Dolloping

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A small lump or spoonful of a soft substance, such as cream or butter, added to food
2. A modest portion of a creamy or soft edible item placed on or in food
3. A little quantity of a soft food product, like whipped cream, served alongside or on top of another dish

Etymology: "Dollop" is the root, and "dolloping" is simply its present participle, the form used for the action of adding a dollop. The noun traces to earlier East Anglian dialect "dallop," meaning a patch or tuft, as in a tuft of grass. That sense of a small clump or patch is still visible in the way a spoonful of cream or butter sits as a lump on a dish. The word's deeper origin is uncertain. Dialect speakers in eastern England used it, and a similar form appears in Norwegian dialect as "dolp," also meaning lump. Whether the two are related, or how the English form arose, is not settled, so the connection stays a matter of resemblance rather than proven descent.

Synonyms: scooping, spooning