Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Dig
Dig, v. i. 1. To work hard or drudge; specif. (U. S.): To study ploddingly and laboriously. [Colloq.]
Peter dug at his books all the harder. Paul L. Ford.
2. (Mach.) Of a tool: To cut deeply into the work because ill set, held at a wrong angle, or the like, as when a lathe tool is set too low and so sprung into the work.
To dig out, to depart; to leave, esp. hastily; decamp. [Slang, U. S.]
Dig, n. 1. A tool for digging. [Dial. Eng.]
2. An act of digging.
3. An amount to be dug.
4. (Mining) = Gouge.