▪ I. ladle, n.
(ˈleɪd(ə)l)
Forms: 1–2 hlædel, 3 ladele, 4–5 ladel, 5 laddil, ladill, ladyl, ladyll(e, 5–7 ladell(e, 6 ladil, 7 ladul, 5– ladle.
[OE. hlædel, f. hladan lade v.: see -el.]
1. a. A large spoon with a long handle and cup-shaped bowl, used chiefly for lading liquids.
| a 1000 OE. Gloss. in Haupt Zeitschrift IX. 418 Antlia, mid hlædele. a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia (1886) IX. 264 Cytel, hlædel, pannan. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 187/94 Sethþe salt heo nome And Mid ladeles on is wondene it casten. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 274 A ladel bugge with a longe stele, That cast for to kepe a crokke to saue the fatte abouen. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1162 The cook yscalded, for al his longe ladel. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 283/2 Ladylle, pot spone, concus. 1468–9 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) I. 92, 2 laddils et 1 scomer de cupro pro coquina, 23d. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 36 Some stird the molten owre with ladles great. 1602 Plat Delightes for Ladies Recipe liv, You must haue a fine brason ladle to let run the sugar vppon the seedes. 1680 Boyle Exper. Produc. Chym. Princ. i. iv. 48 The materials of Glass..having been..kept long in fusion, the mixture casts up the superfluous salt, which the work-men take off with Ladles. c 1718 Prior Ladle 135 A ladle for our silver dish Is what I want. 1744 Berkeley Let. Tar Water §2 Wks. 1871 III. 462 Stir..with a wooden ladle, or flat stick. 1773 Lond. Chron. 7 Sept. 248/3 Punch ladles. 1844 Mem. Babylonian P'cess II. 54 Jaffa contains some fine marble fountains, to which ladles are attached by chains, for the convenience of the stranger who is athirst. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Paying-ladle, an iron ladle with a long channelled spout opposite to the handle; it is used to pour melted pitch into the seams. 1895 Daily News 12 Sept. 3/5 An egg-and-ladle race. |
b. In Scottish churches: a similar instrument consisting of a wooden box at the end of a long wooden handle used for taking up the collection and communion tokens.
| 1813 W. Leslie Gen. View Agric. Nairn & Moray 412 The elders make these collections by going round to each with a ladle or small box with a handle to it, when the public worship is concluded. 1830 2nd Rep. Evidence Sel. Comm. State of Poor in Ireland §3369 in Parl. Papers VII. 459 The elders carrying about what they call a ladle. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xi. 81 The elders seized the ladles..and perambulated the kirk. 1929 Life & Work Oct. 232/2 A ladle preserved in the parish church of Foulis Easter. 1960 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) 26 Apr., Long may they continue to use the ladle and metal communion tokens. |
2. In various technical applications.
a. Gunnery. ‘An instrument for charging with loose powder; formed of a cylindrical sheet of copper-tube fitted to the end of a long staff’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk. 1867). Also a similar instrument for removing the shot from a cannon.
| 1497 Nav. Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 85 Charging ladells..ij, Rammers..ij. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 185 We..could not avoyd the danger, to charge and discharge with the ladell, especially in so hotte a fight. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. viii. 34 The Master Gunner hath the charge of the ordnance, and shot, powder, match, ladles [etc.]. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) I 4 b, Cannon are charged..with an instrument..termed a ladle. 1851 Douglas Nav. Gunnery (ed. 3) 518 To practise with the Eprouvette, charge it with a small quantity of loose powder, by means of a ladle. |
b. Founding. A pan with a handle, to hold molten metal for pouring. Also in
Glass-making, a similar instrument used to convey molten glass from the pot to the cuvette.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 206/2 A Ladylle for yettynge, fusorium. 1495 Nav. Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 195 Ladylles of iron to melt lede. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 404 Ladles are of three or four different sizes, and are used for melting the solder. 1839 [see lading vbl. n. 4]. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Ladle, a vessel into which molten metal is conveyed from the furnace or crucible, and from which it is poured into the moulds. |
† 3. Applied to the cup of an acorn.
