shoveling

Verb

shovel (third-person singular simple present shovels, present participle (US) shoveling or (UK) shovelling, simple past and past participle (US) shoveled or (UK) shovelled)

1. To move materials with a shovel.
   • The workers were shovelling gravel and tarmac into the pothole in the road.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To move with a shoveling motion.
   • Already late for work, I shovelled breakfast into my mouth as fast as possible.

See all 5 meanings of shovel

Noun

shovelling (plural shovellings)

1. The act by which something is shovelled.
   • The latter is usually executed two spits deep, with two intermediate shovellings; but in the work in question, we should go down between three and four spits, without any shovellings.1828, Sir Henry Steuart, The Planter's Guide