 1894, Paul Leicester Ford, The Honorable Peter Stirling:
(figuratively) To investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.
Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology. The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight. 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
to dig out the facts
to dig up evidence
To thrust; to poke.
You should have seen children […] dig and push their mothers under the sides, saying thus to them: Look, mother, how great a lubber doth yet wear pearls. 1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], →OCLC:
He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.
To defend against an attack hit by the opposing team by successfully passing the ball
my တူး (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · dsb ryś (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · tr kazmak (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · nn grava (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · vi bới (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ru вы́копать (get by digging, take up from the ground) · rap karo (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · prs کَنْدَن (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ar حَفَرَ (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · hi खोदना (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pam kulkul (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · orv копати (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pap koba (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · frr greewe (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · tt казырга (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mr खोदणे (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · fi kaivaa (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · bg разкопа́вам (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sah хас (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · grc ὀρύσσω (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi huke (get by digging, take up from the ground) · tet ke'e (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ru выка́пывать (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pl wykopać (get by digging, take up from the ground) · mi whakapākihi (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · lt rausti (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cy palu (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · es cavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ru копа́ть (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · de graben (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi kō (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · gl cavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · oc cavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · csb kòpac (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · zdj utsimba (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · eve улдэй (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cmn 掘 (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ln tima (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · txb rāp- (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · lv rakt (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ga rómhair (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ltg rakt (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · lo ຂຸດ (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · got 𐌲𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · rsk копац (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · kix thēu (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · lb gruewen (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · bg ри́я (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · tsg kali (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sh kòpati (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ilo kali (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · bg ро́вя (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · zza kenen (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · az qazmaq (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · gl escaravellar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pl wykopywać (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · xal малтх (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · lt kasti (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi pūkari (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ca excavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · yi גראָבן (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · th ขุด (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · fa-ira کَنْدَن (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ms gali (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · kk қазу (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ka ამოთხრა (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · uk вико́пувати (get by digging, take up from the ground) · af grawe (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · qu haratay (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cjs қазарға (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ur کھودْنا (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · be капа́ць (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ko 파다 (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · zea delve (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ru вы́рыть (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi kōhure (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · tk gazmak (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ar اِحْتَفَرَ (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ltg best (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · fr creuser (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · es ahondar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ikz -sɨmba (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cu рꙑти (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · af spit (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · su kali (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ka გათხრა (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · evn улэми (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ro săpa (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ru вы́копать (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ba ҡаҙыу (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ltg kast (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi tīkakukaku (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ckb کەندن (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi keri (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ota قازمق (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · eo fosi (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · uz qazimoq (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · rue копа́ти (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ln timola (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · lt kasti (get by digging, take up from the ground) · nl graven (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · bho खोदल (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ang grafan (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ckb ھەڵکۆڵین (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · la fodiō (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · az eşmək (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · el σκάβω (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ga bain (get by digging, take up from the ground) · ru выка́пывать (get by digging, take up from the ground) · es ahoyar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sv gräva (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · bni tima (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cmn 挖掘 (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sa खनति (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ka ბარვა (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · uk ри́ти (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ms korek (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ckb ھەڵکەندن کۆڵین (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cy cloddio (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · enm delven (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · tl hukayin (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · he חָפַר (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · enm graven (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · hu kiás (get by digging, take up from the ground) · rm stgavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · or ଖୋଳିବା (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pl ryć (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · gd cladhaich (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · tg кандан (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · as খন্দা (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · uk копа́ти (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pt cavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · as খান্দা (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pt escavar (get by digging, take up from the ground) · sk ryť (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · syc ܚܦܪ (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ta நோண்டு (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · nb grave (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · nys beena (get by digging, take up from the ground) · uk ви́копати (get by digging, take up from the ground) · sl ríti (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · et kaevama (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cu копати (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · km ជីក (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sh ри̏ти (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mk ко́па (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi houhou (get by digging, take up from the ground) · nrf foui (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · hu ás (get by digging, take up from the ground) · tl maghukay (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · be вы́капаць (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · bg изкопа́вам (get by digging, take up from the ground) · is grafa (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · alt казар (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · hsb ryć (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sh rȉti (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · hu túr (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sk kopať (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · lt iškasti (get by digging, take up from the ground) · nrf fouoilli (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi karokaro (get by digging, take up from the ground) · ta தோண்டு (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · fr excaver (get by digging, take up from the ground) · gld хулэ- (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cs rýt (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ky казуу (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · bg копа́я (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sl kopati (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · la cavō (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · id gali (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mr खणणे (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi hauhake (get by digging, take up from the ground) · frr greew (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi kari (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · oc excavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ba ҡаҙып алыу (get by digging, take up from the ground) · ka თხრა (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi hahu (get by digging, take up from the ground) · orv рꙑти (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · uk вирива́ти (get by digging, take up from the ground) · rgn vanghêr (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · zu -mba (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ja 掘る (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mn ухах (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ca cavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · khb ᦃᦳᧆ (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · uz chopmoq (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cs kopat (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · gl escavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · da grave (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · so qodid (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · arz حفر (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · es escarbar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pt cavar (get by digging, take up from the ground) · rup arãm (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · rup sap (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · alu 'eri (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ru копну́ть (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pms vanghé (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · qu allay (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · zea graeve (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ang delfan (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · io exkavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sh ко̀пати (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · io kavigar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ne खन्नु (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · kix hèu (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · sq rrëmoj (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi karituangi (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mww khawb (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · af delf (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · izh kaivaa (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · it scavare (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · zza kenden (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · fi kaivaa (get by digging, take up from the ground) · mi ketu (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · vi đào (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · hu ás (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · uk ви́рити (get by digging, take up from the ground) · bua малтаха (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · nl delven (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ro excava (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · nrf creuser (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pl kopać (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cmn 挖 (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mt ħaffer (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · jv dhudhuk (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mnc ᡶᡝᡨᡝᠮᠪᡳ (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · msk kari (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ang dīcian (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ug قازماق (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mi tīpoka (get by digging, take up from the ground) · chr ᎠᏍᎪᏍᎦ (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · mn малтах (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · tl dukalin (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · grc σκάπτω (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · pt escavar (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ga tochail (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · ru рыть (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · hy փորել (to move hard-packed earth out of the way) · cwa -simba (to move hard-packed earth out of the way)
From African American Vernacular English; due to lack of writing of slave speech, etymology is difficult to trace, but it has been suggested that it is from Wolof dëgg, dëgga (“to understand, to appreciate”). It has also been suggested that it is from Irish dtuig, thus being a doublet of twig. Others do not propose a distinct etymology, instead considering this a semantic shift of the existing English term (compare dig in/dig into).
