spoon-feedv.
/ˈspuːnfiːd/, U.S. /ˈspunˌfid/ transitive. To feed with a spoon. Chiefly figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feed or nourish [verb (transitive)] > put food into mouth of > with a spoon
spoon-feed1615
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > promotion or help forward > promote or help forward (a person, plan, etc.) [verb (transitive)] > artificially
spoon-feed1864
1615 S. Rowlands Melancholie Knight 20 Taught by the prating Nurse which did spoon-feed him.
1864 R. Browning Death in Desert in Dramatis Personæ 109 So, minds at first must be spoon-fed with truth.
1890 19th Cent. Nov. 855 They are anxious to more than spoon-feed the people of Ireland with self-government.
1900 Athenæum 28 Apr. 520/3 To urge men to learn is a far higher profession than to spoon~feed them with learning.
Derivatives
spoon-fed adj. (figurative in quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > promotion or help forward > [adjective] > artificially helped
spoon-fed1901
1901 Daily Chron. 21 May 6 (Encycl. D.) The Conservative papers claim..that spoonfed undertakings have no solid commercial basis.
spoon-feeding n. (figurative in quots.).
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > [noun] > other methods of teaching
demonstration1742
bear-leading1766
royal road1793
tachydidaxy1846
object teaching1851
object system1862
methodic1864
community education1873
methodics1883
maieutics1885
type-system1901
direct method1904
spoon-feeding1905
play method1914
playway1914
project method1916
active learning1919
study skills1924
skit1926
free activity1929
hypnopaedia1932
sleep-teaching1932
chalk and talk1937
show-and-tell1941
demo1945
naming of (the) parts1946
team teaching1949
teleteaching1953
programming1954
audio-lingualism1961
immersion1965
dem1968
open learning1970
suggestopaedia1970
suggestopedy1970
distance learning1972
fast-tracking1972
paideia1982
tutorial1984
m-learning2001
1905 M. F. Reany Med. Profession i. 21 ‘Spoon-feeding’..is excellent for obtaining good examination results, but is it quite so productive of good practioners?
1978 Listener 19 Jan. 87/2 The mixture of spoonfeeding and stimulation is..the essential quality of the lectures on scientific themes given..to an audience of children.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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