To turn over soil with a spade to loosen the ground for planting.
Origin
From Middle English spade, from Old English spada, spade, spadu, from Proto-Germanic *spadǭ, *spadô, *spadō. Cognate with Dutch spade, Old Frisian spada, Old Saxon spado, German Spaten, Hunsrik Spaad. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sph₂-dʰ-, whence also Ancient Greek σπάθη ("blade"), Hittite, Persian سپار ("plow"), Northern Luri ئەسپار ("digging") and Central Kurdish ئەسپەر, ئەسپەرە.