spud

• WordNet 3.6
  • v spud produce buds, branches, or germinate "the potatoes sprouted"
  • v spud initiate drilling operations, as for petroleum "The well was spudded in April"
  • n spud a sharp hand shovel for digging out roots and weeds
  • n spud an edible tuber native to South America; a staple food of Ireland
  • ***

• Interesting fact: The name of the first menthol cigarette in the United States was "Spud."
• • Spud A dagger. "When he himself might his quietus make
    With a bare bodkin ."
  • Spud A potato.
  • Spud A sharp, narrow spade, usually with a long handle, used by farmers for digging up large-rooted weeds; a similarly shaped implement used for various purposes. "My spud these nettles from the stone can part."
  • Spud Anything short and thick; specifically, a piece of dough boiled in fat.
  • ***

• Interesting fact: Although explorers brought potatoes back from the New World in the early 1500s, Europeans were afraid to eat them for fear that the spuds would give them leprosy. It wasn't until Louis XVI, who was looking for a cheap food source for his starving subjects, served them at the royal table that people were convinced potatoes were safe to eat.
• • n spud A stout knife or dagger.
  • n spud A small spade, or a spade having a small blade, with a handle of any length; a small cutting-blade fixed in the axis of its handle, somewhat like a chisel with a very long handle, for cutting the roots of weeds without stooping.
  • n spud A spade-shaped tool for recovering lost or broken tools in a tube-well.
  • n spud A nail driven into the timbers of a drift or shaft, or fastened in some other way, so as to mark a surveying-station.
  • n spud Any short and thick thing: usually in contempt. Specifically— A piece of dough boiled in fat. Imp. Dict.
  • spud To remove by means of a spud: often with up or out.
  • spud To drill (a hole) by spudding (which see, below).
  • n spud A curved chisel-like tool for removing bark.
  • n spud One of several heavy vertical pieces of timber shod with a pointed iron at the lower end, arranged to slide in guides on a floating dredge. When lowered to the bottom the spuds anchor the dredge and hold it in place against the push of the dredging machinery.
  • n spud In archaeology, one of a class of pecked or polished stone implements varying considerably in size and form, but always having a rather broad blade with a sort of handle of variable length: often referred to as spade-like or paddle-shaped implements.
  • n spud In surgery: A flat spade-like instrument used for the detachment of soft parts from bone.
  • n spud An instrument of similar shape used in the extraction of foreign bodies from the eye.
  • ***

• Interesting fact: When potatoes were first introduced to Europe, people were skeptical and only ate the leaves, which made them sick. They would then throw away the rest, including the actual spud.
• • n Spud spud a small narrow spade with a short handle: any short thick thing, a baby's hand, a potato, &c
  • ***

In literature:

In poetry:

In news:

In science: