Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A sharp flat implement, resembling a broad thin chisel, fixed to a pole ten feet or more in length, used to cut the blubber from a whale.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Starbuck took a long cutting-spade pole, and with his knife slightly split the end, to insert the letter there, and in that way, hand it to the boat, without its coming any closer to the ship.

    Moby Dick; or the Whale 2002

  • He now perceived that the Guernsey-man, who had just got into the chains, and was using a cutting-spade, had slung his nose in a sort of bag.

    Moby Dick; or the Whale 2002

  • With a keen cutting-spade, Queequeg lances the gums; then the jaw is lashed down to ringbolts, and a tackle being rigged from aloft, they drag out these teeth, as Michigan oxen drag stumps of old oaks out of wild woodlands.

    Moby Dick; or the Whale 2002

  • It is done by darting a short-handled cutting-spade, to which is attached a rope for hauling it back again.

    Moby Dick; or the Whale 2002

  • But at length we perceived that by one of the unimaginable accidents of the fishery, this whale had become entangled in the harpoon-line that he towed; he had also run away with the cutting-spade in him; and while the free end of the rope attached to that weapon, had permanently caught in the coils of the harpoon-line round his tail, the cutting-spade itself had worked loose from his flesh.

    Moby Dick; or the Whale 2002

  • It is done by darting a short-handled cutting-spade, to which is attached a rope for hauling it back again.

    Moby Dick: or, the White Whale Herman Melville 1855

  • But at length we perceived that by one of the unimaginable accidents of the fishery, this whale had become entangled in the harpoon-line that he towed; he had also run away with the cutting-spade in him; and while the free end of the rope attached to that weapon, had permanently caught in the coils of the harpoon-line round his tail, the cutting-spade itself had worked loose from his flesh.

    Moby Dick: or, the White Whale Herman Melville 1855

  • As he was studying it out, Starbuck took a long cutting-spade pole, and with his knife slightly split the end, to insert the letter there, and in that way, hand it to the boat, without its coming any closer to the ship.

    Moby Dick, or, the whale Herman Melville 1855

  • With a keen cutting-spade, Queequeg lances the gums; then the jaw is lashed down to ringbolts, and a tackle being rigged from aloft, they drag out these teeth, as Michigan oxen drag stumps of old oaks out of wild woodlands.

    Moby Dick: or, the White Whale Herman Melville 1855

  • He now perceived that the Guernsey-man, who had just got into the chains, and was using a cutting-spade, had slung his nose in a sort of bag.

    Moby Dick: or, the White Whale Herman Melville 1855

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