Library / English Dictionary

DIG

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: digging    , dug   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of touching someone suddenly with your finger or elbow

Example:

she gave me a sharp dig in the ribs

Synonyms:

dig; jab

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("dig" is a kind of...):

touch; touching (the act of putting two things together with no space between them)

Derivation:

dig (poke or thrust abruptly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of digging

Example:

there's an interesting excavation going on near Princeton

Synonyms:

dig; digging; excavation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("dig" is a kind of...):

creating by removal (the act of creating by removing something)

Derivation:

dig (turn up, loosen, or remove earth)

dig (remove the inner part or the core of)

dig (create by digging)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A small gouge (as in the cover of a book)

Example:

the book was in good condition except for a dig in the back cover

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("dig" is a kind of...):

dent; ding; gouge; nick (an impression in a surface (as made by a blow))

Sense 4

Meaning:

An aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect

Example:

she takes a dig at me every chance she gets

Synonyms:

barb; dig; gibe; jibe; shaft; shot; slam

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("dig" is a kind of...):

comment; input; remark (a statement that expresses a personal opinion or belief or adds information)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dig"):

cheap shot (an unnecessarily aggressive and unfair remark directed at a defenseless person)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The site of an archeological exploration

Example:

they set up camp next to the dig

Synonyms:

archeological site; dig; excavation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("dig" is a kind of...):

land site; site (the piece of land on which something is located (or is to be located))

Domain category:

archaeology; archeology (the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people and their cultures)

Instance hyponyms:

Byblos (an ancient Mediterranean seaport that was a thriving city state in Phoenicia during the second millennium BC; was the chief port for the export of papyrus; located in Lebanon to the north of Beirut; now partially excavated)

Derivation:

dig (turn up, loosen, or remove earth)

dig (remove the inner part or the core of)

dig (create by digging)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Get the meaning of something

Example:

Do you comprehend the meaning of this letter?

Synonyms:

apprehend; compass; comprehend; dig; get the picture; grasp; grok; savvy

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "dig" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dig"):

figure (understand)

catch on; cotton on; get it; get onto; get wise; latch on; tumble; twig (understand, usually after some initial difficulty)

intuit (know or grasp by intuition or feeling)

digest (arrange and integrate in the mind)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 2

Meaning:

Poke or thrust abruptly

Example:

he jabbed his finger into her ribs

Synonyms:

dig; jab; poke; prod; stab

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "dig" is one way to...):

thrust (push forcefully)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

dig (the act of touching someone suddenly with your finger or elbow)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Turn up, loosen, or remove earth

Example:

turn over the soil for aeration

Synonyms:

cut into; delve; dig; turn over

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "dig" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dig"):

burrow; tunnel (move through by or as by digging)

trowel (use a trowel on; for light garden work or plaster work)

shovel (dig with or as if with a shovel)

spade (dig (up) with a spade)

root; rootle; rout (dig with the snout)

furrow; groove; rut (hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Also:

dig up (find by digging in the ground)

dig out (dig out from underneath earth or snow)

dig in (eat heartily)

Derivation:

dig (the site of an archeological exploration)

dig (the act of digging)

digger (a machine for excavating)

digging (the act of digging)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Remove the inner part or the core of

Example:

the mining company wants to excavate the hillside

Synonyms:

dig; excavate; hollow

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "dig" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dig"):

drive (excavate horizontally)

ditch; trench (cut a trench in, as for drainage)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

dig (the act of digging)

dig (the site of an archeological exploration)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Create by digging

Example:

dig out a channel

Synonyms:

dig; dig out

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "dig" is one way to...):

core out; hollow; hollow out (remove the interior of)

"Dig" entails doing...:

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dig"):

lift (take (root crops) out of the ground)

trench (dig a trench or trenches)

dibble (make a hole with a wooden hand tool)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

dig (the act of digging)

dig (the site of an archeological exploration)

digger (a machine for excavating)

digger (a laborer who digs)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Thrust down or into

Example:

dig your foot into the floor

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "dig" is one way to...):

thrust (push forcefully)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 7

Meaning:

Remove, harvest, or recover by digging

Example:

dig coal

Synonyms:

dig; dig out; dig up

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "dig" is one way to...):

excavate; unearth (recover through digging)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 8

Meaning:

Work hard

Example:

Lexicographers drudge all day long

Synonyms:

dig; drudge; fag; grind; labor; labour; moil; toil; travail

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "dig" is one way to...):

do work; work (be employed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

Meg went back to toast her feet and read Ivanhoe, and Jo began to dig paths with great energy.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Six o’clock struck on the bells of the church that was so conveniently near to Mr. Utterson’s dwelling, and still he was digging at the problem.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I watched her, with my heart at my lips, as she marched to a corner of her garden, and stooped to dig up some little root there.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

No matter how breathless the air when he dug his nest by tree or bank, the wind that later blew inevitably found him to leeward, sheltered and snug.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“Never saw the inside of one, worse luck,” was the answer. “I had to dig it out for myself.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

In addition to determining the galaxy's size from the Hubble images, the team dug into archival far-infrared images from Spitzer and Herschel.

(Telescopes Uncover Early Construction of Giant Galaxy, NASA)

He studied the wood-mice and tried to dig them out of their burrows; and he learned much about the ways of moose-birds and woodpeckers.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

They function separately and so can adapt to different ways of life, like running, flying, digging and climbing.

(What makes a mammal a mammal? Our spine, say scientists, National Science Foundation)

All together, after repeated digs, its trousers pocket yielded four dollars and fifteen cents.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)