Adjacent Words

Sponge definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SPONGE. [See Spunge.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a porous mass of interlacing fibers that forms the internal skeleton of various marine animals and usable to absorb water or any porous rubber or cellulose product similarly used
2: someone able to acquire new knowledge and skills rapidly and easily; "she soaks up foreign languages like a sponge" [syn: quick study, sponge]
3: a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage [syn: leech, parasite, sponge, sponger]
4: primitive multicellular marine animal whose porous body is supported by a fibrous skeletal framework; usually occurs in sessile colonies [syn: sponge, poriferan, parazoan] v
1: wipe with a sponge, so as to clean or moisten
2: ask for and get free; be a parasite [syn: mooch, bum, cadge, grub, sponge]
3: erase with a sponge; as of words on a blackboard
4: soak up with a sponge
5: gather sponges, in the ocean

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English, from Latin spongia, from Greek Date: before 12th century 1. a. (1) an elastic porous mass of interlacing horny fibers that forms the internal skeleton of various marine animals (phylum Porifera) and is able when wetted to absorb water (2) a piece of sponge (as for scrubbing and cleaning) (3) a porous rubber or cellulose product used similarly to a sponge b. any of a phylum (Porifera) of aquatic chiefly marine simple invertebrate animals that have a double-walled body of loosely aggregated cells with a skeleton supported by spicules or spongin and are filter feeders that are sessile as adults 2. a pad (as of folded gauze) used in surgery and medicine (as to remove discharge or apply medication) 3. one who lives on others ; sponger 4. a. a soft mixture of yeast, liquid, and flour that is allowed to rise and then mixed with additional ingredients to create bread dough b. a whipped dessert usually containing whites of eggs or gelatin c. a metal (as platinum) obtained in porous form usually by reduction without fusion <titanium sponge> d. the egg mass of a crab 5. an absorbent contraceptive device that is impregnated with spermicide and inserted into the vagina before sexual intercourse to cover the cervix Synonyms: see parasite II. verb (sponged; sponging) Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to cleanse, wipe, or moisten with or as if with a sponge 2. to erase or destroy with or as if with a sponge — often used with out 3. to get by sponging on another 4. to absorb with or as if with or in the manner of a sponge intransitive verb 1. to absorb, soak up, or imbibe like a sponge 2. to get something from or live on another by imposing on hospitality or good nature <sponged off of her sister> 3. to dive or dredge for sponges • sponger noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 any aquatic animal of the phylum Porifera, with pores in its body wall and a rigid internal skeleton. 2 a the skeleton of a sponge, esp. the soft light elastic absorbent kind used in bathing, cleansing surfaces, etc. b a piece of porous rubber or plastic etc. used similarly. 3 a thing of spongelike absorbency or consistency, e.g. a sponge pudding, cake, porous metal, etc. (lemon sponge). 4 = SPONGER. 5 colloq. a person who drinks heavily. 6 cleansing with or as with a sponge (had a quick sponge this morning). --v. 1 tr. wipe or cleanse with a sponge. 2 tr. (also absol.; often foll. by down, over) sluice water over (the body, a car, etc.). 3 tr. (often foll. by out, away, etc.) wipe off or efface (writing, a memory, etc.) with or as with a sponge. 4 tr. (often foll. by up) absorb with or as with a sponge. 5 intr. (often foll. by on, off) live as a parasite; be meanly dependent upon (another person). 6 tr. obtain (drink etc.) by sponging. 7 intr. gather sponges. 8 tr. apply paint with a sponge to (walls, furniture, etc.). Phrases and idioms: sponge bag a waterproof bag for toilet articles. sponge cake a very light cake with a spongelike consistency. sponge cloth 1 soft, lightly-woven cloth with a slightly wrinkled surface. 2 a thin spongy material used for cleaning. sponge pudding Brit. a steamed or baked pudding of fat, flour, and eggs with a usu. specified flavour. sponge rubber liquid rubber latex processed into a spongelike substance. sponge tree a spiny tropical acacia, Acacia farnesiana, with globose heads of fragrant yellow flowers yielding a perfume: also called OPOPANAX. Derivatives: spongeable adj. spongelike adj. spongiform adj. (esp. in senses 1, 2). Etymology: OE f. L spongia f. Gk spoggia, spoggos

