spoon
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: spo͞on
ipa: /spuːn/
ipa: /spun/
rhymes: -uːn
Forms: form: spoons
form: spooning
form: spooned
form: 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)peh₂- (“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).
Senses: examples: text: Sarah spooned some apple sauce onto her plate.
text: 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.
ref: 1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 365:
glosses: To serve using a spoon; to transfer (something) with a spoon.
examples: text: By the light of the silvery moon, / I want to spoon, / To my honey I'll croon love's tune, […]
ref: 1909, “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”, Ed[ward] Madden (lyrics), Gus Edwards (music), New York, N.Y.: Gus Edwards Music Pub Co, →OCLC, pages 4–5:
text: Do you think we spoon and do? We only talk.
ref: 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 7, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
glosses: To flirt; to make advances; to court, to interact romantically or amorously.
examples: (transitive or intransitive, informal, of persons, by extension) To have sex in such a position.
glosses: To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons.
raw_tags: of persons
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in the Guardian:
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
tennis
qualifier: croquet
glosses: To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.
glosses: To fish with a concave spoon bait.
examples: text: He had with him all the tackle necessary for spooning pike.
ref: 1888, Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere:
glosses: To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait.
Derived terms: word: big spoon
word: little spoon
word: spooner
word: spoon-feed
word: spoon off
word: spoon out
Related terms: cutlery
ladle
silverware