| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| dig |
| |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  d g |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: dug ( d g), dig·ging, digs
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To break up, turn over, or remove (earth or sand, for example), as with a shovel, spade, or snout, or with claws, paws or hands. 2a. To make or form by removing earth or other material: dig a trench; dug my way out of the snow. b. To prepare (soil) by loosening or cultivating. 3a. To obtain or unearth by digging: dig coal out of a seam; dug potatoes from a field. b. To obtain or find by an action similar to digging: dug a dollar out of his pocket; dug the puck out of the corner. 4. To learn or discover by careful research or investigation: dug up the evidence; dug out the real facts. 5. To force down and into something; thrust: dug his foot in the ground. 6. To poke or prod: dug me in the ribs. 7. Sports To strike or redirect (a ball) just before it hits the ground, as in tennis or volleyball. 8. Slang a. To understand fully: Do you dig what I mean? b. To like, enjoy, or appreciate: “They really dig our music and, daddy, I dig swinging for them” (Louis Armstrong). c. To take notice of: Dig that wild outfit. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To loosen, turn over, or remove earth or other material. 2. To make one's way by or as if by pushing aside or removing material: dug through the files. 3. Slang To have understanding: Do you dig? | | NOUN: | 1. A poke or thrust: a sharp dig in the ribs. 2. A sarcastic, taunting remark; a gibe. 3. An archaeological excavation. 4. Sports An act or an instance of digging a ball. 5. digs Lodgings. | | PHRASAL VERB: | dig in 1. To dig trenches for protection. 2. To hold on stubbornly, as to a position; entrench oneself. 3a. To begin to work intensively. b. To begin to eat heartily. | | IDIOMS: | dig in (one's) heels To resist opposition stubbornly; refuse to yield or compromise. dig it out Slang To run as fast as one can, especially as a base runner in baseball. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English diggen; akin to perhaps akin to Old French digue, dike, trench. See dh gw- in Appendix I. V., tr., sense 8 and intr., sense 3, perhaps influenced by Wolof degg, to hear, find out, understand, or Irish Gaelic tuigim, I understand. | | OUR LIVING LANGUAGE: | In its slang sense of “to enjoy,” dig is one of the many words and expressions that come from African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Like cool, it is first recorded in 1930s jazz circles. While several AAVE expressions that have entered standard English from jazz still have musical associations, many others do not, and quite a few are so ordinary today that their origin in AAVE is not at all obvious. Some are no longer regarded as slang, such as badmouth, cakewalk, nitty-gritty, and main man. Others, like fox, “sexy woman,” gig, and chump change are still slang or informal.
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
