Sow vs Dig - What's the difference?
sow | dig |
A female pig.
A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
A mass of metal solidified in a mold.
* 1957 , H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry , p. 160:
(derogatory, slang) A contemptible, often fat woman.
A sowbug.
(military) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, etc.
To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).
(figurative) To spread abroad; to propagate.
* Addison
(figurative) To scatter over; to besprinkle.
* Sir M. Hale
* Milton
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8
, passage=Miss Thorn began digging up the turf with her lofter: it was a painful moment for me. ¶ “You might at least have tried me, Mrs. Cooke,” I said.}}
(label) To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up .
(label) To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.
(label) To investigate, to research, often followed by out'' or ''up .
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= To thrust; to poke.
* Robynson (More's Utopia)
An archeological investigation.
(US, colloquial, dated) A plodding and laborious student.
A thrust; a poke.
(slang) To understand or show interest in.
(slang) To appreciate, or like.
As nouns the difference between sow and dig
is that sow is a female pig while dig is ditch, dyke.As a verb sow
is to scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).sow
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) sowe, from (etyl) sugu, from (etyl) (ae)). See also swine .Noun
(en-noun)- In England, it was generally termed a 'sow' , if the weight was above 10 cwts., if below, it was termed a 'pig' from which the present term 'pig iron' is derived.
- (Craig)
Usage notes
The plural form swine is now obsolete in this sense.Synonyms
* (mass of metal solidified in a mold) ingot * (contemptible woman) bitch, cowDerived terms
* make a silk purse of a sow's earSee also
* boar * hog * pigEtymology 2
From (etyl) sowen, from (etyl) .Verb
- When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.
- As you sow , so shall you reap.
- And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.
- The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles.
- [He] sowed with stars the heaven.
Synonyms
* plant, scatterDerived terms
* reap what one sows *dig
English
(wikipedia dig)Etymology 1
From (etyl) , from (etyl) (m), itself a borrowing of the same Germanic root (from (etyl) (m)). More at ditch, dike.Verb
The Evolution of Eyeglasses, passage=Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology. The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}
- You should have seen children dig and push their mothers under the sides, saying thus to them: Look, mother, how great a lubber doth yet wear pearls.
Derived terms
* dig in * dig into * dig over * dig out * dig upNoun
(en noun)- He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.
Synonyms
* (archaeological investigation) excavationEtymology 2
From (African American Vernacular English); due to lack of writing of slave speech, etymology is .Random House Unabridged, 2001 Others do not propose a distinct etymology, instead considering this a semantic shift of the existing English term (compare dig in/dig into'').eg: OED, "dig", from ME vt ''diggenVerb
- You dig ?
- Baby, I dig you.