wooden spoon
/ˈwʊdən spuːn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.75 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The lowest appointee of the junior year; sometimes, one especially popular in his class, without reference to scholarship. Formerly, it was a custom for classmates to present to this person a wooden spoon with formal ceremonies.
American usage; Dated
Example Sentences
- "Earnestly bent upon fulfilling the weighty, nay solemn, responsibilities of his office at all hazard, even at the risk of so far neglecting his parliamentary duties as to appear upon the division-list less frequently than any of his colleagues, Sir John Pakington wore the wooden spoon at the whitebait dinner, though with an air of waggery — almost as a decoration."
- "We submit that a wooden spoon of our day would not be justified in calling Galileo and Napier blockheads because they never heard of the differential calculus."
Usage
- Australian usage
- New Zealand usage
- Dated
- American usage