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.
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.
They dug an eight-foot ditch along the side of the road.
In the wintertime, heavy truck tires dig into the road, forming potholes.
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If the plane can't pull out of the dive it is in, it'll dig a hole in the ground.
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.
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:
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To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
to dig potatoes
to dig up gold
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Business, Mining To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
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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:
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Figuratively To investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.
to dig up evidence
to dig out the facts
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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:
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To thrust; to poke.
He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.
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:
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Ball games, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, Volleyball To defend against an attack hit by the opposing team by successfully passing the ball
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.
An archeological or paleontological investigation, or the site where such an investigation is taking place.
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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:
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A thrust; a poke.
He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.
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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:
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Ball games, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, Volleyball A defensive pass of the ball that has been attacked by the opposing team.
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:
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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:
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:
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:
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:
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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:
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:
Etymology 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).
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 mean1974, “H2Ogate Blues”, in Winter in America, performed by Gil Scott-Heron:
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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:
«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:
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Oh, but California / California, I'm coming home / I'm going to see the folks I dig1971, Joni Mitchell, “California”, in Blue:
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:
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. […] ]
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:
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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: