spoon

v. i. (Naut.) See Spoom. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

We might have spooned before the wind as well as they. Pepys. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To fish with a spoon bait. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. In croquet, golf, etc., to spoon a ball. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. i. To act with demonstrative or foolish fondness, as one in love. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To take up in, or as in, a spoon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Fishing) To catch by fishing with a spoon bait.

He had with him all the tackle necessary for spooning pike. Mrs. Humphry Ward. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

3. In croquet, golf, etc., to push or shove (a ball) with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Zool.) (a) Any one of several species of wading birds of the genera Ajaja and Platalea, and allied genera, in which the long bill is broadly expanded and flattened at the tip. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The roseate spoonbill of America (Ajaja ajaja), and the European spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) are the best known. The royal spoonbill (Platalea regia) of Australia is white, with the skin in front of the eyes naked and black. The male in the breeding season has a fine crest. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) The shoveler. See Shoveler, 2. (c) The ruddy duck. See under Ruddy. (d) The paddlefish. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having the bill expanded and spatulate at the end. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Spoom + drift. ] Spray blown from the tops of waves during a gale at sea; also, snow driven in the wind at sea; -- written also spindrift. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Weak-minded; demonstratively fond; as, spooney lovers. [ Spelt also spoony. ] [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]