1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Scoop

SCOOP (from M. L. Ger. or M. Du. schope, cf. Du. schoep, a bailing vessel, Ger. schöpfen, and, from M. Du. schoppe, Ger. Schüppe, shovel), properly a utensil or implement for ladling or bailing out water or liquid from a vessel, and so used of the bucket of a water-wheel or of a dredger; in its most usual sense the word is applied to a small kind of shovel with a short handle and a sharply curved blade, often covered in towards the handle end, and used for the moving and lifting of loose materials or for cutting out a rounded piece from any substance. In journalistic slang, originally American, a “ scoop " is an exclusive piece of information obtained by a newspaper.