c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 471/1 Spudde, cultellus vilis.

c1450 Cast. Persev. 1402 With my spud of sorwe swote, I reche to þyne herte rote.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 274/2 Spudde.

1589 A. Fleming tr. Virgil Georgiks ii. 24 in A. Fleming tr. Virgil Bucoliks The Volces also bearing darts (or spuds in shape like spits).

1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xxix. i. 352 The one..with a spud or dagger was wounded almost to death.

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Spud, a short scurvy knife.

1823–4 in Poole Wexford Gloss. (1867) 69 Spud, a knife.

1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. C The Husbandman which liueth in durty and stiffe clayes, can neuer goe to plough without..the Aker-staffe,..a pretty bigge cudgell, of about a yarde in length, with an Iron spud at the end.

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Sss^v/1 A Spud, or little Fellow.

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Spud,..a Short-arse, or little despicable Fellow.

a1825– in dialect glossaries (E. Angl., Essex, Devon, Cornw.)

1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words II Spud, a baby's hand. Somerset.

1900 Daily News 26 Apr. 3/1 That baby..everlastingly holds out its spuds of arms.

1891 F. Wyatt Phosphates of Amer. iv. 51 The boats are held in position at the four corners by ‘spuds’ or strong square poles with iron points, which are dropped into the water before dredging is begun.

1911 C. Prelini Dredges & Dredging xx. 166 The bow spuds are of great size, 43 in. square and 52 ft. long.

1925 G. W. Pickels Drainage & Flood-control Engin. xiv. 397 Spuds are devices for holding the hull still while the dredge is working. There are three of them, one at the center of the stern and one at each side near the front end. The rear spud is always vertical and consists of a heavy timber with a pointed iron shoe at its lower end which moves in a box or guide frame attached to the hull. When lowered, the pointed end is forced into the bottom of the ditch or river and prevents the rear end of the hull from moving. The spud is raised by a cable operated by the spud engine. The side spuds may be either vertical or inclined.

1925 G. W. Pickels Drainage & Flood-control Engin. xiv. 398 Inclined spuds are fastened to the A-frame and their lower ends rest on the banks, hence they are called bank spuds.

1969 R. Hammond Mod. Dredging Pract. iv. 136 The spuds are provided with sliding collars in order to allow for the wide range of dredging depths.

1905 Internat. Libr. of Technol. LXXI. §15. 68 The end..of the spud is threaded iron-pipe size for screwing into the tapping of an ordinary iron kitchen boiler.

1907 R. M. Starbuck Mod. Plumbing Illustr. 123 Ventilation..consists in connecting a pipe from the local vent spud on the water-closet bowl to a heated flue.

1908 A. G. King Pract. Steam & Hot Water Heating xi. 105 The branches should be one size larger than the vertical pipe or ‘spud’ supplying the radiator valve, or one size larger than the riser which they feed.

1972 J. Hastings Plumber's Compan. 184 The ‘spud connection’ is a brass fitting comprising a socket on one end for receiving the nozzle and on the other end a male thread for connecting a pipe.

1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 112/2 Spud barber, a potato peeler (prison).

1961 G. Foulser Seaman's Voice 48 The galley-boy [was] just a spudbarber after all.

1940 Daily Mail 7 Sept. 3/8 Here are some current military phrases, interpreted:..‘Spud-bashing’—Potato peeling.

1980 Times 13 Nov. 10/1 Between dashing home from the office..and having a bath, there is not much time for spud bashing.

1975 Offshore Sept. 49-04/3 Spud cans are designed for soft seabeds, giving minimum penetration.

1976 Offshore Platforms & Pipelining 53/3 The tower base consists of a truss-reinforced stiffened shell called a spud can... After the tower is uprighted, the spud can is artificially forced into the ocean bottom until the desired load-carrying capability is reached.

1957 Globe Mag. (Toronto) 29 June 4/2 (caption) Spud Islanders are known throughout Canada for the quality of their potatoes.

1962 G. MacEwan Blazing Old Cattle Trail xxxiii. 222 In 1900, the twenty-four-year-old ‘Spud Islander’ journeyed to the far Northwest.

1937 ‘J. Curtis’ There ain't no Justice xxiv. 245 You mean she's in the spud line?

1967 H. W. Sutherland Magnie vi. 80 It couldn't have been himself that put Kathleen Ertall in the spud line.

1939 W. T. Walters Steam & Hot Water Fitting x. 145 Spud Wrenches. This type of wrench is another handy tool. It is made to fit the spuds of the different sizes of the union radiator valves and traps.

1960 S. P. Oppenheimer Erecting Struct. Steel vii. 93 The open-end spud wrench..is the most common... It is so called because the handle is formed into a long, heavy pin (or spud) that is thrust through and used by the erection men for matching up holes in connections to be fastened together.

1960 D. A. Halperin Building with Steel xii. 163/1 It is permissible to tighten the bolts with a long handled socket or spud wrench.

1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved xviii. 121 I have found out a more certaine way which will destroy them at once, spudding up... I caused them to be spudded up by the root.

1839 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 50 Then a ride over hill and dale: then spudding up some weeds from the grass.

1842 Penny Cycl. XXIV. 21 He waits till the dog indicates the presence of the mole, and then spears or spuds the animal out as it moves in its run.

1884 American 9 183 If he had spent a whole day in ‘spudding’ the thistles out of a small field.

1828–32 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Spud, v.t., to dig or loosen the earth with a spud.

1889 C. Edwardes Sardinia 127 They spudded among the vines.

1886 Sci. Amer. 21 Aug. 116 A 12 inch hole is usually drilled or spudded down to the rock.

1913 V. B. Lewes Oil Fuel 64 If the hole is not deep enough, it has to be ‘spudded out’ to the necessary depth.

1924 Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists 8 643 The driller, with his hand on the brake and familiar with the action of his machinery and pump since the well was ‘spudded’ in, is by far the best judge of the formation in which he is drilling.

1928 Publ. Texas Folk-lore Soc. vii. 59 He had a 100,000 barrel gusher and was spudding in on another location.

1948 Sun (Baltimore) 16 Apr. 12/1 Drillers spudded in the first well of the big Leduc field in November, 1946.

1966 Southern Reporter CLXXX. 746/2 Substantial surface preparations to drill are sufficient to be considered ‘commencement’ of drilling operations for lease-clause purposes,..provided that such preliminary operations are continued..until well is actually spudded in.

1967 Economist 18 Nov. 788/2 The company has a world-wide business instrumentation for well-drilling.., whenever ‘wildcats are spudded’.

1975 BP Shield Internat. May 1/2 BP's drilling contractors..will spud and drill to completion the first Forties well.

1977 Irish Times 8 June 10/3 The Deminex consortium yesterday disclosed that it spudded-in its exploratory well in block 34/15, off the west coast, on Friday last.