ladle

From Middle English ladel, from Old English hlædel, derived from Proto-Germanic *hlaþaną (“to load”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂- (“to put, lay out”), same source as Lithuanian kloti (“to spread”), [1][2] equivalent to lade +‎ -le (“agent suffix”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.dəl/

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• Rhymes: -eɪdəl

ladle (plural ladles)

1. A deep-bowled spoonlike utensil with a long, usually curved, handle.
   • 1680, Robert Boyle, Experiments and Notes about the Producibleness of Chemical Principles:

     When the materials of glass have been kept long in fusion, the mixture casts up the superfluous salt, which the workmen afterwards take off with ladles.

2. (metallurgy) A container used in a foundry to transport and pour out molten metal.
3. The float of a mill wheel; a ladle board.
4. An instrument for drawing the charge of a cannon.
5. A ring, with a handle or handles fitted to it, for carrying shot.

• (deep-bowled spoonlike utensil): dipper

• (deep-bowled spoonlike utensil): serving spoon

ladle (third-person singular simple present ladles, present participle ladling, simple past and past participle ladled)

1. (transitive) To pour or serve something with a ladle.

   One worker ladled molten steel into the shot sleeve.

   The host ladled the soup into her guests' bowls.

• Adell, Della