Definitions

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

  • noun A utensil consisting of a small, shallow bowl on a handle, used in preparing, serving, or eating food.
  • noun Something similar to this utensil or its bowl, as.
  • noun A shiny, curved, metallic fishing lure.
  • noun A paddle or an oar with a curved blade.
  • noun Sports A three wood golf club.
  • intransitive verb To lift, scoop up, or carry with or as if with a spoon.
  • intransitive verb Sports & Games To shove or scoop (a ball) into the air.
  • intransitive verb Informal To lie down behind and against (another person) so that both bodies face the same direction with the knees drawn up slightly like nested spoons.
  • intransitive verb To fish with a spoon lure.
  • intransitive verb Sports & Games To give a ball an upward scoop.
  • intransitive verb Informal To lie down with another person so that both bodies face the same direction with the knees drawn up slightly like spoons nested in each other.
  • intransitive verb Informal To engage in amorous behavior, such as kissing or caressing.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thin piece of wood; a splinter; a chip.
  • noun A utensil consisting of a bowl or concave part and a handle, used for conveying liquids or liquid food to the mouth.
  • noun Something wholly or in part like a spoon (def. 2) or the bowl of a spoon in shape.
  • noun At Yale, formerly, the student who took the last appointment at the Junior Exhibition; later, the most popular student in a class.
  • noun In pianoforte-making, see damper-lifter.
  • noun In cricket, a mishit which sends the ball high in the air.
  • To take up or out with a spoon or ladle; remove with a spoon; empty or clean out with a spoon: often with up: as, to spoon up a liquid.
  • To lie close to, the face of one to the back of the other, as the bowl of one spoon within that of another. Compare spoon-fashion.
  • In croquet, to use the mallet as a spoon; push or shove the ball along with the mallet instead of striking it smartly as is required by the strict rules of the game.
  • To fish with spoon-bait.
  • To lie spoonfashion. Compare I., 2.
  • Same as spoom.
  • To be a spoon or spoony; be sillily in love.
  • In angling, to fish for with spoon-bait.
  • In golf, croquet, and similar games, to send (the ball) into the air with the club or mallet.
  • Specifically, in cricket, to send (the ball) high in the air by a mishit.
  • In golf, to move (the club) very slowly in putting, as though it were a teaspoon: an unfair stroke.
  • noun A foolish fellow; a simpleton; a spoony; a silly lover.
  • noun A fit of silliness; especially, a fit of silly love.
  • To be spoony about; be in love with; court.

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

  • intransitive verb (Naut.), obsolete See spoom.
  • intransitive verb colloq. To act with demonstrative or foolish fondness, as one in love.
  • intransitive verb To fish with a spoon bait.
  • intransitive verb In croquet, golf, etc., to spoon a ball.
  • noun An implement consisting of a small bowl (usually a shallow oval) with a handle, used especially in preparing or eating food.
  • noun Anything which resembles a spoon in shape; esp. (Fishing), a spoon bait.
  • noun Slang Fig.: A simpleton; a spooney.
  • noun (Golf) A wooden club with a lofted face.
  • noun (Fishing) a lure used in trolling, consisting of a glistening metallic plate shaped like the bowl of a spoon with a fishhook attached.
  • noun a bit for boring, hollowed or furrowed along one side.
  • noun a net for landing fish.
  • noun See under Oar.
  • transitive verb To take up in, or as in, a spoon.
  • transitive verb (Fishing) To catch by fishing with a spoon bait.
  • transitive verb In croquet, golf, etc., to push or shove (a ball) with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.

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

  • verb nautical To turn to port and starboard erratically for short periods of time, in the manner of a sailing boat heading nearly directly into a shifting wind.
  • noun An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
  • noun An implement for stirring food while being prepared; a wooden spoon.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English spōn, chip of wood.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin uncertain. Compare spoom.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English spone ("spoon, chip of wood"), from Old English spōn ("sliver, chip of wood, shaving"), from Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, flake, shaving, spoon”), from Proto-Indo-European *spē- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”). Cognate with Scots spun, spon ("spoon, shingle"), West Frisian spoen, Dutch spaan ("chip, flinders"), Low German spoon ("thin piece of wood, shaving"), German Span ("chip, flake, shaving"), Swedish spån ("chip, cutting"), Norwegian spon ("chip"), Icelandic spánn, spónn, Ancient Greek σφήν (sphḗn, "wedge").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word spoon.

Examples

  • And yes, I do believe that a spoon is an acceptable vehicle for this condiment.

    Chipotle ketchup changes everything | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2009

  • The bending of the spoon is a structural mechanics problem.

    Wolfram Blog : The Spoons and the Summer School 2009

  • Drizzle melted butter and vanilla over crumbs and mix with your hands until thoroughly combined (a spoon is acceptable as well).

    Cherry Nectarine Brown Betty | Baking Bites 2009

  • If the spoon came neither from itself nor from a non-spoon, then we assert that something can come from nothing, and we have not determined why the spoon is a spoon and not anything else, say a fork.

    Hegel on Buddhism 2007

  • A Siwash single hook on the back of a spoon is a classic example.

    25 Tips for Tackle 2003

  • A Siwash single hook on the back of a spoon is a classic example.

    25 Tips for Tackle 2003

  • I thought he was saying that the thing we call a spoon is a prop or stand-in for a specific bunch of communicative understandings.

    The Forest for the Spoons 2004

  • Edward CastronovaI thought he was saying that the thing we call a spoon is a prop or stand-in for a specific bunch of communicative understandings.

    The Forest for the Spoons 2004

  • Edward CastronovaI thought he was saying that the thing we call a spoon is a prop or stand-in for a specific bunch of communicative understandings.

    The Forest for the Spoons 2004

  • I thought he was saying that the thing we call a spoon is a prop or stand-in for a specific bunch of communicative understandings.

    The Forest for the Spoons 2004

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • When I was young, I would say the word spoon 25 or 30 times in succession. I found that most words lose their apparent sound-relevant meaning after doing this. Although I probably explained that incorrectly.

    It was almost as though they took on a different persona.

    November 25, 2008

  • I used to do that with couch.

    November 25, 2008

  • Tim Parks writes about an Italian (adult, at least in terms of years) doing this with bomb in a 'A Year With Verona'.

    November 25, 2008

  • Makes the difference.

    August 1, 2009

  • See badger-poking, for the use of

    May 12, 2018

  • See semantic satiation.

    May 14, 2018