[f. SPOON sb.]
I. 1. trans. To lift or transfer by means of a spoon. Chiefly with preps. and advs., as into, off, out, up.
1715. Disc. Death, 75. How must his meat be chewed for him, and Papp spooned into his Mouth.
1826. Disraeli, V. Grey, II. v. She negligently spooned her soup, and then, after much parade, sent it away untouched.
1845. Alb. Smith, Fort. Scattergood Fam., xxii. Mr. Bam at the sideboard … spooning up the [salad-]dressing.
1860. Dickens, Uncomm. Trav., xix. He … spooned his soup into himself with a malignancy of hand and eye that blighted the amiable questioner.
1905. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, p. lxvii. The spoons were used to spoon out the incense.
fig. and transf. 1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, V. 161. A pewter age,… An age of scum, spooned off the richer past.
1870. H. A. Nicholson, Man. Zool., xxxiv. 193. The expanded epipodite of the second pair of maxillæ, which constantly spoons out the water from … the branchial chamber.
2. In games: a. Croquet. (See quot. 1896.)
1865. F. Locker, Lond. Lyrics, Mr. Placid’s Flirtation, vii. Belabour thy neighbour, and spoon through thy hoops.
1872. R. C. A. Prior, Notes Croquet, 56. Spoon is a term that could hardly have been suggested by any application of a mallet to a ball.
1896. Encycl. Sport, I. 254. The following are foul strokes…: To spoon i. e. to push a ball without an audible knock.
b. Cricket. To hit or lift (the ball) up in the air with a soft or weak stroke.
1879. Boy’s Own Paper, 13 Dec., 168/2. To the younger boys he gave slow balls, which they were induced to ‘spoon,’ and were caught out in consequence.
1882. Daily Tel., 17 May, 3/7. Having made five he spooned one to long off.
c. Golf. To hit (a ball) in putting so as to lift it.
1896. W. Park, Game of Golf, 217. The ball must be fairly struck at, and not pushed, scraped or spooned.
3. To catch (fish) by means of a spoon-bait.
1888. Mrs. H. Ward, R. Elsmere, 346. He had with him all the tackle necessary for spooning pike.
4. intr. To lie close together, to fit into each other, in the manner of spoons.
1887. Lee Meriwether, in Harper’s Mag., April, 781/2. Two persons in each bunk, the sleepers ‘spooning’ together, packed like sardines.
1894. Outing, XXIV. 343/2. The precision with which we could ‘spoon’ that sad night was truly beautiful to behold.
b. trans. To lie with (a person) spoon-fashion.
1887. Amélie Rives, in Harper’s Mag., Dec., 49/2. ‘Now spoon me.’
Sterling stretched himself out on the warm flag-stone, and the boy nestled up against him.
5. To hollow out, make concave, after the fashion of a spoon.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 459. (Golf), The face of the brassy is often ‘spooned’ or sloped backward, so as to raise the ball in the air.
II. 6. intr. To make love, esp. in a sentimental or silly fashion. colloq.
1831. Lady Granville, Lett. (1894), II. 77. The billiard room, in which they spooned.
1864. Meredith, Emilia, xxxvi. You might have—pardon the slang—spooned, who knows?
1872. Lever, Ld. Kilgobbin, lxxix. So long as a man spoons, he can talk of his affection.
1898. Wollocombe, Fr. Morn till Eve., vii. 84. Many danced, while others spooned under the influence of the summer moonlight.
b. Const. on (a person).
1882. Annie Edwardes, A Ballroom Repentance, I. 68. The young woman with ribbons, you know, that you were spooning on, down by the wall, there?
7. trans. To court or pay addresses to (a person), esp. in a sentimental manner.
1877. Mrs. Forrester, Mignon, I. 252. It was pleasant to spoon her when there was nothing else to do.
1894. K. Grahame, Pagan Papers, 148. When a Fellow was spooning his sister once, they used to employ him to carry notes.
