Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that shovels.
  • noun Any of several dabbling ducks of the genus Anas having long broad bills used to strain food from mud and water, especially the widely distributed species A. clypeata.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who shovels.
  • noun A duck, Spatula clypeata, having a very broad bill which widens toward the end.
  • noun The spoonbill Platalea leucorodia.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, shovels.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A river duck (Spatula clypeata), native of Europe and America. It has a large bill, broadest towards the tip. The male is handsomely variegated with green, blue, brown, black, and white on the body; the head and neck are dark green. Called also broadbill, spoonbill, shovelbill, and maiden duck. The Australian shoveler, or shovel-nosed duck (S. rhynchotis), is a similar species.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who, or that which, shovels.
  • noun Any of four species of dabbling duck, in the genus Anas, with distinctive spatulate bills.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a worker who shovels
  • noun freshwater duck of the northern hemisphere having a broad flat bill

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

shovel +‎ -er, in the duck's case from the shape of its bill.

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