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sponge Sponge, n. [OF. esponge, F. ['e]ponge, L. spongia, Gr. ?, ?. Cf. Fungus, Spunk.] [Formerly written also spunge.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of Spongi[ae], or Porifera. See Illust. and Note under Spongi[ae]. 2. The elastic fibrous skeleton of many species of horny Spongi[ae] (keratosa), used for many purposes, especially the varieties of the genus Spongia. The most valuable sponges are found in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and on the coasts of Florida and the West Indies. 3. Fig.: One who lives upon others; a pertinaceous and indolent dependent; a parasite; a sponger. 4. Any spongelike substance. Specifically: (a) Dough before it is kneaded and formed into loaves, and after it is converted into a light, spongy mass by the agency of the yeast or leaven. (b) Iron from the puddling furnace, in a pasty condition. (c) Iron ore, in masses, reduced but not melted or worked. 5. (Gun.) A mop for cleaning the bore of a cannon after a discharge. It consists of a cylinder of wood, covered with sheepskin with the wool on, or cloth with a heavy looped nap, and having a handle, or staff. 6. (Far.) The extremity, or point, of a horseshoe, answering to the heel. Bath sponge, any one of several varieties of coarse commercial sponges, especially Spongia equina. Cup sponge, a toilet sponge growing in a cup-shaped form. Glass sponge. See Glass-sponge, in the Vocabulary. Glove sponge, a variety of commercial sponge (Spongia officinalis, variety tubulufera), having very fine fibers, native of Florida, and the West Indies. Grass sponge, any one of several varieties of coarse commercial sponges having the surface irregularly tufted, as Spongia graminea, and S. equina, variety cerebriformis, of Florida and the West Indies. Horse sponge, a coarse commercial sponge, especially Spongia equina. Platinum sponge. (Chem.) See under Platinum. Pyrotechnical sponge, a substance made of mushrooms or fungi, which are boiled in water, dried, and beaten, then put in a strong lye prepared with saltpeter, and again dried in an oven. This makes the black match, or tinder, brought from Germany. Sheep's-wool sponge, a fine and durable commercial sponge (Spongia equina, variety gossypina) found in Florida and the West Indies. The surface is covered with larger and smaller tufts, having the oscula between them. Sponge cake, a kind of sweet cake which is light and spongy. Sponge lead, or Spongy lead (Chem.), metallic lead brought to a spongy form by reduction of lead salts, or by compressing finely divided lead; -- used in secondary batteries and otherwise. Sponge tree (Bot.), a tropical leguminous tree (Acacia Farnesiana), with deliciously fragrant flowers, which are used in perfumery. Toilet sponge, a very fine and superior variety of Mediterranean sponge (Spongia officinalis, variety Mediterranea); -- called also turkish sponge. To set a sponge (Cookery), to leaven a small mass of flour, to be used in leavening a larger quantity. To throw up the sponge, to give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; -- from a custom of the prize ring, the person employed to sponge a pugilist between rounds throwing his sponge in the air in token of defeat. [Cant or Slang] ``He was too brave a man to throw up the sponge to fate.'' --Lowell.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sponge Sponge, v. i. 1. To suck in, or imbile, as a sponge. 2. Fig.: To gain by mean arts, by intrusion, or hanging on; as, an idler sponges on his neighbor. --E. Eggleston. The fly is an intruder, and a common smell-feast, that sponges upon other people's trenchers. --L'Estrange. 3. To be converted, as dough, into a light, spongy mass by the agency of yeast, or leaven.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sponge Sponge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sponged; p. pr. & vb. n. Sponging.] 1. To cleanse or wipe with a sponge; as, to sponge a slate or a cannon; to wet with a sponge; as, to sponge cloth. 2. To wipe out with a sponge, as letters or writing; to efface; to destroy all trace of. --Hooker. 3. Fig.: To deprive of something by imposition. ``How came such multitudes of our nation . . . to be sponged of their plate and their money?'' --South. 4. Fig.: To get by imposition or mean arts without cost; as, to sponge a breakfast. --Swift.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(sponges, sponging, sponged) 1. Sponge is a very light soft substance with lots of little holes in it, which can be either artificial or natural. It is used to clean things or as a soft layer. ...a sponge mattress. N-COUNT 2. A sponge is a sea animal with a soft round body made of natural sponge. N-COUNT 3. A sponge is a piece of sponge that you use for washing yourself or for cleaning things. He wiped off the table with a sponge. N-COUNT 4. If you sponge something, you clean it by wiping it with a wet sponge. Fill a bowl with water and gently sponge your face and body. VERB: V n • Sponge down means the same as sponge. If your child's temperature rises, sponge her down gently with tepid water. PHRASAL VERB: V n P 5. A sponge is a light cake or pudding made from flour, eggs, sugar, and sometimes fat. It makes a superb filling for cakes and sponges. N-VAR 6. If you say that someone sponges off other people or sponges on them, you mean that they regularly get money from other people when they should be trying to support themselves. (INFORMAL) He should just get an honest job and stop sponging off the rest of us!... He spent his life grumbling about missed opportunities and sponging on his father for money. VERB: V off n, V on n [disapproval]

Easton's Bible Dictionary

occurs only in the narrative of the crucifixion (Matt. 27:48; Mark 15:36; John 19:29). It is ranked as a zoophyte. It is found attached to rocks at the bottom of the sea.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

spunj (spoggos): The word "sponge," the King James Version "spunge," occurs only in the accounts of our Lord's crucifixion in Mt 27:48; Mr 15:36; Joh 19:29. Sponges have been known from the earliest periods. They are mentioned by Homer, Aeschylus, Aristophanes and other ancient writers. The sponge fisheries of the Eastern Mediterranean are still among the most important in the world. Sponges are animals of a very simple organization, fixed to rocks or other objects in the sea or in fresh water. The marketable sponge consists of a mass of soft interlacing fibers which constituted the skeleton of the living animal. The sponge fishers of the Levant dive from boats, with or without diving apparatus, and tear the sponges from the rocks with their hands. The sponges are allowed to die and rot in the air and are then thoroughly washed until nothing but the skeleton remains. Sponges which have calcareous or silicious skeletons are unfit for use.

