| dig | 1. To turn up, or delve in, (earth) with a spade or a hoe; to open, loosen, or break up (the soil) with a spade, or other sharp instrument; to pierce, open, or loosen, as if with a spade. "Be first to dig the ground." (Dryden) 2. To get by digging; as, to dig potatoes, or gold. 3. To hollow out, as a well; to form, as a ditch, by removing earth; to excavate; as, to dig a ditch or a well. 4. To thrust; to poke. "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." (Robynson (More's Utopia)) To dig down, to undermine and cause to fall by digging; as, to dig down a wall. To dig from, out of, out, or up, to get out or obtain by digging; as, to dig coal from or out of a mine; to dig out fossils; to dig up a tree. The preposition is often omitted; as, the men are digging coal, digging iron ore, digging potatoes. To dig in, to cover by digging; as, to dig in manure. Origin: Dug or Digged; Digging. Digged is archaic] [OE. Diggen, perh. The same word as diken, dichen (see Dike, Ditch); cf. Dan. Dige to dig, dige a ditch; or (?) akin to E. 1st dag. 1. To work with a spade or other like implement; to do servile work; to delve. "Dig for it more than for hid treasures." (Job III. 21) "I can not dig; to beg I am ashamed." (Luke xvi. 3) 2. <chemical> To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore. 3. To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| jew | Originally, one belonging to the tribe or kingdom of Judah; after the return from the Babylonish captivity, any member of the new state; a Hebrew; an Israelite. Jew's frankincense, gum styrax, or benzoin. <botany> Jew's mallow, an annual herb (Corchorus olitorius) cultivated in Syria and Egypt as a pot herb, and in India for its fibre. Jew's pitch, asphaltum; bitumen. The Wandering Jew, an imaginary personage, who, for his cruelty to the Savior during his passion, is doomed to wander on the earth till Christ's second coming. Origin: OF. Juis, pl, F. Juif, L. Judaeus, Gr, fr. The country of the Jews, Judea, fr. Heb. Yhdah Judah, son of Jacob. Cf. Judaic. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| jew's-ear | <botany> A species of fungus (Hirneola Auricula-Judae, or Auricula), bearing some resemblance to the human ear. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| jew's-harp | Origin: Jew + harp; or possibly a corrupt. Of jaw's harp; cf. G. Maultrommel, lit, mouthdrum]</ety 1. An instrument of music, which, when placed between the teeth, gives, by means of a bent metal tongue struck by the finger, a sound which is modulated by the breath; called also Jew's-trump. 2. The shackle for joining a chain cable to an anchor. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |