different between spoonbill vs spoon

English

Etymology

From spoon +? bill, owing to the shape of the animal's beak.

Noun

spoonbill (plural spoonbills)

1. Any of various large, long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, which also includes the ibises, that have a large, flat, spatulate bill.
2. (US) A species of fish, Polyodon spathula, native to the Mississippi/Ohio/Missouri river basin, or extinct close relatives.

   Synonym: paddlefish

Translations

Further reading

• spoonbill on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Paddlefish on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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