Basic+ Word of the Day: spoon

spoon (noun, verb) past tense: spooned

A spoon is an eating implement made of a small bowl and a handle.

• When you set the table, place the spoon to the right of the knife.
• A soup spoon is larger than a teaspoon.
• "May I please have a spoon to stir my coffee?"

Spoon also means ‘to eat or serve with a spoon.’

• Judah spoons the ice cream into his mouth.
• The hostess spooned chocolate pudding into each bowl.

Common uses

spoon feed: to provide someone with so much help that they don’t have to think for themselves. Example: “Do your own homework; I refuse to spoon feed you!”

be born with a silver spoon in your mouth: to be born rich. Example: “You don’t appreciate how much things cost because you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth.”

Did you know?

Spooning is a type of cuddling where both people lie on their sides in the same direction, so their bodies are in the shape of spoons. The little spoon is the person in the front; the big spoon is the person in the back.

Related words

spoonful: the amount of something that fits in a spoon.

In pop culture

Listen to Howlin Wolf sing “Spoonful.” In this case, a spoonful is a little bit of something:

There are other meanings of spoon.