What does "spud" mean?
A potato.
Spud
/spʌd/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A potato.
- Grammar: spud is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: potato, aubergine, bean, beans.
- Usage evidence: In his tavern The Spud Inn, Tom offers a wide range of potato dishes.
How to use "spud"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "spud" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "spud" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "spud" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "spud" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "spud" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "potato" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "spud", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A potato. informal
"We were peeling spuds on afternoon detail back of the lodge at summer camp — Billy Dean and I, and two or three more — and as usual arguing about whether the camp work ought to be done that way or not[…]"
- 2 a sharp hand shovel for digging out roots and weeds wordnet
- 3 A hole in a sock. informal
"He leans over to one side to get the light, as he darns a hole in the heel of a sock. He is getting pretty smart at it now, and no longer makes spuds in the sock to chafe his heels."
- 4 an edible tuber native to South America; a staple food of Ireland wordnet
- 5 A type of short nut (fastener) threaded on both ends.
"With the tank resting upside down on an old towel or blanket, use a spud wrench or a large pair of channel-type pliers to loosen the spud nut."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 Anything short and thick. obsolete
"As I turned out of the wood, I heard the shrill tone of infant wailing; and as I came towards the cottage, I saw a fine flaxen-headed urchin, some six or seven years old, stamping and beating himself with his clenched little spuds of fists, in a perfect ecstasy of passion […]"
- 7 A piece of dough boiled in fat. US, dialectal, obsolete
- 8 A testicle. plural-normally, slang
- 9 A dagger. obsolete
- 10 A digging fork with three broad prongs.
- 11 A tool, similar to a spade, used for digging out weeds etc.
"1728, Jonathan Swift, A Pastoral Dialogue, 1910, William Browning (editor), The Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume 2, 2004, Gutenberg eBook #13621, My love to Sheelah is more firmly fixt, / Than strongest weeds that grow these stones betwixt: / My spud these nettles from the stone can part; / No knife so keen to weed thee from my heart."
- 12 A barking spud; a long-handled tool for removing bark from logs.
- 13 A movable post through a sleeve in the hull of a work barge to anchor it to the bottom of a body of water.
- 14 A short central rod in a lighting fixture, for attachment to the light.
"This spigot (spud) is used to support the lamp, and allows it to be turned from side to side. The spud fits into a socket in a bracket (receptable^([sic])) or a C-clamp. This fixture enables you to suspend the lighting fixture from an overhead bar […]"
Verb
- 1 To dig up weeds with a spud. transitive
"There was thistle-spudding all over the Marsh; an army of thistles, an army of spudders."
- 2 produce buds, branches, or germinate wordnet
- 3 To begin drilling an oil well; to drill by moving the drill bit and shaft up and down, or by raising and dropping a bit. transitive
"A rope called the jerk line is attached to the wrist pin of the band-wheel crank, brought inside the derrick, and attached to the part of the drilling cable which extends from the crown pulley to the bull-wheel shaft by a curved metal slide called a spudding shoe. (See fig. 8.)"
- 4 initiate drilling operations, as for petroleum wordnet
- 5 To remove the roofing aggregate and most of the bituminous top coating by scraping and chipping. transitive
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To set up a recreational vehicle (RV) at a campsite, typically by leveling the RV and connecting it to electric, water, or sewer hookups. transitive
Proper Noun
- 1 A game for three or more players, involving the gradual elimination of players by throwing and catching a ball.
Example
"In his tavern The Spud Inn, Tom offers a wide range of potato dishes."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "spud"?
Common synonyms include: potato, aubergine, bean, beans, bourgeon, burgeon forth.
How do you use "spud" in a sentence?
In his tavern The Spud Inn, Tom offers a wide range of potato dishes.
How do you pronounce "spud"?
Pronounced /spʌd/.
Etymology
From Middle English spudde (“small knife”). Origin unknown; probably related to Danish spyd, Old Norse spjót (“spear”), German Spieß (“spear; spike; skewer”). Compare English spit (“sharp, pointed rod”). The use of the term for a potato perhaps first appeared in New Zealand and Australian dialect and slang.