| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| dig (n., v.) |
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| The verb combines with prepositions up and out in meanings such as “to uncover, to discover, to find out”: The reporters dug up [out] a good deal of shocking information. Such uses are Standard. Dig, meaning “to notice, to admire, to understand,” and the like, also figures in several slang uses: Dig that car across the street! I really dig [on] his kind of basketball. Do you dig my idea? And there are a number of other Conversational senses of the verb as well, sometimes with in: I dug hard at my studies. Dig in to that pizza. We always dug in [dug foxholes] for the night before we dared to eat. The noun also has some figurative senses: He gave me several digs in the ribs [he poked me] to get my attention. She made a really nasty dig [sarcastic comment] at him. And a dig, or the site of the dig, is an archaeological excavation in progress. The “poke” and “sarcastic comment” senses are Conversational, as is the British sense—always in the plural—meaning “living quarters.” The “excavations” sense is jargon. | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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