Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DIG, v.t. [pret. digged or dug; pp. digged or dug; Sw. dika; Dan. diger, to dig, to ditch; Sw. dike, a ditch, Dan. dige; D. dyk, a dyke; G. deich; Sax. dic, id.; Sax. dician, to ditch; Eth. ደሐየ dachi. Class Dg, No. 14. The Irish, tochlaim, tachlaim, to dig, may be from the same root.]

1. To open and break or turn up the earth with a spade or other sharp instrument. Be first to dig the ground. – Dryden.
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 mole.
4. To pierce with a pointed instrument; to thrust in. Still for the growing liver digged his breast. – Dryden. 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.