Meanings
(dated, slang) To understand.
You dig?
McCord has blown. Mitchell has blown. No tap on my telephone / Halderman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, and Dean / It follows a pattern if you dig what I mean 1974, “H2Ogate Blues”, in Winter in America, performed by Gil Scott-Heron:
Osiris: Pimpin' has been around since the world started turnin' and it's gonna keep right on turnin' right along with it. Until this little planet rotates off its axis as a result of its core overheating and explodes into cosmic dust! Can you dig it?
Chocolate Giddy-Up: It's dug, brotha. 2009 October 16, Michael Jai White, Byron Minns, Scott Sanders, 41:40 from the start, in Black Dynamite, spoken by Osiris and Chocolate Giddy-Up (Obba Babatundé and Cedric Yarbrough), ARS Nova; distributed by Apparition; Destination Films:
(dated, slang, transitive) To appreciate, or like.
«And dig her!» yelled Dean, pointing at another woman. «Oh, I love, love, love women! I think women are wonderful! I love women!» 1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, chapter 6, in On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, part 2:
Louie said, "I dig this Theo. I'm gonna learn Swahili and rap with him." 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 432:
Baby, I dig you.
Oh, but California / California, I'm coming home / I'm going to see the folks I dig 1971, Joni Mitchell, “California”, in Blue:
pt curtir (slang: to appreciate, or like) · ga tuig (slang: to understand or show interest in) · is skilja (slang: to understand or show interest in) · hu bír (slang: to appreciate, or like) · da forstå (slang: to understand or show interest in) · fr kiffer (slang: to appreciate, or like) · es picar el interés (slang: to understand or show interest in) · sv digga (slang: to appreciate, or like) · fr piger (slang: to understand or show interest in) · da være med (slang: to understand or show interest in) · is fíla (slang: to appreciate, or like) · fi tajuta (slang: to understand or show interest in) · es caer bien (slang: to appreciate, or like) · cs brát (slang: to understand or show interest in) · no digge (slang: to appreciate, or like) · fi digata (slang: to appreciate, or like) · cs žrát (slang: to appreciate, or like) · is vera með (slang: to understand or show interest in) · pt gostar (slang: to appreciate, or like) · hu vág (slang: to understand or show interest in) · es llamar la atención (slang: to understand or show interest in) · es simpatizar (slang: to appreciate, or like) · sv vara med (slang: to understand or show interest in) · da kunne lide (slang: to appreciate, or like)
dig, or digg, s.—A duck. A gentleman introduced a man to an old lady in America as an inhaitant of Cheshire, her old county. "I'll soon see," said she, "if he is reet Cheshire born. Tell me," said she to the man, "what a dig, a snig, a grig, a peckled poot, and a peannot are?" B. Kennett in his Glossary of the British Museum, has the word "dig." "As fierce as a dig," is a Lancashire and probably a Cheshire proverb, and reminds one of the Cloucestershire name for a sheep, viz.: "A Cotswold lion." 1877, Lieut.-Col. Egerton Leigh, M.P., A Glossary of Words Used in The Dialect of Cheshire., London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co., pages 61–62:
Powltrey, &c, &c.
Item ten turkeys …
Item three Digs [an old Cheshire word for duck] and a Drake …
Item ffower Capons …
[The word's gloss has been inserted by Earwaker] 10 March, 1616, excerpt from "A true and perfect Inventory of all the Goods &c. which late were of Philippe Oldfeid," reprinted in 1890, J.P. Earwaker (ed., compiler), "Badwall Township: Berington of Moorsbarrow and Bradwall, Pedigree" in [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_history_of_the_ancient_parish_of_San/kkMHAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 The History of the Ancient Parish of Sandbach, Co. Chester. […] ]
Smith's farm was near to Parrs; new buildings had been built in the Hemp Croft. He carried coals in his cart by an inside chest, and had three hives of bees and several spinning wheels; his poultry comprised four hens, two diggs or ducks, and one drake. His total estate was £66. 10s. 1953, John Lunn, “Beasts on the Common, 1613”, in A Short History of the Township of Tyldesley […] , Longsight, Manchester: Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited: