dig

Pronunciation: /dɪɡ/

The English word “dig” has 20 meanings listed here.

verb

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.
To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.
To investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.
To thrust; to poke.
To defend against an attack hit by the opposing team by successfully passing the ball
To understand.
To appreciate, or like.

noun

An archeological or paleontological investigation, or the site where such an investigation is taking place.
Any act of digging to find or retrieve something.
A thrust; a poke.
A hard blow, especially (boxing) a straight left-hander delivered under the opponent's guard.
A defensive pass of the ball that has been attacked by the opposing team.
An innings.
A cutting, sarcastic remark.
The occupation of digging for gold.
A plodding and laborious student.
A tool for digging.
A rare or interesting vinyl record bought second-hand.

Etymology

From Middle English diggen (“to dig”, 13th c.), an alteration of dīken, from Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, mound up earth”), from Proto-West Germanic *dīkōn, which see for cognates. This verb is denominal from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz (“pool, puddle; dyke, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to stab, dig”). The form with g may have been influenced by Old French *diguer, a variant of…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.