Definitions of sponge [ʌndʒ]

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Definition of 'sponge'

Random House Webster's College Dictionary

1. (n.) sponge
any porous, aquatic, sessile animal of the phylum Porifera, having a fibrous siliceous or calcareous internal skeleton and lacking tissue organization.

2.  sponge
the skeleton of certain sponges, readily absorbing water and becoming soft when wet while retaining toughness.

3.  sponge
a piece of any of various absorbent materials, as a block of porous cellulose or a surgical gauze pad.

4.  sponge
a person or thing that absorbs something freely.

5.  sponge
a person who lives at the expense of others; sponger.

6.  sponge
Informal. a drunkard.

7.  sponge
a porous mass of metallic particles, as of platinum, obtained by the reduction of an oxide or purified compound at a temperature below the melting point.

8.  sponge
yeast-raised bread dough, esp. before kneading.

9.  sponge
a light pudding made with gelatin, fruit juice, etc.

10.  sponge
a disposable piece of polyurethane foam impregnated with a spermicide for insertion into the vagina as a contraceptive.

11. (v.t.) sponge
to wipe or rub with or as if with a wet sponge.

12.  sponge
to wipe out or efface with or as if with a sponge (often fol. by out).

13.  sponge
to take up or absorb with or as if with a sponge (often fol. by up).

14.  sponge
to obtain by imposing on another's good nature.

15. (v.i.) sponge
to take in or soak up liquid by absorption.

16.  sponge
to live at the expense of others (often fol. by on or off).

17.  sponge
to gather sponges.

Etymology: (bef. 1000; (n.) ME, OE < L spongia, spongea < Gk spongi&amacracute;)

Definition of 'sponge'

Princeton's WordNet

1. (noun) sponge
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. (noun) quick study, sponge
someone able to acquire new knowledge and skills rapidly and easily
"she soaks up foreign languages like a sponge"

3. (noun) leech, parasite, sponge, sponger
a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage

4. (verb) sponge, poriferan, parazoan
primitive multicellular marine animal whose porous body is supported by a fibrous skeletal framework; usually occurs in sessile colonies

5. (verb) sponge
wipe with a sponge, so as to clean or moisten

6. (verb) mooch, bum, cadge, grub, sponge
ask for and get free; be a parasite

7. (verb) sponge
erase with a sponge; as of words on a blackboard

8. (verb) sponge
soak up with a sponge

9. (verb) sponge
gather sponges, in the ocean

Definition of 'sponge'

Kernerman English Learner’s Dictionary

1. (noun) sponge
a piece of thick light material that absorbs water easily, used for cleaning
He washed the dishes with a sponge.

Definition of 'sponge'

Webster Dictionary

1. (noun) sponge
any one of numerous species of Spongiae, or Porifera. See Illust. and Note under Spongiae

2. (noun) sponge
the elastic fibrous skeleton of many species of horny Spongiae (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. (noun) sponge
one who lives upon others; a pertinaceous and indolent dependent; a parasite; a sponger

4. (noun) sponge
any spongelike substance

5. (noun) sponge
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

6. (noun) sponge
iron from the puddling furnace, in a pasty condition

7. (noun) sponge
iron ore, in masses, reduced but not melted or worked

8. (noun) sponge
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

9. (noun) sponge
the extremity, or point, of a horseshoe, answering to the heel

10. (verb) sponge
to cleanse or wipe with a sponge; as, to sponge a slate or a cannon; to wet with a sponge; as, to sponge cloth

11. (verb) sponge
to wipe out with a sponge, as letters or writing; to efface; to destroy all trace of

12. (verb) sponge
fig.: To deprive of something by imposition

13. (verb) sponge
fig.: To get by imposition or mean arts without cost; as, to sponge a breakfast

14. (verb) sponge
to suck in, or imbile, as a sponge

15. (verb) sponge
fig.: To gain by mean arts, by intrusion, or hanging on; as, an idler sponges on his neighbor

16. (verb) sponge
to be converted, as dough, into a light, spongy mass by the agency of yeast, or leaven

Definitions of 'sponge'

The New Hacker's Dictionary

1. sponge
[Unix] A special case of a filter that reads its entire input before writing any output; the canonical example is a sort utility. Unlike most filters, a sponge can conveniently overwrite the input file with the output data stream. If a file system has versioning (as ITS did and VMS does now) the sponge/filter distinction loses its usefulness, because directing filter output would just write a new version. See also slurp.

Translation of 'sponge'

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary

Sense: a type of sea animal, or its soft skeleton, which has many holes and is able to suck up and hold water.
Afrikaans: spons	Arabic: إسْفَنْج	Bulgarian: сюнгер
Brazilian: esponja	Czech: houba	German: der Schwamm
Danish: svamp	Greek: σφουγγάρι	Spanish: esponja
Estonian: käsnloom	Farsi: اسفنج دريايي	Finnish: sieni
French: éponge	Hebrew: סְפוֹג	Hindi: स्पंज
Croatian: spužva	Hungarian: szivacs	Indonesian: spons
Icelandic: svampur	Italian: spugna	Japanese: 海綿動物
Korean: 해면 동물	Lithuanian: pintis	Latvian: sūklis
Malay: span	Dutch: spons	Norwegian: svamp
Polish: gąbka	Portuguese: esponja	Romanian: burete de mare
Russian: губка	Slovak: špongia	Slovenian: morska goba
Serbian: sunđer	Swedish: tvättsvamp	Thai: ฟองน้ำ (สัตว์ทะเลชนิดหนึ่
Turkish: sünger	Taiwanese: 海綿	Ukrainian: губка
Urdu: ایک قسم کا سمندری حیوان ج	Vietnamese: bọt biển	Chinese: 海绵
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