- [countable]
a garden tool with a broad metal part and a long handle, used for digging 锹；铲 
Turn the soil over with a spade. 用锹把地翻一遍。 - (British English)
The children took their buckets and spades to the beach. 孩子们带上自己的桶和铲子到海滩去了。
Extra ExamplesTopics Gardensc1There was a garden spade in the shed. 工棚里有一把园艺铲。 children playing in the sand with their buckets and spades 拿着桶和小铲在沙地上玩耍的孩子们
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- garden
- use
- bucket and spade
- call a spade a spade
- spades[plural, uncountable]
one of the four suits (= sets) in a pack of cards. The cards have a black design with shapes like pointed leaves with short stems. （纸牌中的）黑桃 
the five/queen/ace of spades 黑桃五／王后／A
- [countable]
one card from the suit called spades 黑桃牌 - [countable] (taboo, slang)
an offensive word for a black person 黑人；黑鬼
Word Originsense 1 Old English spadu, spada, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch spade, German Spaten, also to Greek spathē ‘blade, paddle’.senses 2 to 3 late 16th cent.: from Italian spade, plural of spada ‘sword’, via Latin from Greek spathē.
Idioms
call a spade a spade
to say exactly what you think without trying to hide your opinion 是啥说啥；直言不讳 I believe in calling a spade a spade. 我笃信直言不讳，实话实说。
in spades