— scooper , n.
/skoohp/ , n.
1. a ladle or ladlelike utensil, esp. a small, deep-sided shovel with a short, horizontal handle, for taking up flour, sugar, etc.
2. a utensil composed of a palm-sized hollow hemisphere attached to a horizontal handle, for dishing out ice cream or other soft foods.
3. a hemispherical portion of food as dished out by such a utensil: two scoops of chocolate ice cream.
4. the bucket of a dredge, steam shovel, etc.
5. Surg. a spoonlike apparatus for removing substances or foreign objects from the body.
6. a hollow or hollowed-out place.
7. the act of ladling, dipping, dredging, etc.
8. the quantity held in a ladle, dipper, shovel, bucket, etc.
9. a news item, report, or story first revealed in one paper, magazine, newscast, etc.; beat.
10. Informal. news, information, or details, esp. as obtained from experience or an immediate source: What's the scoop on working this machine?
11. a gathering to oneself or lifting with the arms or hands.
12. Informal. a big haul, as of money.
13. Television , Motion Pictures. a single large floodlight shaped like a flour scoop.
v.t.
14. to take up or out with or as if with a scoop.
15. to empty with a scoop.
16. to form a hollow or hollows in.
17. to form with or as if with a scoop.
18. to get the better of (other publications, newscasters, etc.) by obtaining and publishing or broadcasting a news item, report, or story first: They scooped all the other dailies with the story of the election fraud.
19. to gather up or to oneself or to put hastily by a sweeping motion of one's arms or hands: He scooped the money into his pocket.
v.i.
20. to remove or gather something with or as if with a scoop: to scoop with a ridiculously small shovel.
[ 1300-50; (n.) ME scope schope; (v.) ME scopen, deriv. of the n. ]