Wood·en a.
1. Made or consisting of wood; pertaining to, or resembling, wood; as, a wooden box; a wooden leg; a wooden wedding.
2. Clumsy; awkward; ungainly; stiff; spiritless.
When a bold man is out of countenance, he makes a very wooden figure on it. --Collier.
His singing was, I confess, a little wooden. --G. MacDonald.
Wooden spoon. (a) Cambridge University, Eng. The last junior optime who takes a university degree, -- denoting one who is only fit to stay at home and stir porridge. “We submit that a wooden spoon of our day would not be justified in calling Galileo and Napier blockheads because they never heard of the differential calculus.” --Macaulay. (b) In some American colleges, the lowest appointee of the junior year; sometimes, one especially popular in his class, without reference to scholarship. Formerly, it was a custom for classmates to present to this person a wooden spoon with formal ceremonies.
Wooden ware, a general name for buckets, bowls, and other articles of domestic use, made of wood.
Wooden wedding. See under Wedding.
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wooden spoon
n 1: a booby prize consisting of a spoon made of wood
2: a spoon made of wood