spondonicles

S1P3O1N1D2O1N1I1C3L1E1S1
Australia/spɔnˈdɔnəkl̩z/

noun

A metal tool used to pick up a hot pot or billycan which has been on a campfire or other heat source.

Scrabble 17
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Meanings

nounspondonicles pl (normally plural, singular spondonicle)

singular spondonicle · alternative spondonicals

  1. Australiacolloquialpluralplural normallyA metal tool used to pick up a hot pot or billycan which has been on a campfire or other heat source.

    "So I just picked [the billy] up by the spondonicles and walked it outside to cool it in the snow."

    2006 January 28, Roger Caffin, “Re: Gas camping stove explodes”, in aus.bushwalking (Usenet)
    1 more example

    Used spondonicles recently for the first time for a long time with a recently purchased car-camping stove.....

    2002 17 July, David Springthorpe, "Re: Spondonicals", in aus.bushwalking, Usenet

Origin

Rumoured to have first been used in a film by The Three Stooges, in which the term was allegedly used to refer to an unknown medical instrument used in a surgery.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

spondonicles. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spondonicles

MLA

“spondonicles.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spondonicles. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spondonicles,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spondonicles.

Source: spondonicles on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.