English Explanatory Dictionary

spoon

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
  2. An implement for stirring food while being prepared; a wooden spoon.
  3. A measure that will fit into a spoon; a spoonful.
  4. A wooden-headed golf club with moderate loft, similar to the modern fairway wood.
  5. An oar.
  6. A type of metal lure resembling the concave head of a tablespoon.
  7. A spoon excavator.
  8. A South African shrub of the genus Spatalla.
  9. A simpleton, a spoony.
  10. A safety handle on a hand grenade, a trigger.
  11. A metaphoric unit of finite physical and mental energy available for daily activities, especially in the context of living with chronic illness or disability.
verb
  1. To serve using a spoon; to transfer (something) with a spoon.
  2. To flirt; to make advances; to court, to interact romantically or amorously.
  3. To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons.
  4. To have sex in such a position.
  5. To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.
  6. To fish with a concave spoon bait.
  7. To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait.
verb
  1. Alternative form of spoom.

Pronunciation

/spuːn/ [ˈspʊu̯n] En-uk-a spoon.ogg En-us-spoon.ogg

Word forms

spoon spoons spooning spooned

Etymology

From Middle English spoon, spoune, spone, spon (“spoon, chip of wood”), from Old English spōn (“sliver, chip of wood, shaving”), from Proto-West Germanic *spānu, from Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, flake, shaving”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peH- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”). Cognate with Scots spun, spon (“spoon, shingle”), West Frisian spoen (“chip”), Dutch spaan (“chip, flinders”), German Span (“chip, flake, shaving”), Swedish spån (“chip, flake”), Norwegian Nynorsk spon (“chip, spoon”), Faroese spónur (“wood chip; spoon”), Ancient Greek σφήν (sphḗn, “wedge”)(though the connection to the Greek is likely impossible by modern reconstructions of PIE). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cuculer, coclear (“spoon”), from Old English cuculer, cuceler, cucler, borrowed from Latin cochlear (“spoon”). The "metaphoric unit of personal energy" sense was coined by writer and disability advocate Christine Miserandino in 2003 (see spoon theory).

Related words

cutlery ladle silverware

Derived words

absinthe spoon apostle spoon baffing spoon bar spoon born with a silver spoon in one's mouth butterspoon caddy spoon caviar spoon deflagrating spoon dig one's grave with a fork and spoon earspoon ear-spoon ear spoon eat something up with a spoon eat up with a spoon egg and spoon race fopoon fpoon gag me with a spoon greasy spoon he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon level spoon love spoon monkey spoon out of spoons salad spoon serving spoon shoe spoon silver spoon silver-spoon socialist slipper spoon slotted spoon spife spindrift spoodle spoonable spoonbait spoonbender spoonbending spoonbill spoonbilled spoon-bowl spoon bowl spoonbread spoon bread spoon chime spoondrift spoon-feed spoon-fed spoonflower spoonful spoon-hook spoon hook spoonie spoonist spoonless spoonlike spoonload spoon lure spoonmaker

Translations

Afrikaans: lepellê Chinese Mandarin: 抱睡 Danish: ligge i ske Dutch: lepeltje-lepeltje liggen Esperanto: kulerumi Finnish: nukkua lusikassa German: Löffelchen schlafen Manx: nuiddree Polish: łyżeczkować Portuguese: deitar de conchinha Portuguese: fazer conchinha Spanish: cucharear Swahili: kijiko Swedish: skeda
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