“’Look down upon Ben,—­see him, dunghill all o’er,
  Insult the fallen foe that can harm him no more. 
  Out, cowardly spooney!  Again and again,
  By the fist of my father, I blush for thee, Ben.’

“Ay, you will see all the spooneys that ran, like so many dunghill champions, from 54 40, stand by the President for the vigorous prosecution of the war upon the body of a prostrate foe.” —­N.Y.  Tribune, 1847.

Now that year it so happened that the spoon was no spooney.—­Alma Mater, Vol.  I. p. 218.

Not a few of this party were deluded into a belief, that all studious and quiet men were slow, all men of proper self-respect exclusives, and all men of courtesy and good-breeding spoonies. —­Collegian’s Guide, p. 118.

Suppose that rustication was the fate of a few others of our acquaintance, whom you cannot call slow, or spoonies either, would it be deemed no disgrace by them?—­Ibid., p. 196.

  When spoonys on two knees, implore the aid of sorcery,
  To suit their wicked purposes they quickly put the laws awry.
    Rejected Addresses, Am. ed., p. 154.

They belong to the class of elderly “spoons,” with some few exceptions, and are nettled that the world should not go at their rate of progression.—­Boston Daily Times, May 8, 1851.

SPOONY, SPOONEY.  Like a spoon; possessing the qualities of a silly or stupid fellow.

I shall escape from this beautiful critter, for I’m gettin’ spooney, and shall talk silly presently.—­Sam Slick.

Both the adjective and the noun spooney are in constant and frequent use at some of the American colleges, and are generally applied to one who is disliked either for his bad qualities or for his ill-breeding, usually accompanied with the idea of weakness.

He sprees, is caught, rusticates, returns next year, mingles with feminines, and is consequently degraded into the spooney Junior. Yale Lit.  Mag., Vol.  XV. p. 208.

A “bowl” was the happy conveyance.  Perhaps this was chosen because the voyagers were spooney.—­Yale Banger, Nov. 1849.

SPOOPS, SPOOPSY.  At Harvard College, a weak, silly fellow, or one who is disliked on account of his foolish actions, is called a spoops, or spoopsy.  The meaning is nearly the same as that of spoony.

SPOOPSY.  Foolish; silly.  Applied either to a person or thing.

Seniors always try to be dignified.  The term “spoopsey” in its widest signification applies admirably to them.—­Yale Tomahawk, May, 1852.

SPORT.  To exhibit or bring out in public; as, to sport a new equipage.—­Grose.

This word was in great vogue in England in the year 1783 and 1784; but is now sacred to men of fashion, both in England and America.