spoon

Meaning

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 three wood.
5. (slang) An oar.
6. A type of metal lure resembling the concave head of a tablespoon.
7. (informal) A spoon excavator.
8. (slang) A simpleton, a spoony.
9. A safety handle on a hand grenade, a trigger.
10. (slang) 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. (informal) To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons.
4. To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.
5. To fish with a concave spoon bait.
6. To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait.

Verb

Alternative form of spoom

Concepts

spoon

ladle

scoop

teaspoon

spoonful

dipper

tablespoon

spoon-bait

smooch

handle

spade

string

scraper

wooden ladle

key

draw

excerpt

extract

brass ladle

fishing lure

golf club

hit ball up

minnow

troll

spoon bait

cave

coo

woo

cochleare

spoon slicker

drop bucket

grab bucket

hoist bucket

lift van

skip

swinging hopper

stir

scoop up

large

tree

romance

shovel

small spoon

soup spoon

spatula

fork

knife

serve

Pronounced as (IPA)

/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)peh₂- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”).
Cognate with Scots spun, spon (“spoon, shingle”), West Frisian spoen, Dutch spaan (“chip, flinders”), German Span (“chip, flake, shaving”), Swedish spån (“chip, flake”), 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).