Dig (dĭg), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Dug (dŭg) or Digged (dĭgd); p. pr. & vb. n.Digging. — Digged is archaic.] [OE. diggen, perh. the same word as diken, dichen (see Dike, Ditch); cf. Dan. dige to dig, dige a ditch; or (?) akin to E. 1st dag. √67.] 1. To turn up, or delve in, (earth) with a spade or a hoe; to open, loosen, or break up (the soil) with a spade, or other sharp instrument; to pierce, open, or loosen, as if with a spade.
Be first to dig the ground. Dryden.
2. To get by digging; as, to dig potatoes, or gold.
3. To hollow out, as a well; to form, as a ditch, by removing earth; to excavate; as, to dig a ditch or a well.
4. To thrust; to poke.
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. Robynson (More's Utopia).
To dig down, to undermine and cause to fall by digging; as, to dig down a wall. — To dig from, out of, out, orup, to get out or obtain by digging; as, to dig coal from or out of a mine; to dig out fossils; to dig up a tree. The preposition is often omitted; as, the men are digging coal, digging iron ore, digging potatoes. — To dig in, to cover by digging; as, to dig in manure.