spatule
(ˈspætjuːl)
Also 7 spattule.
[a. OF. spatule (also mod.F.), ad. L. spatula spatula. Cf. MDu. spatule, spatele.]
1. = spatula 1.
| a 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 40 Anoynt it aboue þe sore wiþ a penne or feþer or wiþ a spatule. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 508 Stirring it with spattules or ladles often⁓times in a day, vntill it be resolued into the vineger. 1658 Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 294 Frequently stirring the bottom of your pan with the spatule. 1674 Guidott Observ. at Bath in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 130 The very knives, and spatules, [which] I put in to stir some residence in the bottom. 1778 Ann. Reg. 124/2 With a kind of wooden spatule he scrapes all the blood. 1905 Blackw. Mag. May 630/2 A small ‘spatule’ in silver..which I acquired. |
| Comb. a 1686 Sir T. Browne Norf. Birds Wks. 1852 III. 314 They..are..remarkable in their white colour, copped crown, and spoon or spatule-like bill. |
2. A spatulate terminal portion in the tail-feathers of a bird; a spatulate formation or part.
| 1873 Proc. Zool. Soc. 430 For a long time its tail had perfect spatules. |