different between dipper vs spoon

English

Etymology

dip +? -er

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?p?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?d?p?/
• Rhymes: -?p?(r)

Noun

dipper (plural dippers)

1. One who, or that which, dips (immerses something, or itself, into a liquid).
   • 1903, Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, page 1189:

     A chocolate dipper dips the cream centers into warm chocolate by hand; when taken out the creams are shaped [...]

   • 2001, Thermal Engineering (Tata McGraw-Hill Education, ?ISBN), page 472:

     When the engine runs the dipper dips in the oil once in every revolution of the crankshaft and the oil is splashed on the cylinder walls.

2. Any of various small passerine birds of the genus Cinclus that live near fast-flowing streams and feed along the bottom.
3. A cup-shaped vessel with a long handle, for dipping into and ladling out liquids; a ladle or scoop.
4. (Britain, India) The control in a vehicle that switches between high-beam and low-beam (i.e. dips the lights), especially when used to signal other vehicles.
5. Any snack food intended to be dipped in sauce.

   chicken dippers

6. (slang) A pickpocket.
   • 1976, Michael Harrison, Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology (page 117)

     It is doubtful if the Victorian Londoner needed any warning, for the artful mobsmen, toolers, whizzers and dippers, together with their stickman accomplices, were everywhere in the crowds, in the underground, on railway trains […]

7. (historical) A person employed in a tin plate works to coat steel plates in molten tin by dipping them.
8. (historical) A person employed to assist a bather in and out of the sea.
9. (historical, informal, Christianity) A Baptist or Dunker.

Synonyms

• (pickpocket): see Thesaurus:pickpocket

Hyponyms

• (Cinclus): Cinclus cinclus (water ouzel)

Derived terms

birds of the genus Cinclus

• white-throated dipper or European dipper (Cinclus cinclus)
• brown dipper, Cinclus pallasii
• American dipper, Cinclus mexicanus
• white-capped dipper, Cinclus leucocephalus
• rufous-throated dipper, Cinclus schulzii

cup-shaped vessel with a handle

• Big Dipper
• Little Dipper

Translations

Anagrams

• ripped

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: spo?on
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /spu?n/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /spun/
• Rhymes: -u?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English spoon, spoune, spone, spon (“spoon, chip of wood”), from Old English sp?n (“sliver, chip of wood, shaving”), from Proto-Germanic *sp?nuz (“chip, flake, shaving”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peh?- (“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”), Faroese spónur (“wood chip; spoon”), Ancient Greek ???? (sph?n, “wedge”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cuculer and coclear (“spoon”) both ultimately borrowed from the Latin.

The "unit of energy" semse was coined by writer, speaker and lupus patient advocate Christine Miserandino in 2003.

Noun

spoon (plural spoons)

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. (golf, archaic) A wooden-headed golf club with moderate loft, similar to the modern three wood.
5. (slang) An oar.
   • 1877, The Country (volumes 1-2, page 339)

     To this class college rowing offers no attractions or place, nor are they generally looked upon by the artists of the "spoons" as a desirable addition […]

6. (fishing) A type of metal lure resembling the concave head of a tablespoon.
7. (dentistry, informal) A spoon excavator.
8. (figuratively, slang, archaic) A simpleton, a spooney.
   • 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 23

     To get all the advantages of being with men of this sort, you must know how to draw your inferences and not be a spoon who takes things literally.

9. (US, military) A safety handle on a hand grenade, a trigger.
10. (slang) A metaphoric unit of energy available for daily activities.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

spoon (third-person singular simple present spoons, present participle spooning, simple past and past participle spooned)

1. To serve using a spoon; to transfer (something) with a spoon.
2. (intransitive, dated) To flirt; to make advances; to court, to interact romantically or amorously.
   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 7

     Do you think we spoon and do? We only talk.

3. (transitive or intransitive, informal, of persons) To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons.
   • 1905 "If the Man in the Moon were a Coon"

     No roaming 'round the park at night / No spooning in the bright moonlight

4. (tennis, golf, croquet) To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.
5. (intransitive) To fish with a concave spoon bait.
6. (transitive) To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait.
   • 1888, Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere

     He had with him all the tackle necessary for spooning pike.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• cutlery
• ladle
• silverware

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain. Compare spoom.

Verb

spoon (third-person singular simple present spoons, present participle spooning, simple past and past participle spooned)

1. Alternative form of spoom

   • We might have spooned before the wind as well as they.

Derived terms

• spoon-drift

Translations

Anagrams

• Poons, no-ops, opson, poons, snoop

Middle English

Noun

spoon

1. Alternative form of spone