Alfred Ely Day

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Wipe (with a sponge), cleanse. 2. Efface, obliterate, wipe out, expunge, rub out. 3. Drain, squeeze, plunder.

Moby Thesaurus

Ace bandage, Band-Aid, Finnish bath, India rubber, Japanese bath, Loch Ness monster, Russian bath, Swedish bath, Turkish bath, ablution, absorb, absorbency, absorbent, absorption, adhesive tape, adsorb, adsorbent, adsorption, air, air-dry, alevin, anhydrate, application, asperge, assimilate, assimilation, bake, band, bandage, bandaging, baptize, barnacle, bath, bathe, batten on, beat, bedew, benthon, benthos, bespatter, besprinkle, bibber, binder, bloodsucker, blot, blot out, blot up, blotter, blotting, blotting paper, boozehound, boozer, bottle sucker, brace, brush, bubble, bum, burn, butter, cancel, cast, cataplasm, cetacean, chaff, chemisorb, chemisorption, chemosorb, chemosorption, chip, cleaning out, cobweb, colander, cold shower, compress, cork, cotton, court plaster, cravat, cribble, cribriformity, cribrosity, cross out, crush, cure, dabble, damp, dampen, dash, deadbeat, dehumidify, dehydrate, dele, delete, dental pulp, desiccate, dew, digest, digestion, dolphin, douche, douching, down, drain, dressing, drink, drink in, drink up, drunk, dry, dust, efface, elastic bandage, elbow bender, elution, elutriation, endosmosis, enema, engross, engrossment, epithem, eradicator, erase, eraser, ether, evaporate, exosmosis, expunge, expunger, exsiccate, fairy, fatten on, feather, feed on, filter in, fingerling, fire, fish, flue, fluff, flush, flush out, flushing, flushing out, foam, four-tailed bandage, freeload, freeloader, froth, fry, fuzz, game fish, gargle, gauze, ginhound, give, gossamer, grilse, guzzler, hanger-on, hip bath, holystone, honeycomb, hooch hound, hose, hose down, humect, humectate, humidify, hummum, imbibe, inebriate, infiltrate, infiltration, insolate, irrigate, irrigation, kiln, kipper, lather, lathering, launder, lavabo, lavage, lavation, lave, laving, leech, lint, live off of, lounge lizard, lush, lusher, man-eater, man-eating shark, marine animal, mash, minnow, minny, moisten, mop, mop up, mopping, mopping up, mote, mummify, mush, needle bath, nekton, net, obliterate, osmose, osmosis, paddle, panfish, paper pulp, parasite, parch, paste, percolate in, percolation, pith, plankton, plaster, plaster cast, pledget, plunge bath, porosity, porousness, porpoise, porridge, poultice, present, pudding, pulp, pulp lead, pulpwood, rag pulp, raze, riddle, rinse, rinse out, rinsing, ritually immerse, roller, roller bandage, rub, rub out, rubber, rubber bandage, rule out, rum hound, rummy, salmon, sauce, sauna, sauna bath, scorch, scour, scouring, scratch, scratch out, screen, scrub, scrub up, scrubbing, scrubbing up, sea monster, sea pig, sea serpent, sea snake, sear, seep in, seepage, shampoo, shark, shower, shower bath, shrivel, sieve, sievelikeness, sitz bath, sling, slobber, slop, slosh, sluice, sluice out, slurp up, smash, smell-feast, smoke, smolt, soak, soak in, soak up, soap, soaping, sorb, sorption, sot, souse, sparge, spatter, spiv, splash, splatter, splint, sponge bath, sponge on, sponge out, sponger, sponging, spray, sprinkle, spume, squash, stew, strainer, straw, strike out, stupe, sucker, sulfate pulp, sulfite pulp, sun, sun-dry, swab, swabbing, swash, sweat bath, swill up, swillbelly, swillbowl, swillpot, syringe, take in, take up, tampon, tape, tent, thistledown, tippler, toivel, torrefy, tourniquet, towel, triangular bandage, tropical fish, tub, wash, wash out, wash up, washing, washing up, washout, washup, water, weazen, wet, wet down, whale, whirlpool bath, white lead, wino, wipe, wipe out, wiping up, wither, wizen, wood pulp