shovelful, shovel full

[English shovel; -full.] As much as a shovel will hold; enough to fill a shovel. shov-el-ler, shov-el-er, s. [Eng. shovel; -er.] 1. Ord. Lang.: One who shovels; one who works with a shovel. "Of setting a numerous body of shovellers and sweepers to work while the snow is still dropping from the clouds." -London Daily Telegraph. 2. Ornithology : (1) Spatula ( Anas ) clype at a, the Broad-bill (q. v.), or Spoonbill-duck, widely distributed over the northern hemisphere. Length about twenty inches; bill much widened on each side near tip, somewhat resembling that of the Spoonbill; head and upper part of neck in adult male rich green, lower part white, back brown, breast and abdomen chestnut brown. It nests in some dry spot near water, and lays from eight to fourteen greenish buff eggs. (See extract.) "The flesh is tender, juicy, and of good flavor. The excellence of the Canvas-back of America, as an article of food, is proverbial, yet Audubon also says that no sports. man who is a judge will ever go by a Shoveller to shoot a Canvas-back." - Yarrell : British Birds (ed. 4th), iv. 379. (2) The White Spoonbill. [SPOONBILL.) "In a MS. survey of a certain manor [in Su ex] taken in 1570, it is stated that 'in the woods called the West wood and the Haslette, Shovelers and Herons have lately breed [ sic ], and some Shovelers breed there this year.' It is clear that this cannot po ibly refer to the Shoveller Duck."-Yarrell: British Birds (edition 4th), iv. 238.