spoony

comparative spoonier · superlative spooniest · alternative spooney · alternative spoonie

1. Enamored in a silly or sentimental way; having a crush (on someone).

   ‘They all laugh at you, you know. They say you're spoony on me.’

   1915, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 58, in Of Human Bondage

   2 more examples

   "She—silly child—is spoony, I think, on that cousin of her's, Dalrymple—he, I believe, is spoony on her."

   1852, Henry Drummond Wolff, Blondelle, page 139

   Even if they were absolutely spoony for each other it was difficult to imagine either of them taking that first scary step toward romance.

   2020, Lorna Locke, Romie's Fantasies (Lakeside Lovers; 3)

2. Feebly sentimental; gushy.

   That is why we decline to publish any of the letters and verses which Mr. Pen wrote at this period of his life, out of mere regard for the young fellow’s character. They are too spooney and wild.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 12, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

3. Similar to a spoon.

   That's a very spoony fork.

plural spoonies · alternative spooney · alternative spoonie

1. informalA foolish, simple, or silly person.
2. informalA foolishly amorous person.

   Major Pendennis, when the offer of the commission was acknowledged and refused, wrote back a curt and somewhat angry letter to the widow, and thought his nephew was rather a spooney.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

   1 more example

   Occasionally, a Fascinating Lady catches a rich spoony whom she can manage and control. In that case, she continues to have all her whims fully gratified until Mr. Spoony's fortune is exhausted, and the creditors carry off the off the nice furniture.

   1861, Marie Louise Hankins, “The Fascinating Lady”, in Women of New York, page 129

3. alternativeslangAlternative form of spoonie (“person with chronic illness or disability”).