spoon-feed (someone)

spoon-feed (someone)

1. Literally, to insert food into another person's mouth. The nurses had to spoon-feed my mother after her stroke. No, my daughter is off the bottle now—we're spoon-feeding her.

2. By extension, to help someone excessively (usually to the recipient's detriment). Her students are lazy because she always spoon-feeds them the answers. The actress got so flustered in front of the camera that we had to spoon-feed her the lines. How unprofessional!

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

spoon-feed someone

Fig. to treat someone with too much care or help; to teach someone with methods that are too easy and do not stimulate the learner to independent thinking. The teacher spoon-feeds the students by dictating notes on the novel instead of getting the children to read the books. You mustn't spoon-feed the new recruits by telling them what to do all the time. They must use their initiative.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.