in spades

spade ¹  (spd)

n.

1. A sturdy digging tool having a thick handle and a heavy, flat blade that can be pressed into the ground with the foot.

2. Any of various similar digging or cutting tools.

tr.v. spad·ed, spad·ing, spades

To dig or cut with a spade.

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[Middle English, from Old English spadu.]

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spader n.

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spade ²  (spd)

n.

1. Games

a. A black, leaf-shaped figure on certain playing cards.

b. A playing card with this figure.

c. also spades (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards represented by this figure.

2. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a Black person.

Idiom:

in spades

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

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[Italian spade, pl. of spada, card suit, from Latin spatha, sword, broad-bladed stirrer, from Greek spath, broad blade.]

Thesaurus

Adv.

1.

in spades - without question and beyond doubt; "it was decidedly too expensive"; "she told him off in spades"; "by all odds they should win" by all odds, decidedly, definitely, emphatically, unquestionably