scoop

Etymology

From Middle English scope, schoupe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch scoep, scuep, schope, schoepe (“bucket for bailing water”) and Middle Dutch schoppe, scoppe, schuppe ("a scoop, shovel"; > Modern Dutch schop (“spade”)), from Proto-Germanic *skuppǭ, *skuppijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (“to cut, to scrape, to hack”).. Cognate with Old Frisian skuppe (“shovel”), Middle Low German schōpe (“scoop, shovel”), German Low German Schüppe, Schüpp (“shovel”), German Schüppe, Schippe (“shovel, spade”). Related to English shovel.

noun

1. Any cup- or bowl-shaped tool, usually with a handle, used to lift and move loose or soft solid material.
   She kept a scoop in the dog food.
   an ice-cream scoop
2. The amount or volume of loose or solid material held by a particular scoop.
   Use one scoop of coffee for each pot.
   I'll have one scoop of chocolate ice-cream.
3. The act of scooping, or taking with a scoop or ladle; a motion with a scoop, as in dipping or shovelling.
   with a quick scoop, she fished the frog out of the pond.
4. A story or fact; especially, news learned and reported before anyone else.
   He listened carefully, in hopes of getting the scoop on the debate.
   The problem is that the public, disobediently giggling over their social media accounts, reckon they’ve already got the scoop without needing to see the film. 2016-11-07, Peter Bradshaw, “Allied: what happens when a film gets eclipsed by gossip”, in The Guardian
5. (automotive) An opening in a hood/bonnet or other body panel to admit air, usually for cooling the engine.
6. The digging attachment on a front-end loader.
7. A place hollowed out; a basinlike cavity; a hollow.
   Some had lain in the scoop of the rock. 1819, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay
8. A spoon-shaped surgical instrument, used in extracting certain substances or foreign bodies.
9. A special spinal board used by emergency medical service staff that divides laterally to scoop up patients.
10. A sweep; a stroke; a swoop.
11. (Scotland) The peak of a cap.
12. (pinball) A hole on the playfield that catches a ball, but eventually returns it to play in one way or another.
13. (surfing) The raised end of a surfboard.
    This brings the scoop into play as additional wetted surface and slows the board due to its fore-and-aft curvature 1965, John M. Kelly, Surf and Sea, page 116
    [T]he scoop or upward curvature in the front or nose section of a board is designed to keep the board from diving under the surface of the water when the surfer is catching a wave. 1977, Fred Hemmings, Surfing: Hawaii's Gift to the World of Sports, page 59
14. (film, television) A kind of floodlight with a reflector.

verb

1. (transitive) To lift, move, or collect with a scoop or as though with a scoop.
   He used both hands to scoop water and splash it on his face.
   Their first clear opportunity duly came courtesy of a mistake from Russell Martin, who was hustled off the ball by Bale, but the midfielder scooped his finish well over the top as he bore down on the Norwich goal. December 27, 2011, Mike Henson, “Norwich 0 - 2 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport
2. (transitive) To make hollow; to dig out.
   I tried scooping a hole in the sand with my fingers.
3. (transitive) To report on something, especially something worthy of a news article, before (someone else).
   The paper across town scooped them on the City Hall scandal.
4. (music, often with "up") To begin a vocal note slightly below the target pitch and then to slide up to the target pitch, especially in country music.
5. (MTE, slang) To pick (someone) up
   You have a car. Can you come and scoop me?