DIG, verb transitive preterit tense Digger or dug; participle passive Digged or dug. [G.]

1. To open and break or turn up the earth with a spade or other sharp instrument.

Be first to dig the ground.

2. To excavate; to form an opening in the earth by digging and removing the loose earth; as, to dig a well, a pit or a mine.

3. To pierce or open with a snout or by other means, as swine or moles.

4. To pierce with a pointed instrument; to thrust in.

Still for the growing liver digged his breast.

To dig down, is to undermine and cause to fall by digging; as, to dig down a wall.

To dig out, or to dig from, is to obtain by digging; as, to dig coals from a mine; to dig out fossils. But the preposition is often omitted, and it is said, the men are digging coals, or digging iron ore. In such phrases, some word is understood; They are digging out ore, or digging for coals, or digging ore from the earth.

To dig up, is to obtain something from the earth by opening it, or uncovering the thing with a spade or other instrument, or to force out from the earth by a bar; as, to dig up a stone.

DIG, verb intransitive

1. To work with a spade or other piercing instrument; to do servile work.

I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. Luke 16:3.

2. To work in search of; to search.

They dig for it, more than for hid treasures. Job 3:21.

To dig in, is to pierce with a spade or other pointed instrument.

Son of man, dig now in the wall. Ezekiel 8:8.

To dig through, to open a passage through; to make an opening from one side to the other.