Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to flirt with, esp. in a foolish or sentimental manner; often as spooning n.; 20C uses may involve physical as well as verbal intimacy .

1831		Lady Granville Letters (1894) II 77: The billiard room, in which they spooned, , and two or three people, added to ourselves, sitting over the fire.
1863		C. Reade Hard Cash II 342: Bother the women! [...] Can I help the fools from spooning upon me?
1875		‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1905) 135: They spooned from morn to eventide, / They lived and they breathed on spoon.
1879		Barman & Barmaid 12 July 5/1: But though some publicans don’t mind spooning with their girls, they don’t like their wives to spoon with the barmen.
1880		‘The New Patent Fucking Machine’ in Pearl 12 June 34: Now directly I get home next Xmas, I’ll spoon my young cousin Jack Green.
1885		Observer and Freelance (Wellington) 29 Aug. 9/4: Nat is spooning as usual, with very little to spoon with.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 26 Oct. 1/4: But better soon, began to spoon, a lady.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 22 July 3/2: They spooned and caressed in the Park.
1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 96: Just get tick as two tieves and spoon a little.
1897		E.E. Rogers [perf. Marie Lloyd] The French Lady’s Maid 🎵 If you would spoon ze nice young lady, zat vos the game for me.
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 2394: I’m not a chap much given to spooning youing women.
1901		‘Miles Franklin’ My Brilliant Career 159: I suppose he’d like to have time to spoon with his girl.
1905		Kern & Laska [perf. Florrie Forde] How’d you like to spoon with me? 🎵 How’d you like to be my lovey-dovey? / How’d you like to spoon with me?
1909		St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 1 Aug. 9/2: Spooning i the parlor of a flat or a bench in the park.
1910		H. Rule ‘Only One Girl at a Time’ 🎵 He only likes to spoon with one girl, only one girl at a time.
1919		A. Baer Two and Three 3 Feb. [synd. col.] Fred stuck out his chin to kiss Jack, but the lad refused to spoon.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 22: You know that red Carlisle girl, Lily? — Yes. — Spooning with him last night on the pier.
1923		Brooklyn Dly Eagle (NY) 13 May 89/1: Spooning is the inalienable prerogative of youth [...] as irresitable todaay as it was in the Graden of Eden.
1927		Frankie ‘Half-Pint’ Jaxon ‘Can’t You Wait Till You Get Home’ 🎵 Why, everywhere that they would go / She would want to spoon.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 35: I could possibly want to spoon with you in the moonlight on the outer drive near the illuminated monument.

2. to cuddle, to indulge in physical intimacy.

1913		Sun. Times (Perth) 16 Nov. 8/8: The best-looking daughter he’ll coax to spoon on the drawing-room sofa.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 7 Feb. 5/3: [headline] Trusting Tarlets Tell Tearful Tales. Handbags Disappear While Spooning With Strange Johnnies.
1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 21 June 9/5: I don’t see Dolores O’laira nor Billy Ayres (perhaps they’re spooning down the stairs).
1943		Derby Dly Teleg. 15 Oct. 8/2: He admitted that after the dance he and the girl ‘kissed and spooned’.
1976		Cab Calloway Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 117: Young couples would head for the private places [...] to spoon.
1990		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 7: spoon – cuddle with someone.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 63: The almost-official husband and wife spooned in the dark.