spad
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English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Shortening of special adviser.
Alternative forms[edit]
Noun[edit]
spad (plural spads)
- (UK politics, informal) A government adviser, often in a political or media role.
- 1997 November 1, Hannah, Reddy; Wimbush, Angela;Linesberry, Debbie, “Abbreviations and Acronyms”, in Dr. Russell G. Swenson, editor, Defense and Intelligence Abbreviations and Acronyms[1], Washington, DC: Joint Military Intelligence College, archived from the original on March 12, 2016, page 192:
- SPAD Special Advisor
- 2009, Ben Wright, Hidden world of the political advisers, BBC:
- A successful stint as a spad can be a crucial political apprenticeship - as many of the current crop of professional politicians including the Miliband brothers, David Cameron and George Osborne can testify - so long as they stay in the dark.
- 2012, Avoid The Thick of It-style spad appointments, ministers told, The Guardian:
- The hit BBC sitcom satirising the inner workings of Whitehall and the so-called spads contains "more than a grain of truth", the head of the cross-party public administration select committee has warned.
Etymology 2[edit]
Noun[edit]
spad (plural spads)
- (mining) A nail one or two inches long, of iron, brass, tin, or tinner iron, with a hole through the flattened head, used to mark stations in underground surveying.
Etymology 3[edit]
Noun[edit]
spad (plural spads)
- Clipping of spadona/spadone.
- 1911 September, contributed by Cyphers Incubator Co., “Ostrich Farming in South Africa”, in American Poultry World, volume II, number 11, Buffalo, N.Y.: American Poultry Publishing Co., page 966:
- No. 6.—Spadonas or spads, the first wing-quills of the chick, clipped at about six months.
- 1921 September 7, The New York Times, volume LXX, number 23,237, New York, N.Y., page 24, column 6:
- RAW OSTRICH FEATHERS / Primes, Wings, White Feminas, Spads, Etc.
- 1924 February 12, “On Ostrich Feathers”, in The Manchester Guardian, number 24,175, page 6, column 4:
- “What d’you mean—‘feathers’,” asked the tanned young public school man who volunteered to trot me round, “spads, second-after-chicks, fancies, natals, black butts, adults, juvenals, byocks, chicks, primes, feminas, or what?” […] The first white ones we call spads. […] Two or three months after that clipping we pull out the spad quills.
- 1959, The Standard Bank Review, The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, page 15:
- An improvement was noted in the demand for femina wings, spads and long bodies;
Anagrams[edit]
Czech[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
spad m
Further reading[edit]
- spad in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
- spad in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]
Verb[edit]
spad
- imperative of spada
Polish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
spad m inan
Declension[edit]
Declension of spad
Further reading[edit]
- spad in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- spad in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Swedish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old Swedish spadh. Cognate with Icelandic spað and Danish spad.
Noun[edit]
spad n
- broth, decoction
- (colloquial) a body of water
Usage notes[edit]
Colloquial sense often used in the abbreviated definite singular form spat, for example hoppa i spat ("jump in the water") or trilla i spat ("fall in the water").
Declension[edit]
Declension of spad | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Uncountable | ||||
Indefinite | Definite | |||
Nominative | spad | spadet | — | — |
Genitive | spads | spadets | — | — |
References[edit]
- spad in Svensk ordbok (SO)
- spad in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)
Categories:
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:UK politics
- English informal terms
- English terms with quotations
- en:Mining
- English clippings
- Czech terms with IPA pronunciation
- Czech lemmas
- Czech nouns
- Czech masculine nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk non-lemma forms
- Norwegian Nynorsk verb forms
- Polish deverbals
- Polish 1-syllable words
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Polish terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Polish/at
- Rhymes:Polish/at/1 syllable
- Polish lemmas
- Polish nouns
- Polish masculine nouns
- Polish inanimate nouns
- pl:Printing
- Polish collective nouns
- pl:Fruits
- pl:Nuts
- Swedish terms inherited from Old Swedish
- Swedish terms derived from Old Swedish
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish neuter nouns
- Swedish colloquialisms