Brewer's: Spoony

Lovingly soft. A seaphrase. When a ship under sail in a sea-storm cannot bear it, but is obliged to put right before the wind, she is said to “spoon;” so a young man under sail in the sea of courtship “spoons” when he cannot bear it, but is obliged to put right before the gale of his lady's “eyebrow.”

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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