The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Spatula \Spat"u*la\ (?; 135), n. [L. spatula, spathula, dim. of
   spatha a spatula: F. spatule. See Spade for digging.]
   An implement shaped like a knife, flat, thin, and somewhat
   flexible, used for spreading paints, fine plasters, drugs in
   compounding prescriptions, etc. Cf. Palette knife, under
   Palette.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

spatula
    n 1: a turner with a narrow flexible blade
    2: a hand tool with a thin flexible blade used to mix or spread
       soft substances