scoop

American  

[skoop] / skup /

noun

• scoops
  plural

1. a ladle or ladlelike utensil, especially a small, deep-sided shovel with a short, horizontal handle, for taking up flour, sugar, etc.

2. a utensil composed of a palm-sized hollow hemisphere attached to a horizontal handle, for dishing out ice cream or other soft foods.

3. a hemispherical portion of food as dished out by such a utensil.

   two scoops of chocolate ice cream.

4. the bucket of a dredge, steam shovel, etc.

5. Surgery. a spoonlike apparatus for removing substances or foreign objects from the body.

6. a hollow or hollowed-out place.

7. the act of ladling, dipping, dredging, etc.

8. the quantity held in a ladle, dipper, shovel, bucket, etc.

9. Journalism. a news item, report, or story first revealed in one paper, magazine, newscast, etc.; beat.

10. Informal. news, information, or details, especially as obtained from experience or an immediate source.

    What's the scoop on working this machine?

11. a gathering to oneself or lifting with the arms or hands.

12. Informal. a big haul, as of money.

13. Television, Movies. a single large floodlight shaped like a flour scoop.

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verb (used with object)

• scoops,
  present (3rd person singular)
• scooped,
  past participle,  past
• scooping
  present participle

1. to take up or out with or as if with a scoop.

2. to empty with a scoop.

3. to form a hollow or hollows in.

4. to form with or as if with a scoop.

5. to get the better of (other publications, newscasters, etc.) by obtaining and publishing or broadcasting a news item, report, or story first.

   They scooped all the other dailies with the story of the election fraud.

6. to gather up or to oneself or to put hastily by a sweeping motion of one's arms or hands.

   He scooped the money into his pocket.

verb (used without object)

• scoops,
  present (3rd person singular)
• scooped,
  past participle,  past
• scooping
  present participle

1. to remove or gather something with or as if with a scoop.

   to scoop with a ridiculously small shovel.

scoop British  

/ skuːp /

noun

1. a utensil used as a shovel or ladle, esp a small shovel with deep sides and a short handle, used for taking up flour, corn, etc

2. a utensil with a long handle and round bowl used for dispensing liquids

3. a utensil with a round bowl and short handle, sometimes with a mechanical device to empty the bowl, for serving ice cream or mashed potato

4. anything that resembles a scoop in action, such as the bucket on a dredge

5. a spoonlike surgical instrument for scraping or extracting foreign matter, etc, from the body

6. the quantity taken up by a scoop

7. the act of scooping, dredging, etc

8. a hollow cavity

9. slang a large quick gain, as of money

10. a news story reported in one newspaper before all the others; an exclusive

11. any sensational piece of news

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verb

1. (often foll by up) to take up and remove (an object or substance) with or as if with a scoop

2. (often foll by out) to hollow out with or as if with a scoop

   to scoop a hole in a hillside

3. to win (a prize, award, or large amount of money)

4. to beat (rival newspapers) in uncovering a news item

5. sport to hit (the ball) on its underside so that it rises into the air

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• scooper
  noun
• scoopful
  noun
• underscoop
  noun
• outscoop
  verb (used with object)
• underscoop
  verb (used with object)
• unscooped
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• scoops
  plural

Participles

• scooping
  present
• scooped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• scoop
  simple
• scoops
  simple
• have scooped
  perfect
• has scooped
  perfect
• am scooping
  progressive
• are scooping
  progressive
• is scooping
  progressive
• have been scooping
  perfect progressive
• has been scooping
  perfect progressive

Past

• scooped
  simple
• had scooped
  perfect
• was scooping
  progressive
• were scooping
  progressive
• had been scooping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will scoop
  simple
• will have scooped
  perfect
• will be scooping
  progressive
• will have been scooping
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of scoop

1300–50; (noun) Middle English scope < Middle Dutch schōpe; (v.) Middle English scopen, derivative of the noun

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Explanation

Most people think of ice cream when they think of the noun scoop, but journalists who get a story before others also get a scoop, and dog owners need to scoop up after their dogs or else they will get a ticket for littering. When a newspaper reporter gets a scoop, it means they beat every other reporter to publish an important story. Other meanings of scoop come from the shape and motion of a scoop, which is hollowed out and looks kind of like a pocket. Also, if you pick up a little dog into your arms, you might say you scooped it up. Scoop is one of many words that can be a noun and a verb, even in the same sentence: when you go to an ice cream shop you can ask your server to give you one, two, or three scoops.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scoop scoops scooped scooping

Still, investors shouldn’t necessarily go and scoop up tech stocks indiscriminately.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

"My own editors wouldn't let me publish a scoop based on a single anonymous source, and here you are telling me I'm a spy," he recalls in his book.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

We finished with vanilla ice cream, fragrant olive oil and a generous scoop of caviar.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026

However, the wind will turn more southerly and this will scoop up the hot, humid air from the south.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

Marco took another scoop of sweet potato pie.

From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith

Once they’ve reached their capacity of about 20,000 pounds, a boat hauls everything to the harbor and a crane scoops it out in nets.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026

Even the co-conspirators marveled at how good their informant was at getting M&A scoops, according to the indictment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

Similar activity allegedly preceded subsequent Axios scoops on April 17 and May 1.

From Salon ● May 9, 2026

As TV producers jockeyed for scoops and access, prosecutors in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, in Fort Worth, were faced with another task.

From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026

Dad scoops her up too, and the two of us are swaying with little tiny people in our arms.

From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman

More land led directly to more wealth and power as the country scooped up farmland, mineral resources and harbors.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2026

It scooped three prizes at the Bafta Film Awards in London in February.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

Safety Jeremy Chinn scooped up the ball and returned it 43 yards to the 16.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

Noposion, a Shenzhen-based pesticide giant, scooped up thousands of acres of land to grow blueberries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

I scooped more mud from the sluice and swirled it around in my pan.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

A growing cadre of volunteers increasingly helps with the next step, the actual harvest, scooping acorns off the ground and into bags and buckets.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

The push into advertising began as OpenAI rival Anthropic started gaining ground, scooping up enterprise customers and launching new models that delivered strong performance.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

But he wasn’t ready to toss his $30 scooping contraption quite yet, so he used his 3-D printer to create a custom replacement part.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

Videos from the response on Saturday show helicopters scooping up large quantities of water before dropping it on affected areas.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

“Okay. Okay. Jack…” She felt like someone was scooping out her chest.

From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu

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