dig

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See also: dìg, DIG, and dIG

English

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Etymology 1

From Middle English diggen (“to dig”), alteration of Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, to mound up earth”) (compare Old English dīcere (“digger”)) from dīc, dīċ (“dike, ditch”) from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz, *dīkiją (“pool, puddle”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰīgʷ-, *dʰeygʷ- (“to stab, dig”). Additionally, Middle English diggen may derive from an unrecorded suffixed variant, *dīcgian. Akin to Danish dige (“to dig, raise a dike”), Swedish dika (“to dig ditches”). Related to Middle French diguer (“to dig”), from Old French dikier, itself a borrowing of the same Germanic root (from Middle Dutch dijc). More at ditch, dike.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dɪɡ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪɡ

Verb

dig (third-person singular simple present digs, present participle digging, simple past and past participle dug)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) 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.
    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.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
      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.
  2. (transitive) To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
    to dig potatoes;   to dig up gold
  3. (mining) To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
  4. (US, slang, dated) To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.
    • (Can we date this quote by Paul L. Ford and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Peter dug at his books all the harder.
  5. (figurative) To investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.
    to dig up evidence;   to dig out the facts
    • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
      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.
  6. To thrust; to poke.
    He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.
    • (Can we date this quote by Robynson and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?) (More's Utopia)
      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.
  7. (volleyball) To defend against an attack hit by the opposing team by successfully passing the ball
Derived terms
Derived terms

Template:der-mid

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

dig (plural digs)

  1. An archeological or paleontological investigation, or the site where such an investigation is taking place.
  2. (US, colloquial, dated) A plodding and laborious student.
  3. A thrust; a poke.
    He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.
  4. (UK, dialect, dated) A tool for digging.
  5. (volleyball) A defensive pass of the ball that has been attacked by the opposing team.
  6. A cutting, sarcastic remark; a jibe.
    • 1838, John Baldwin Buckstone, The Irish Lion. A Farce, in One Act, page 15:
      Buckram ! that's a dig at my trade.
    • 2012, Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56, page ccxcix:
      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.
    • 2013, William T. Vollmann, An Afghanistan Picture Show: Or, How I Saved the World:
      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.
    • 2018, Paul Maunder, The Wind At My Back: A Cycling Life:
      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.
Synonyms
Translations
See also

Etymology 2

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”).[1] It has also been suggested that it is from Irish dtuig.[2] Others do not propose a distinct etymology, instead considering this a semantic shift of the existing English term (compare dig in/dig into).[3]

Pronunciation

Verb

dig (third-person singular simple present digs, present participle digging, simple past and past participle dug)

  1. (slang) To understand or show interest in.
    You dig?
  2. (slang) To appreciate, or like.
    Baby, I dig you.
Translations

Etymology 3

Shortening.

Pronunciation

Noun

dig (uncountable)

  1. (medicine, colloquial) Digoxin.
    dig toxicity

References

  1. ^ Smitherman, Geneva (2000), Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner (revised ed.), Boston: Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN
  2. ^ Random House Unabridged, 2001
  3. ^ eg: OED, "dig", from ME vt diggen

Anagrams

Danish

Pronunciation

Pronoun

dig (nominative du)

  1. (personal) you (2nd person singular object pronoun, informal)

Usage notes

Also used as reflexive pronoun.

See also

Danish personal pronouns
Number Person Type Nominative Oblique Possessive
common neuter plural
Singular First – jeg mig min mit mine
Second modern / informal du dig din dit dine
formal De Dem Deres
Third masculine (person) han ham hans
feminine (person) hun hende hendes
common(noun) den dens
neuter(noun) det dets
reflexive – sig sin sit sine
Plural First modern vi os vores
archaic / formal vor vort vore
Second – I jer jeres
Third – de dem deres
reflexive – sig

Swedish

Alternative forms

  • dej (strongly colloquial)

Etymology

From Old Norse þik, from Proto-Germanic *þek, from Proto-Indo-European *te-ge.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

dig

  1. you (objective case, singular)
    Jag såg dig aldrig där
    I never saw you there
  2. reflexive case of du: compare yourself
    Skulle du vilja lära dig jonglera?
    Would you like to learn how to juggle?
    Skar du dig på kniven?
    Did you cut yourself on the knife?

Usage notes

Note that some verbs have special senses when used reflexively. For example, do not confuse du lär dig att... ("you learn to...") [reflexive] with jag lär dig att... ("I teach you to...") or du lär dig själv att... ("you teach yourself to..."). Here, lär means teach(es) if it is not reflexive, but learn(s) if it is reflexive. Thus, the separate pronoun "dig själv" is needed when object and subject agree, even though the verb should not be used in the reflexive case.

Also note that in the imperative, when there's usually no explicit subject given, the "själv" is dropped.

Declension

Swedish personal pronouns
Number Person Type Nominative Oblique Possessive
common neuter plural
singular first — jag mig, mej3 min mitt mina
second — du dig, dej3 din ditt dina
third masculine (person) han honom, han2, en5 hans
feminine (person) hon henne, na5 hennes
gender-neutral (person)1 hen hen, henom7 hens
common (noun) den den dess
neuter (noun) det det dess
indefinite man or en4 en ens
reflexive — sig, sej3 sin sitt sina
plural first — vi oss vår, våran2 vårt, vårat2 våra
second — ni er er, eran2, ers6 ert, erat2 era
archaic I eder eder, eders6 edert edra
third — de, dom3 dem, dom3 deras
reflexive — sig, sej3 sin sitt sina
1Neologism. Usage has increased since 2010, and has gained widespread acceptance today.
2Informal
4Dialectal, also used lately as an alternative to man, to avoid association to the male gender.
5Informal, somewhat dialectal
6Formal address
7Discouraged by the Swedish Language Council

See also

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