Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective US, Canada
Ready forimmediate commencement ofexcavation andconstruction .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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How many times were we using the phrase shovel-ready just two years ago?
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Afterall, the first stimulus plan to provide jobs through so-called "shovel-ready" projects hasn't done much to bring unemployment below 9 percent.
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But federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood opted to spend nearly all the available funds cash on construction and manufacturing - in other words, what used to be called "shovel-ready" projects.
The Seattle Times 2011
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Okay, we lost grandma to cancer because the Blue Cross was more of a double-cross when they told us she'd cost them enough and they weren't paying more, but at least Barack Husein Obama didn't make her shovel-ready.
Brian Ross: The Do-It-Yourself Deprogrammers Guide to Fox News Zombies Brian Ross 2010
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Okay, we lost grandma to cancer because the Blue Cross was more of a double-cross when they told us she'd cost them enough and they weren't paying more, but at least Barack Husein Obama didn't make her shovel-ready.
Brian Ross: The Do-It-Yourself Deprogrammers Guide to Fox News Zombies Brian Ross 2010
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Most likely to succeed: shovel-ready: an infrastructure projects that can be started quickly when funds become available.
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Okay, we lost grandma to cancer because the Blue Cross was more of a double-cross when they told us she'd cost them enough and they weren't paying more, but at least Barack Husein Obama didn't make her shovel-ready.
Brian Ross: The Do-It-Yourself Deprogrammers Guide to Fox News Zombies Brian Ross 2010
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This would create a stampede to produce real "shovel-ready" domestic investment and jobs.
Al Checchi: Government's Travels Al Checchi 2011
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Okay, we lost grandma to cancer because the Blue Cross was more of a double-cross when they told us she'd cost them enough and they weren't paying more, but at least Barack Husein Obama didn't make her shovel-ready.
Brian Ross: The Do-It-Yourself Deprogrammers Guide to Fox News Zombies Brian Ross 2010
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Okay, we lost grandma to cancer because the Blue Cross was more of a double-cross when they told us she'd cost them enough and they weren't paying more, but at least Barack Husein Obama didn't make her shovel-ready.
Brian Ross: The Do-It-Yourself Deprogrammers Guide to Fox News Zombies Brian Ross 2010
skipvia commented on the word shovel-ready
I heard this term (referring to construction projects that are ready to be implemented) for the first time today on NPR and was surprised to find it in fairly common use. There's even a shovelready.com.
December 9, 2008
sionnach commented on the word shovel-ready
I guess you could refer to this as a kind of proactive debottlenecking.
December 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word shovel-ready
In a political context it could have completely different connotations: "That was a shovel-ready speech if I ever heard one," or "It looks like Ted Stevens is about shovel-ready."
December 9, 2008
reesetee commented on the word shovel-ready
Ha! That's what I was thinking, skip.
December 9, 2008
bilby commented on the word shovel-ready
I did some gardening last weekend. My old tomato plants are shovel-ready.
December 9, 2008
reesetee commented on the word shovel-ready
"Governors and economic development agencies use the phrase all the time now. It has even been modified--a witness testifying at a House of Representatives hearing spoke of 'shovel-readiness' in October. Since Obama's 'Meet the Press' appearance, a string of governors, including Maryland's Martin O'Malley, have issued statements crowing about their shovel-ready projects.
"Shovel-ready, in other words, has arrived."
-- "The Obama Buzzword That Hit Pay Dirt," WashingtonPost.com, 1/8/09
January 19, 2009
rolig commented on the word shovel-ready
I give this word maybe six months at most. Then it will itself be shovel-ready in Skipvia's sense of the word.
January 19, 2009
reesetee commented on the word shovel-ready
Let's hope so. ;-)
January 19, 2009
bilby commented on the word shovel-ready
Worm-ready!
January 19, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word shovel-ready
Is it at all like turnkey? Because people are still using that--turnkey nuclear power plants, for example.
Unless I'm misremembering...
January 19, 2009
rolig commented on the word shovel-ready
A turnkey is an old word for jailer/gaoler! But what about plug-and-play, as in "plug-and-play nuclear power plants".
January 19, 2009
bilby commented on the word shovel-ready
Plug-and-pray?
January 19, 2009
rolig commented on the word shovel-ready
LOL, exactly.
January 19, 2009
sionnach commented on the word shovel-ready
Turkeys have nuclear power plants?
The sky is falling!
The sky is falling!
January 19, 2009
reesetee commented on the word shovel-ready
C_b: Yes, it's supposed to have a meaning similar to "turnkey," as they used to use it when referring to nuclear power plants.
January 20, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word shovel-ready
"I mean, I'm set to go! I'm a shovel-ready girlfriend!"
—Alex, Doonesbury
February 24, 2009