Dig \Dig\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dugor Digged; p. pr. & vb. n. Digging. -- Digged is archaic.]

[OE. diggen, perh. the same word as diken, dichen (see Dike, Ditch); cf. Dan. dige to dig, dige a ditch; or (?) akin to E. 1st dag. ???.]

1. To turn up, or delve in, (earth) with a spade or a hoe; to open, loosen, or break up (the soil) with a spade, or other sharp instrument; to pierce, open, or loosen, as if with a spade.

Be first to dig the ground. --Dryden.

2. To get by digging; as, to dig potatoes, or gold.

3. To hollow out, as a well; to form, as a ditch, by removing earth; to excavate; as, to dig a ditch or a well.

4. To thrust; to poke. [Colloq.]

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. --Robynson (More's Utopia).

To dig down, to undermine and cause to fall by digging; as, to dig down a wall.

To dig from, out of, out, or up, to get out or obtain by digging; as, to dig coal from or out of a mine; to dig out fossils; to dig up a tree. The preposition is often omitted; as, the men are digging coal, digging iron ore, digging potatoes.

To dig in, to cover by digging; as, to dig in manure.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Digging \Dig"ging\, n.

1. The act or the place of excavating.

2. pl. Places where ore is dug; especially, certain localities in California, Australia, and elsewhere, at which gold is obtained. [Recent]

3. pl. Region; locality. [Low]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)