Definition of "sponge"

sponge

/spʌnd͡ʒ/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural sponges
1. (countable) Any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.
2. (countable) A piece of porous material used for washing (originally made from the invertebrates, now often made of plastic).
  Quotations
  She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination. The elder woman returned with dressings and a sponge, which she placed on a chair.
  1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎
3. (uncountable) A porous material such as sponges consist of.
4. (informal) A heavy drinker.
5. (countable, uncountable) A type of light cake.
6. (countable, uncountable, Britain) A type of steamed pudding.
7. (slang) A person who takes advantage of the generosity of others (abstractly imagined to absorb or soak up the money or efforts of others like a sponge).
8. A person who readily absorbs ideas.
  Quotations
  For this reason, we need to think of our children as sponges of information and watch their sources carefully. We also need to always model appropriate behaviour, as we are a constant source of new information.
  2014, Phoeve Hutchison, Are You Listening? Life Is Talking to You!, page 145
9. (countable) A form of contraception that is inserted vaginally; a contraceptive sponge.
10. Any sponge-like substance.
  1. (baking) 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.
  2. Iron from the puddling furnace, in a pasty condition.
  3. Iron ore, in masses, reduced but not melted or worked.
11. 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.
12. The extremity, or point, of a horseshoe, corresponding to the heel.
13. (slang) A nuclear power plant worker routinely exposed to radiation.
verb
third-person singular simple present sponges, present participle sponging or spongeing, simple past and past participle sponged
1. (intransitive, slang) To take advantage of the kindness of others.
  Quotations
  The fly is an intruder, and a common smell-feast, that spunges upon other Peoples Trenchers.
  1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […]
  You can’t go on spunging upon the women.
  1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 32, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850
2. (transitive, intransitive with on or upon) To get by imposition; to scrounge.
  Quotations
  “ […] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
  I am an utter stranger to the persons and places, except when half a score come to sponge on me every Sunday evening
  July 17 1735, Jonathan Swift, letter to Lord Ornery
3. (transitive) To deprive (somebody) of something by imposition.
  Quotations
  How came such multitudes of our nation […] to be sponged of their plate and their money?
  1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727
4. To clean, soak up, or dab with a sponge.
5. To suck in, or imbibe, like a sponge.
6. To wipe out with a sponge, as letters or writing; to efface; to destroy all trace of.
  Quotations
  Lett the eyes which have looked on Idols, sponge out their unlawfull acts
  1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, (please specify the page)
7. (intransitive, baking) To be converted, as dough, into a light, spongy mass by the agency of yeast or leaven.
8. (marine biology, of dolphins) To use a piece of wild sponge as a tool when foraging for food.
  Quotations
  Why do dolphins sponge instead of foraging in a more "normal" way?
  2013, Pamela S. Turner, The Dolphins of Shark Bay, page 22
  Sponging is worth thinking about in some detail because it illustrates many of the challenges and sources of controversy in studying social learning and culture in wild cetaceans.
  2015, Hal Whitehead, Luke Rendell, The Cultural Lives of Whales and, page 109
  Moreover, the females that do it seem to "sponge" relentlessly throughout the day, hunting more than other females and more than male spongers too.
  2017, Janet Mann, Deep Thinkers: Inside the Minds of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises, page 153

Definition of "sponge"

sponge

noun

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