diggers

Noun

digger (plural diggers)

1. A large piece of machinery that digs holes or trenches.
   • The cables are placed from 16 in. to 2 ft. down, and to save time and labour use was made of a mechanical digger lent by the Swedish State Railways.1952 January, “Electrification Progress in Norway”, in Railway Magazine, page 55

   Synonyms:

   excavator

2. A tool for digging.
   • The post hole digger did look ancient. I was pretty certain myself that it hadn′t dug any holes for a long, long time.2009, Sharon Bomgaars, The Best Clubhouse Ever, page 143
3. (slang) A spade (playing card).
4. One who digs.
   • You′ve tried the supposedly sure method of squirting the digger with water from a hose, and that hasn′t worked.[…]This step will discourage 99 percent of the diggers.1997, Barbara J. Wrede, Civilizing Your Puppy, page 75
5. (Australia, obsolete) A gold miner, one who digs for gold.
   • A successful Australian digger — successful, not merely in siftings and washings, but bearing the title, and its best credentials, of a “nuggetter” − came down from Forest Creek recently and took up his abode in a low lodging-house in Little Bourke Street, Melbourne.1853, Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words, volume 21, page 64
6. (Australia, informal) An Australian soldier.
   • Costume played a key part in his differentiation from British soldiers as the Digger uniform came to embody Australian versions of masculinity and mateship.1998, Helen Gilbert, Sightlines: Race, Gender, and Nation in Contemporary Australian Theatre, page 191

See all 12 meanings of digger