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spoon

noun
/spuːn/

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).

  1. derived from *(s)peH-✻ — “chip, shaving, log, length of wood”
  2. inherited from *spēnuz✻ — “chip, flake, shaving”
  3. inherited from *spānu✻
  4. inherited from spōn — “sliver, chip of wood, shaving”
  5. inherited from spoon

Definitions

  1. An implement for eating or serving

    An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.

    • He must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.

  2. An implement for stirring food while being prepared

    An implement for stirring food while being prepared; a wooden spoon.

  3. A measure that will fit into a spoon

    A measure that will fit into a spoon; a spoonful.

    • While Ms. Fly was with Sharon in the kitchen, Sharon asked the defendant for a “spoon of drugs.” Defendant refused and stated that he did not know where drugs could be obtained.
  4. ›+ 15 more definitions

    1. A wooden-headed golf club with moderate loft, similar to the modern fairway wood.

    2. An oar.

      • To this class college rowing offers no attractions or place, nor are they generally looked upon by the artists of the "spoons" as a desirable addition […]

    3. A type of metal lure resembling the concave head of a tablespoon.

    4. A spoon excavator.

    5. A South African shrub of the genus Spatalla.

    6. A simpleton, a spoony.

      • To get all the advantages of being with men of this sort, you must know how to draw your inferences and not be a spoon who takes things literally.

    7. A safety handle on a hand grenade, a trigger.

    8. A metaphoric unit of finite physical and mental energy available for daily activities,…

      A metaphoric unit of finite physical and mental energy available for daily activities, especially in the context of living with chronic illness or disability.

      • We therefore have to meticulously plan out each day with the small amount of spoons we have. Each task will cost us at least one spoon.
      • Once you're out of spoons for the day, that's it, no more energy. So when you get down to your last couple of spoons for the day, you have to decide, what's the priority?

    9. To serve using a spoon

      To serve using a spoon; to transfer (something) with a spoon.

      • Sarah spooned some apple sauce onto her plate.
      • Talbot champed away, finally spooning in resignation with the tinned fruit salad, calm of mind reached with the last piece of cheese, all passion spent in the third drained coffee-cup.

    10. To flirt

      To flirt; to make advances; to court, to interact romantically or amorously.

      • By the light of the silvery moon, / I want to spoon, / To my honey I'll croon love's tune, […]
      • Do you think we spoon and do? We only talk.

    11. To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner…

      To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons.

    12. To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an…

      To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.

      • Rosol spurned the chance to finish off a shallow second serve by spooning into the net, and a wild forehand took the set to 5-4, with the native of Prerov required to hold his serve for victory.

    13. To fish with a concave spoon bait.

    14. To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait.

      • He had with him all the tackle necessary for spooning pike.

    15. Alternative form of spoom.

      • We might have spooned before the wind as well as they.

The neighborhood

Derived

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 · +56 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at spoon. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01spoon02ladle03molten04red-hot05glows06glow07emit08machine09airplane10spoonful

A definitional loop anchored at spoon. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at spoon

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA