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Noun: sponge  spúnj
  1. A piece of soft and porous absorbent material used for washing, absorbing liquids, etc.
    "get a sponge to wipe off the liquid"
     
  2. Primitive multicellular marine animal whose porous body is supported by a fibrous skeletal framework; usually occurs in sessile colonies
    "Sponges are the most well-known poriferans";
    - poriferan, parazoan
     
  3. [informal] A follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage
    "His so-called friend was nothing but a sponge, always borrowing money and never paying it back";
    - leech, parasite, sponger, bloodsucker [informal]
     
  4. [informal] A person who drinks alcoholic beverages (especially to excess)
    "The sponge stumbled out of the bar at closing time";
    - drinker, imbiber [informal], toper [literary], juicer [N. Amer, informal], soak [informal]
     
  5. Someone able to acquire new knowledge and skills rapidly and easily
    "she soaks up foreign languages like a sponge";
    - quick study [informal]
Verb: sponge  spúnj
  1. Wipe with a sponge, so as to clean or moisten
    "She sponged the kitchen counter to remove the spill"
     
  2. Soak up with a sponge
    "He sponged the excess water from the floor"
     
  3. Erase with a sponge; as of words on a blackboard
    "The teacher sponged off the equations from yesterday's lesson"
     
  4. [informal] Ask for and get free; be a parasite
    "He always tries to sponge cigarettes off his coworkers";
    - mooch [N. Amer, informal], bum [informal], cadge [informal], grub [informal], bludge [Austral, NZ, informal], sponge off [informal]
     
  5. Gather sponges, in the ocean
    "Divers sponged the reef for commercial harvesting"

Derived forms: sponged, sponging, sponges

Type of: absorbent, absorbent material, acolyte, assimilator, collect, consumer, efface, erase, follower, garner, gather, invertebrate, learner, mop, mop up, obtain, pull together, rub out, scholar, score out, student, wipe, wipe off, wipe up

Part of: phylum Porifera, Porifera

Encyclopedia: Sponge