runcible spoon

[pmead]

What is a 'runcible spoon'? as in Lear's 'The Owl + the Pussycat'? The questions been asked before but with no conclusive answer. Someone said it was just a 'nonsense' word and another post said it was a combination of knife, fork + spoon in one? Anyone know?

[Quizmonster]

You've pretty-well got the answer right there. It started life as a nonsense-word of Lear's and then came to mean a kind of fork such as might be used for pickles etc. It is curved like a spoon and has three broad prongs, one of which has a sharp edge...ie it's a combination knife, fork and spoon in effect. (The above comes courtesy of The Oxford English Dictionary, the 'bible' in such matters.)