SPOON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spoon mean? 

• SPOON (noun)
  The noun SPOON has 3 senses:

1. a piece of cutlery with a shallow bowl-shaped container and a handle; used to stir or serve or take up food

2. as much as a spoon will hold

3. formerly a golfing wood with an elevated face

  Familiarity information: SPOON used as a noun is uncommon.

• SPOON (verb)
  The verb SPOON has 2 senses:

1. scoop up or take up with a spoon

2. snuggle and lie in a position where one person faces the back of the others

  Familiarity information: SPOON used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPOON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A piece of cutlery with a shallow bowl-shaped container and a handle; used to stir or serve or take up food

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("spoon" is a kind of...):

container (any object that can be used to hold things (especially a large metal boxlike object of standardized dimensions that can be loaded from one form of transport to another))

cutlery; eating utensil (tableware implements for cutting and eating food)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spoon"):

dessert spoon (a spoon larger than a teaspoon and smaller than a tablespoon)

runcible spoon (a fork-like spoon with a cutting edge; coined by Edward Lear)

soup spoon; soupspoon (a spoon with a rounded bowl for eating soup)

sugar shell; sugar spoon (a spoon for serving sugar; often made in the shape of a seashell)

tablespoon (a spoon larger than a dessert spoon; used for serving)

tea maker (a covered spoon with perforations)

teaspoon (a small spoon used for stirring tea or coffee; holds about one fluid dram)

wooden spoon (a spoon made of wood)

Derivation:

spoon (scoop up or take up with a spoon)

Sense 2

Meaning:

As much as a spoon will hold

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

spoon; spoonful

Context example:

he added two spoons of sugar

Hypernyms ("spoon" is a kind of...):

containerful (the quantity that a container will hold)

Derivation:

spoon (scoop up or take up with a spoon)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Formerly a golfing wood with an elevated face

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("spoon" is a kind of...):

wood (a golf club with a long shaft used to hit long shots; originally made with a wooden head)

• SPOON (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they spoon    ... he / she / it spoons   
Past simple: spooned   
Past participle: spooned   
-ing form: spooning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Scoop up or take up with a spoon

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

spoon the sauce over the roast

Hypernyms (to "spoon" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

"Spoon" entails doing...:

immerse; plunge (thrust or throw into)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

The women spoon water into the bowl

Derivation:

spoon (a piece of cutlery with a shallow bowl-shaped container and a handle; used to stir or serve or take up food)

spoon (as much as a spoon will hold)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Snuggle and lie in a position where one person faces the back of the others

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

smooch; spoon

Hypernyms (to "spoon" is one way to...):

make out; neck (kiss, embrace, or fondle with sexual passion)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

If Traddles ever for an instant missed the tea-spoons that were still to be won, I have no doubt it was when he handed the Beauty her tea.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The move began; and Miss Bates might be heard from that moment, without interruption, till her being seated at table and taking up her spoon.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

It had five well-marked footpads, an indication of long nails, and the whole print might be nearly as large as a dessert-spoon.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The ship lay very broad off, so we thought it better spooning before the sea, than trying or hulling.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“Tut, John,” whispered Aylward, “you never were a marksman. Why must you thrust your spoon into this dish?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Don't substitute another item, such as a kitchen spoon.

(Medicines and Children, Food and Drug Administration)

"Me loves evvybody," she once said, opening her arms, with her spoon in one hand, and her mug in the other, as if eager to embrace and nourish the whole world.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She hastened to ring the bell; and when the tray came, she proceeded to arrange the cups, spoons, &c., with assiduous celerity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The fourth, “Who has been meddling with my spoon?”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

She spilled her food from her spoon, and could place no reliance in her afflicted arm.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)