Definition of "spudding"

From these spuddings the approximate percentage loss of capacity can be estimated, but no reliable volume figures are obtained because the exact location of the spuddings is not known, and the area of the lake is seldom accurately known.

1941, James George Needham, Paul Bigelow Sears, Aldo Leopold, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, A Symposium on Hydrobiology, page 36

Of the 21 holes the small consortium drilled, all of them proved to be dry except two promising spuddings in Libya during 1958.

1963, Forbes, page 26

On the first two spuddings a standard rotary bottom hole assembly was used and was unsuccessful because of[sic] top hole deviations between 4 and 6 degrees were measured.

1998, Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, Proceedings [of The] Drilling Conference, page 428