tablespoon

Etymology

From table + spoon.

noun

1. (Canada, US) A large spoon, used for eating food from a bowl.
   Their eggs were deposited on a few bits of straw, and great caution was necessary in attempting to procure them, as the slightest touch crumbled their frail tenement into dust. By means of a tablespoon, I was enabled to procure many of them. 1840, John James Audubon, The Birds of America, volume 1, page 178
2. (Australia, New Zealand, Northern UK) A spoon too large for eating, usually used for cooking or serving.
3. (cooking) A unit of volume, the value of which varies regionally; in the US: three teaspoons or one half fluid ounce or roughly 15 ml; in Britain and Canada: exactly 15 ml; in Russia 18 ml; in Australia: four teaspoons or 20 ml.
   1995 May 22, Salad Recipes, New York, page 51, Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a nonstick skillet until hot and quickly saute the goat-cheese buttons on both sides until brown.
   In Australia, 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml, and there are 4 teaspoons in the Australian tablespoon. 2003, Better Homes and Gardens, Biggest Book of Bread Machine Recipes, page 416
   2006, Tempted: 150 Very Wicked Desserts, Murdoch Books, UK, copyright page, If you are using a 15 ml (3 teaspoon) tablespoon, for most recipes the difference will not be noticeable.
   2012, James Armstrong, Kellee Hollyman, General, Organic, and Biochemistry: An Applied Approach, Cengage Learning, US, page 27, The problem gives us a number of tablespoons of cooking oil and asks us to convert this amount into milliliters. We are also told that one tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons, but this is a relationship between two units, not an actual measurement.