spoony

adjective \ ˈspü-nē \

variants: or spooney

Examples: spoony in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of spoony

spoonier; spooniest

1 : silly, foolish; especially : unduly sentimental

2 : being sentimentally in love

spoony was our Word of the Day on 02/14/2009. Hear the podcast!

Examples of spoony in a Sentence

the spoony verses of a lovesick soldier to his girl back home

Did You Know?

In 19th-century British slang, spoon meant "simpleton (a meaning that may have been influenced by the "shallowness" of some spoons). That use of "spoon" brought about the adjective "spoony" to describe a silly or foolish person. In time, the foolish manner implied by "spoony" began to take on sentimental and amorous overtones, and it soon became the perfect word for those foolishly head over heels in love. Another "spoon" is a verb referring to love-making or necking. That use of "spoon" may stem from a Welsh custom in which an engaged man presented his fiancé with an elaborately carved wooden spoon.