A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1683
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Spading, vbl. n. [e.m.E. spading (1647).] A spade's depth, the quantity of earth that may be lifted with a spade at one time. — 1683 Reid Sc. Gard'ner (1683) 83, 84.
Cut the turf or surface of your ditch, and lay a … row of the first spading alongst by the brink of the ditch, … on the top of that, lay one row of quicks … and lay another spading above them [etc.] 1683 Reid Sc. Gard'ner (1683) 84.
Plant them [sc. the hawthorn] … in the good earth, delve them in spading by spading
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"Spading vbl. n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/spading>
