digging

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪɡɪŋ(ɡ)/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡɪŋ

Noun

digging (countable and uncountable, plural diggings)

1. The action performed by a person or thing that digs.
2. A place where ore is dug, especially certain localities in California, Australia, etc. where gold is obtained.
3. (dated, colloquial) Accommodation; lodgings; digs.
4. (archaic, colloquial, often in the plural) Region; locality.
   • 1843, “The Big Bear of Arkansas by T. B. Thorpe, Esq. of Louisiana”, in William T. Porter, editor, The Big Bear of Arkansas and Other Sketches Illustrative of Characters and Incidents in the South and South-west‎^[1], Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson And Brothers, page 18:

     This knock-down argument in favour of big mosquitoes used the Hoosier up, and the logician started on a new track, to explain how numerous bear were in his "diggins," where he represented them to be "about as plenty as blackberries, and a little plentifuler.”

Derived terms

• digging fork
• digging stick
• gold-digging
• gold digging
• gum-digging

 

Related terms

• digs

Verb

digging

1. present participle and gerund of dig