Obs.| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 172/1 Take of the best Aquavitæ a quarte..and Akorne dishes or Ladles. |
4. One of the float-boards of a water-wheel.
| 1611 Cotgr., Aubes, the short boordes which are set into th' outside of a water-mills wheele; we call them, ladles, or aue-boords. 1673–4 Grew Anat. Plants iii. vii. §6 (1682) 138 The Ladles and soles of a Mill-wheel are always made of Elm. 1731 H. Beighton in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 11 The Ladles or Paddles 14 Foot long. 1875 in Knight Dict. Mech. |
† 5. Sc. ‘A burghal duty charged on grain, meal, and flour, brought to market for sale; also, the proceeds or income obtained from that duty’. Also, ‘The dish or vessel used as the measure in exacting this duty’ (
Jam. Suppl.).
Obs.| 1574 Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1876) I. 14 The casualiteis of the mercat callit the Ladill is sett to Robert Millare, meleman, quhill Whitsone tysday nixtocum. |
6. attrib. and
Comb., as
ladle-staff,
ladle-washer;
ladle-shaped adj.;
ladle-board = ladle 4;
ladle-dues Sc. (see sense 5);
ladle-furnace, a gas furnace in which the metal to be melted is contained in a ladle;
ladle-man,
† (
a) (see
quot. 1750); (
b) a workman who uses a ladle (sense 2 b);
ladle-shell (
local U.S.), a name for certain large shells (
Fulgur,
Sycotypus, etc.), which are or may be used as ladles in baling out boats, etc. (
Cent. Dict.);
ladle-wood Bot., the wood of a S. African tree (
Cassine Colpoon), used for carving (
Treas. Bot. 1866).
| 1744 Desaguliers Exper. Philos. II. 92 Therefore the *Ladle-Board is struck by twice the Matter. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §197 To knock off the Floats or Ladle-boards from the wheels. 1853 Glynn Power Water App. 148 The floats or ladle-boards. |
| 1832–53 Whistle-Binkie (Scot. Songs) Ser. ii. 120 note, Farmer of *ladle-dues. |
| 1880 Cooley's Cycl. Pract. Receipts (ed. 6) I. 772 *Ladle furnace. This takes ladles up to 6½ inches diameter, and will melt 6 to 8 lbs. of zinc in about 15 minutes. |
| 1750 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. III. i. 184 An Insect seldom, or never, misses attacking our green Cherries with so much Diligence and Fury, as to spoil great Numbers of them, by eating into their very Stone; and, because of this hollow Operation, we call them *Ladlemen, or the Green Fly, or Bug. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 13 June 11/1 Thomas Green, a ladleman..was fearfully scalded all over the body. 1885 Census Instructions 93 Bessemer Steel Manufacture..Ladle Man. |
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 384 [The clay] is beaten in with a *ladle-shaped instrument attached to a long handle. |
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 68 Put the Ladle home to the Chamber stedily holding your Thumb upon the upper part of the *Ladle-staff. |
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. v. 219 What arte thou but a luske and a torner of broches and a *ladyl wessher. |
▪ II. ladle, v. (
ˈleɪd(ə)l)
[f. ladle n.] trans. a. To fit up (a water-mill) with ladle-boards. Also
const. up.
b. To lift out with a ladle. Also with
out and
fig.| 1525 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 55 Ladillyng of myll, makyng of the flodde yates. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 945 To ladle, espuiser. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick III. xlviii. 287 Stubb was lustily singing out for some one to ladle him up. 1858 Lytton What Will He do i. iv, Vance ladled out the toddy. 1872 W. H. G. Kingston On Banks Amazon iii. 93 Wooden spoons were served to enable us to ladle up the soup. 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere xiii. 102 Insinuate your fingers softly under him and ladle him out. 1913 R. Brooke Let. 8 Sept. (1968) 508 But it's absurd to ladle out indiscriminate praise, as most people do. 1969 Listener 27 Feb. 278/2, I..was concerned at the way the present system..ladles out routine scientific and technological qualifications which one in five graduates later find are not useful to them. |