# spad
## English
### Etymology 1

Shortening of special adviser.

#### Alternative forms

* SpAd, SpAD

#### Noun

spad (plural spads)
* (UK politics, informal) A government adviser, often in a political or media role.
** 1997 November, Reddy Hannah with Wimbush, Angela and Linesberry, Debbie, “Abbreviations and Acronyms”, in Dr. Russell G. Swenson, editor, Defense and Intelligence Abbreviations and Acronyms‎, Washington, DC: Joint Military Intelligence College, archived from the original on 18 September 2017, page 192:SPAD Special Advisor
** 2009, Ben Wright, Hidden world of the political advisers‎, BBC:A successful stint as a spad can be a crucial political apprenticeship - as many of the current crop of professional politicians including the Miliband brothers, David Cameron and George Osborne can testify - so long as they stay in the dark.
** 2012, Avoid The Thick of It-style spad appointments, ministers told, The Guardian:
    The hit BBC sitcom satirising the inner workings of Whitehall and the so-called spads contains "more than a grain of truth", the head of the cross-party public administration select committee has warned.

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

spad (plural spads)
* (mining) A nail one or two inches long, of iron, brass, tin, or tinner iron, with a hole through the flattened head, used to mark stations in underground surveying.

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

spad (plural spads)
* Clipping of spadona/spadone.
** 1911 September, contributed by Cyphers Incubator Co., “Ostrich Farming in South Africa”, in American Poultry World, volume II, number 11, Buffalo, N.Y.: American Poultry Publishing Co., page 966:No. 6.—Spadonas or spads, the first wing-quills of the chick, clipped at about six months.
** 1921 September 7, The New York Times, volume LXX, number 23,237, New York, N.Y., page 24, column 6:RAW OSTRICH FEATHERS / Primes, Wings, White Feminas, Spads, Etc.
** 1924 February 12, “On Ostrich Feathers”, in The Manchester Guardian, number 24,175, page 6, column 4:“What d’you mean—‘feathers’,” asked the tanned young public school man who volunteered to trot me round, “spads, second-after-chicks, fancies, natals, black butts, adults, juvenals, byocks, chicks, primes, feminas, or what?” […] The first white ones we call spads. […] Two or three months after that clipping we pull out the spad quills.
** 1959, The Standard Bank Review, The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, page 15:An improvement was noted in the demand for femina wings, spads and long bodies;

### Anagrams

* DAPs, daps, PADS, pads, APDs, PDAs, APDS, ASPD, SaPD

## Czech
### Etymology

Analyzable as s- +‎ pád (“fall”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈspat]

### Noun

spad m inan
* fallout

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “spad”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
* “spad”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Verb

spad
* imperative of spada

## Polish
### Etymology

Deverbal of spadać.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈspat/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -at
* Syllabification: spad

### Noun

spad m inan
* (printing) bleed
* windfall (fallen nut or fruit)
* (collective) fallen nuts or fruit
* slope, gradient

#### Declension
### Further reading

* spad in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* spad in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Scottish Gaelic
### Etymology

Possibly related to spaid (“spade”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /sbad/

### Verb

spad (past spad, future spadaidh, verbal noun spadadh, past participle spadte)
* to flatten
* to floor, to knock down
* to kill

#### Conjugation

$^1$ Lewis dialect form

### References

“spad” in Am Faclair Beag - Scottish Gaelic Dictionary.
* ↑ MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “spad-”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎, Stirling, →ISBN

## Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Swedish spadh, from Old Norse spað, ultimately from the root of spänna (“to tighten, pull”). Cognate with Icelandic spað and Danish spad.

### Noun

spad n
* (cooking) broth, decoction (water that something has been boiled in (whether used as an ingredient or not))
    korvspadsausage broth (water that sausages have been boiled in)
* (colloquial, usually in the shortened definite form "spat") lake- or seawater, drink
    trilla i spa(de)tfall into the drink

#### Usage notes

Colloquial sense often used in the abbreviated definite singular form spat, for example hoppa i spat ("jump in the water") or trilla i spat ("fall in the water").

#### Derived terms

* klart som korvspad

#### See also

* buljong
* fond

### References

* spad in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* spad in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* spad in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
* spad in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)