dipper vs spade

dipper

noun
  • A person employed to assist a bather in and out of the sea. 

  • A Baptist or Dunker. 

  • A person employed in a tin plate works to coat steel plates in molten tin by dipping them. 

  • Any snack food intended to be dipped in sauce. 

  • The control in a vehicle that switches between high-beam and low-beam (i.e. dips the lights), especially when used to signal other vehicles. 

  • A cup-shaped vessel with a long handle, for dipping into and ladling out liquids; a ladle or scoop. 

  • Any of various small passerine birds of the genus Cinclus that live near fast-flowing streams and feed along the bottom. 

  • A pickpocket. 

  • One who, or that which, dips (immerses something, or itself, into a liquid). 

spade

noun
  • A cutting instrument used in flensing a whale. 

  • A garden tool with a handle and a flat blade for digging. Not to be confused with a shovel which is used for moving earth or other materials. 

  • A playing card marked with the symbol ♠. 

  • A castrated man or animal. 

  • A black person. 

  • A hart or stag three years old. 

verb
  • To turn over soil with a spade to loosen the ground for planting. 

How often have the words dipper and spade occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )