From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishladlela‧dle1 /ˈleɪdl/ noun [countable] 
DFUa large deep spoon with a long handle, used for lifting liquid food, especially soup, out of a container
DFUa large deep spoon with a long handle, used for lifting liquid food, especially soup, out of a containerExamples from the Corpus
ladle• She dropped a ladle filled with hot soup into his lap.• A young boy with a ladle and a stoup of water wetted their grizzled mouths.• Whiskers Zhu picked up the pail and ladle, then fell in behind old Zheng and Song Anni. 4.• Because the process does not involve handling molten metal, there is no contamination from ladles and tanks.• The aging prisoner picked up a greasy ladle and buried it in the soup, stirring it for a moment.• a soup ladle• Jane sat near Dorothy's place, who was at the stove, ladle in her hand.• Josie, standing by the stove with the ladle for helping out the pasta, decided to wait and say nothing.• I sat at the table, watching Frank stir the contents of the large metal pot with a wooden ladle.ladleladle2 (also ladle out) verb [transitive]GIVE to put soup or other liquid food onto plates or into bowls, especially using a ladle→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
ladle• She ladled a little of the court bouillon over the fat bits of mackerel.• He speared the plantain to one side of the pan and ladled in four globs of batter.• After ladling into soup bowls, drizzle a design on top of the soup with a pureed red pepper mixture.• Jigeehuu ambled shakily over to it after our first embrace and ladled out half a pint for me in a rice bowl.• It's not an expensive place to eat until you start ladling out the ice-cold, flavoured vodkas.• Poshekhonov ladled out the lore of the Correctional Labour Colonies.• It's sort of ladled out to us like soup.• My father ladled some soup into my plate.• Ladle the soup over rice.Origin ladle1 Old English hlædel, from hladan; → LADEN 