Dictionary

spad en · NOUN · etymology 1

Etymology

Shortening of special adviser.

Meanings

1. (UK, informal) A government adviser, often in a political or media role.
   • A successful stint as a spad can be a crucial political apprenticeship - as many of the current crop of professional politicians including the Miliband brothers, David Cameron and George Osborne can testify - so long as they stay in the dark. 2009, Ben Wright, Hidden world of the political advisers, BBC:
   • The hit BBC sitcom satirising the inner workings of Whitehall and the so-called spads contains "more than a grain of truth", the head of the cross-party public administration select committee has warned. 2012, Avoid The Thick of It-style spad appointments, ministers told, The Guardian
   • SPAD Special Advisor 1997 November 14, Reddy Hannah with Wimbush, Angela and Linesberry, Debbie, “Abbreviations and Acronyms”, in Dr. Russell G. Swenson, editor, Defense and Intelligence Abbreviations and Acronyms, Washington, DC: Joint Military Intelligence College, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2017, page 192:

Forms

spad en · NOUN · etymology 2

Meanings

1. A nail one or two inches long, of iron, brass, tin, or tinner iron, with a hole through the flattened head, used to mark stations in underground surveying.

Forms

spad en · NOUN · etymology 3

Meanings

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping) Clipping of spadona/spadone.
   alt of spadona/spadone
   • “What d’you mean—‘feathers’,” asked the tanned young public school man who volunteered to trot me round, “spads, second-after-chicks, fancies, natals, black butts, adults, juvenals, byocks, chicks, primes, feminas, or what?”[…]The first white ones we call spads.[…]Two or three months after that clipping we pull out the spad quills. 1924 February 12, “On Ostrich Feathers”, in The Manchester Guardian, number 24,175, page 6, column 4:
   • An improvement was noted in the demand for femina wings, spads and long bodies; 1959, The Standard Bank Review, The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, page 15:
   • RAW OSTRICH FEATHERS / Primes, Wings, White Feminas, Spads, Etc. 1921 September 7, The New York Times, volume LXX, number 23,237, New York, N.Y., page 24, column 6:
   • No. 6.—Spadonas or spads, the first wing-quills of the chick, clipped at about six months. 1911 September, contributed by Cyphers Incubator Co., “Ostrich Farming in South Africa”, in American Poultry World, volume II, number 11, Buffalo, N.Y.: American Poultry Publishing Co., page 966:

Forms