spade

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do the spadework

To do the necessary preparatory work or research to successfully complete a given task or objective. Likened to working the soil with a spade when preparing to plant something. If you are looking to start your own business, you have to be sure to do the spadework first. I was up all night doing the spadework for my first case as a lawyer.

(as) black as the ace of spades

Completely black; totally without light or color. ("Spades" is a black suit in a deck of cards.) The basement gives me the creeps, it's as black as the ace of spades down there!

call a spade a spade

To address or describe the true nature of someone or something, even if it is unpleasant. The term originated from a translation of an ancient Greek phrase, but is considered offensive by some due to the later use of the word "spade" as a racial slur. I know you like Jason, but he's a jerk! I'm sorry, but I have to call a spade a spade. You have to call a spade a spade and acknowledge the corruption built into this system!

See also: call, spade

(as) cocky as the king of spades

Conceited or haughty. Don't invite Joe to lunch unless you want to hear him brag about all the important things he's doing in his new job. He's just as cocky as the king of spades lately.

in spades

In large quantity or to an extreme degree. A con artist needs charm, and she had it in spades. This campaign has had drama in spades, but not much discussion of the issues.

See also: spade

*black as a skillet

and *black as a stack of black cats; *black as a sweep; *black as coal; *black as night; *black as pitch; *black as the ace of spades

completely dark or black. (*Also: as ~.) I don't want to go down to the cellar. It's as black as a skillet down there. Her hair was black as a stack of black cats. After playing in the mud all morning, the children were as black as night. The stranger's clothes were all black as pitch.

call a spade a spade

Fig. to call something by its right name; to speak frankly about something, even if it is unpleasant. (Considered offensive by some. Use only with discretion.) Well, I believe it's time to call a spade a spade. We are just avoiding the issue. Let's call a spade a spade. The man is a liar.

See also: call, spade

*cocky as the king of spades

boastful; overly proud. (*Also: as ~.) He'd challenge anyone to a fight. He's as cocky as the king of spades. She strutted in, cocky as the king of spades.

in spades

in the best or most extreme way possible; extravagantly. He flunked the test in spades. He succeeded at life in spades—honors degree, great career, rich wife, lovely children, and early retirement.

See also: spade

spade something up

to turn over the soil in a garden plot with a spade. Please go out and spade the garden up so I can plant the potatoes and onions. I will spade up the garden when I have time.

call a spade a spade

Speak frankly and bluntly, be explicit, as in You can always trust Mary to call a spade a spade. This term comes from a Greek saying, call a bowl a bowl, that was mistranslated into Latin by Erasmus and came into English in the 1500s. Also see tell it like it is.

See also: call, spade

do the spadework

Make the preliminary preparations or do the preliminary research for something. For example, The department head did all the spadework for this agreement. This expression transfers the heavy spading required to prepare for planting to other kinds of preparation. [c. 1900]

in spades

Considerably, in the extreme; also, without restraint. For example, They were having money problems, in spades, or Jan told him what he really thought of him, in spades. This expression alludes to spades as the highest-ranking suit in various card games, such as bridge, and transfers "highest" to other extremes. [Colloquial; 1920s]

See also: spade

call a spade a spade

If you call a spade a spade, you speak honestly and directly about a subject even if it offends people. In the meantime, Whyte is emerging as an outspoken voice who is willing to call a spade a spade. I'm not at all secretive, and I'm pretty good at calling a spade a spade. Note: You can also say that someone calls a spade a shovel when they speak extremely honestly and directly. He is never afraid to call a spade a shovel — and that is why he has universal respect in the game. Note: In a play by the Ancient Greek dramatist Menander, one of the characters says `I call a fig a fig, and a spade a spade'.

See also: call, spade

in spades

COMMON

1. If you have something in spades, you have a lot of it. The job required determination and ambition — and she had both qualities in spades.

2. If something happens in spades, it happens to a great degree. All this effort has paid off in spades.

See also: spade

call a spade a spade

speak plainly or bluntly, without avoiding issues which are unpleasant or embarrassing.

A variation on this phrase, dating from the early 20th century and used for humorous emphasis, is call a spade a shovel .

1998 Spectator A man whom I might not agree with where politics are concerned, but one who calls a spade a spade.

See also: call, spade

in spades

to a very high degree; as much as or more than could be desired. informal

This expression derives from the fact that spades are the highest-ranking suit in the card game bridge.

1996 Time Out Wit, vitality, heart, story-telling flair: the movie has each in spades.

See also: spade

call a ˌspade a ˈspade

speak openly and directly about something unpleasant: I believe in calling a spade a spade. When a patient’s going to die, I say so. Most people prefer to know the truth. OPPOSITE: beat about the bush

See also: call, spade

in ˈspades

(informal) in large amounts or to a great degree: He’d got his revenge now, and in spades.

Spades are one of the four kinds of playing cards. They are the highest cards in the game of bridge.

See also: spade

in spades

mod. in the best way possible; extravagantly. He flunked the test in spades.

See also: spade

call a spade a spade

To speak plainly and forthrightly.

See also: call, spade

in spades

To a considerable degree: They had financial trouble in spades.

See also: spade

References in classic literature ?

I followed with the spade over my shoulder, dragging my snake.

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And he actually stopped digging, threw his spade over his shoulder and walked off, without even glancing at her or saying good-by.

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He handled it and leaned on it in a way that showed how much more familiar it was to him than that new spade he was so anxious about.

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The doctor had thumbed over all his books of knowledge for the occasion, and the black fisherman was engaged to take them in his skiff to the scene of enterprise, to work with spade and pickax in unearthing the treasure, and to freight his bark with the weighty spoils they were certain of finding.

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One or two strokes of a spade upturned the blade of a large Spanish knife, and, as we dug farther, three or four loose pieces of gold and silver coin came to light.

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He would dash his spade into the ground and walk to and fro before it.

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The earth near the spot where the spade was found was carefully examined, and the result was the finding of the dead body of a man.

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Three days of labor with the spade and the sieve produced no results of the slightest importance.

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Against the last stripe of the green-gold sunset he saw a black human silhouette; a man in a chimney-pot hat, with a big spade over his shoulder.

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Which sentiment I shall thus give to the English reader: "You provide the noblest materials for building, when a pickaxe and a spade are only necessary: and build houses of five hundred by a hundred feet, forgetting that of six by two.

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The little girl tried to say it in French, but could not remember the French for spade; the mother prompted her, and then told her in French where to look for the spade.

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All this was gall and wormwood to the heart of Gabriel Grub; and when groups of children bounded out of the houses, tripped across the road, and were met, before they could knock at the opposite door, by half a dozen curly-headed little rascals who crowded round them as they flocked upstairs to spend the evening in their Christmas games, Gabriel smiled grimly, and clutched the handle of his spade with a firmer grasp, as he thought of measles, scarlet fever, thrush, whooping-cough, and a good many other sources of consolation besides.

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That's the sexton's spade, and it's a well-used one, as you see.

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I have seen Mohegan and the Leather-Stocking, with my own eyes—and my eyes are as good as anybody’s eyes—I have seen them, I say, both going up the mountain and coming down it, with spades and picks; and others have seen them carrying things into their hut, in a secret and mysterious manner, after dark.

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Tess soon perceived as she walked in the flock, sometimes with this one, sometimes with that, that the fresh night air was producing staggerings and serpentine courses among then men who had partaken too freely; some of the more careless women also were wandering in their gait--to wit, a dark virago, Car Darch, dubbed Queen of Spades, till lately a favourite of d'Urberville's; Nancy, her sister, nicknamed the Queen of Diamonds; and the young married woman who had already tumbled down.