Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Dig \Dig\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Dug}or {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.