dig

Etymology 1

From Middle English diggen (“to dig”), alteration of Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, to mound up earth”) (compare Old English dīcere (“digger”)) from dīc, dīċ (“dike, ditch”) from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz, *dīkiją (“pool, puddle”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰīgʷ-, *dʰeygʷ- (“to stab, dig”). Additionally, Middle English diggen may derive from an unrecorded suffixed variant, *dīcgian. Akin to Danish dige (“to dig, raise a dike”), Swedish dika (“to dig ditches”). Related to Middle French diguer (“to dig”), from Old French dikier, itself a borrowing of the same Germanic root (from Middle Dutch dijc). More at ditch, dike.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) 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.
   They dug an eight-foot ditch along the side of the road.
   In the wintertime, heavy truck tires dig into the road, forming potholes.
   If the plane can't pull out of the dive it is in, it'll dig a hole in the ground.
   My seven-year-old son always digs a hole in the middle of his mashed potatoes and fills it with gravy before he starts to eat them.
2. (transitive) To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
   to dig potatoes
   to dig up gold
3. (mining) To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
4. (US, slang, dated) To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.
   Peter dug at his books all the harder. 1894, Paul Leicester Ford, The Honorable Peter Stirling
5. (figurative) To investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.
   to dig up evidence
   to dig out the facts
   Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology. The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight. 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist
6. (US, slang, dated, originally African-American, widespread from 1930s until early 1960s, remains in jazz musician slang) To understand, to like.
7. To thrust; to poke.
   He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.
8. (volleyball) To defend against an attack hit by the opposing team by successfully passing the ball

noun

1. An archeological or paleontological investigation, or the site where such an investigation is taking place.
2. A thrust; a poke.
   He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.
   Why this already very fast train should be speeded up still further, when none of the other more easily timed S.R. West of England trains has a single minute pared from its schedule, is unexplained - unless this is a playful dig at the Western Region, most of whose expresses, by reason of additional stops, will be decelerated from the same date. 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593
3. (volleyball) A defensive pass of the ball that has been attacked by the opposing team.
4. (cricket) An innings.
5. A cutting, sarcastic remark.
   Buckram ! that's a dig at my trade. 1838, John Baldwin Buckstone, The Irish Lion. A Farce, in One Act, page 15
   Entitled 'On Several Mistakes of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia', this document is broader, more theoretical and more rambling than the Polish equivalent, identifying deep problems in many spheres. But it does get in a few digs at Slánský, accusing him of having made mistakes in recruitment to the communist party. 2012, Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56, page ccxcix
   Unfortunately, the man was too busy, although he said hello to the Young Man politely enough and found the time to make a few digs about the postponement of the elections. 2013, William T. Vollmann, An Afghanistan Picture Show: Or, How I Saved the World
   In 'Sorted for E's and Whizz', Pulp's Jarvis Cocker wrote about losing an important part of his brain somewhere in a field in Hampshire, and took a dig at the rave scene for being hypocritical – idealistic and friendly when everyone was coming up on their pills, less so when everyone's coming down and you're trying to get a lift home – and essentially meaningless. 2018, Paul Maunder, The Wind At My Back: A Cycling Life
   She could have made a dig about the size of his rockets. 2021-12-08, Arwa Mahdawi, “Elon Musk is learning a hard lesson: never date a musician”, in The Guardian
6. The occupation of digging for gold.
   Don Quixote told us that Western Australia was the same to him as any other country, except that it possessed the charm of novelty, and he assured us that as soon as he was well enough he would be off on the "dig" once more. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 207
7. (US, colloquial, dated) A plodding and laborious student.
   Between the two extremes of college men the unsocial dig and the flunking swell, lies the majority, who, acknowledging the duty and merit of hard work, see the value in social and recreative line, but are at somewhat of a loss, seemingly, how to proportionize the time given to the different sides of college life, or how far to allow themselves to go on the more attractive side. 1892, Occident - Volume 22, page 36
8. (UK, dialect, dated) A tool for digging.
9. (music, slang) A rare or interesting vinyl record bought second-hand.
   a £1 charity shop dig

Etymology 2

From African American Vernacular English; due to lack of writing of slave speech, etymology is difficult to trace, but it has been suggested that it is from Wolof dëgg, dëgga (“to understand, to appreciate”). It has also been suggested that it is from Irish dtuig. Others do not propose a distinct etymology, instead considering this a semantic shift of the existing English term (compare dig in/dig into).

verb

1. (dated slang) To understand.
   You dig?
   McCord has blown. Mitchell has blown. No tap on my telephone / Halderman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, and Dean / It follows a pattern if you dig what I mean 1974, “H2Ogate Blues”, in Winter in America, performed by Gil Scott-Heron
2. (dated slang, transitive) To appreciate, or like.
   Baby, I dig you.
   Oh, but California / California, I'm coming home / I'm going to see the folks I dig 1971, Joni Mitchell (lyrics and music), “California”, in Blue

Etymology 3

Shortening.

noun

1. (medicine, colloquial) Digoxin.
   dig toxicity