I. ˈsküp noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English scope, from Middle Dutch schope, schoepe; akin to Middle Low German schōpe scoop, Middle High German schuobe scoop, Old High German skepfen to form, shape, create, draw up water — more at shape
1. : any of various containers or utensils for holding or removing liquid or loose materials: as
a. : a large ladle : a vessel with a long handle used for dipping or skimming liquids
a scoop for bailing a rowboat
b. : a deep shovel or similar but smaller and handheld implement for digging out and dipping or for shoveling
a coal scoop
a flour scoop
a grain scoop
a measuring scoop
c. : a hemispherical utensil with a handle for dipping out soft food (as ice cream or mashed potatoes)
d. : a small utensil often with a spoon-shaped blade for cutting or gouging ; specifically : a spoon-shaped surgical instrument used in extracting various materials (as debris, pus, foreign bodies)
e. : a receptacle with high curved sides for holding a loose bulk commodity on a weighing scale
f. : the bucket of a dredging machine or an earth-moving vehicle ; also : an earth-moving vehicle having a bucket
g. : cranberry rake
2.
a. : the amount contained in a scoop
a scoop of ice cream
b. : an amount of something obtained in large quantity as if with a scoop (as a large profit in speculation)
had made a huge scoop on the stock exchange — Max Beerbohm
3. : scoop net
4.
a. : the action of taking with a scoop or ladle : a motion with or like that made with a scoop
off these volcanic islands another scoop is made for bait — Time
b. : the act of scooping or the musical effect achieved by it : portamento
with an occasional hoot and a more than occasional scoop to betray the toll time has taken of her voice — Irving Kolodin
c.
(1) : the taking in of all the cards on the table in one play in casino
(2) : scopa
d. : a field hockey stroke executed with the hands apart and the blade of the stick laid back to lift the ball
5.
a. : a place hollowed out : a basin-shaped cavity : hollow
small city rests on a scoop between rocky hills — Springfield (Massachusetts) Union
b. : a shallow depression in the earth prepared by various birds as a foundation for their nest
c. : a funnel-shaped opening for channeling a fluid (as air or oil) into a desired path — compare air scoop
d. : a usually multiple unit and floodlight with a more or less shovel-shaped reflector used especially in movie and television studios
6.
a. : information especially of immediate interest or significance
you heard the hot scoop — J.A.Michener
give him the scoop on the identification — J.K.Harris
b. : an exclusive news report : beat 10b
the story was a scoop by just a few hours — Stephen Watts
men whose self-restraint will give way before their desire for a scoop — Time
7. : a rounded and usually low-cut neckline on a woman's garment
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English scopen, from scope, n.
transitive verb
1.
a. : to take out or up with or as if with a scoop : dip
scoop sugar out of a barrel
scoop the center out of a melon
scooped up another mug of flip — Kenneth Roberts
every time she rolled to leeward, she would scoop up the South Atlantic Ocean — H.A.Chippendale
scooped up a handful of the salty earth — Marion Wilhelm
b. : to gather, take, or get sometimes surreptitiously in a more or less wholesale manner as if with a scoop : pick up
scooped up a couple of cakes of soap from the hotel — Gilbert Millstein
scooping his books up off the ground — Grace Metalious
c. : to lift (the ball) into the air with the stick without taking a preliminary swing in field hockey
2. : to empty by lading
to scoop a boat dry
3. : to make hollow : dig out : excavate
the earth had been scooped away — Willa Cather
4.
a. : to make or shape by or as if by scooping — often used with out
water that by slow attrition had scooped out this wide channel — P.E.More
b. : to cut (material) away along a curved line ; specifically : to make (a garment) with a scoop neck or neckline
a scooped dress
5.
a. : beat 4j
let the radio stations consistently scoop the press, or vice versa — Daniel Melcher & Nancy Larrick
b. : to obtain (a news story) as a beat
c. : to win against : beat 4d
next film … intended to scoop the screen adaptation of the year's biggest stage hit — Lewis Jacobs
6. : to glide from (one tone) to another tone especially in singing so as to sound the intermediate pitches or to begin (a tone) with a slide to the correct pitch
intransitive verb
1. : to do lading, hollowing, or gathering with or as if with a scoop
2. : to scoop a tone
the habit of sliding or scooping is another undesirable feature of singing — Sergius Kagen
she scoops, strains for notes — Robert Evett