tablespoon

plural tablespoons · alternative table spoon · alternative table-spoon

1. CanadaUSA 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

   Synonyms: dessertspoon, dessert spoon

2. AustraliaNew ZealandNorthern UKA spoon too large for eating, usually used for cooking or serving.
3. cookingA 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.

   3 more examples

   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.

   Synonyms: tablespoonful, tbsp, tbs, f℥ss, f℥ß