spud
spud Lexical Profile
spud Game Scores & Validity
• noun
(informal) The starchy, edible underground tuber of the nightshade plant Solanum tuberosum; a potato.
"We peeled a sack of spuds to make mashed potatoes for the family dinner."
A narrow-bladed spade or chisel-like hand tool with a long handle, used for digging up deep-rooted weeds or stripping bark from timber.
"The groundskeeper used a heavy iron spud to pry stubborn thistles out of the lawn."
One of the heavy vertical steelor timber piles lowered through the hull of a dredge or barge into the riverbed or seabed to moor the vessel in place.
"The crew lowered the port and starboard spuds to anchor the dredging barge securely against the tidal current."
• verb
To dig up, loosen, or remove (weeds, roots, or bark) using a narrow-bladed digging tool.
"He spent the morning spudding dandelions out of the garden path."
To begin drilling (an oil, gas, or water well) by breaking the surface of the ground or seabed with a drill bit.
"The exploration company plans to spud the new offshore well early next month."
• Rhymes for spud
Word Origin & Etymology
Attested in Middle English as 'spudde', referring to a short knife or dagger, and later to a narrow spade used for digging up weeds or root vegetables. The informal sense 'potato' arose in mid-19th-century New Zealand and British slang, likely transferred from the tool used to unearth the tubers.