Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One that gathers sponges.
- noun Informal A person who sponges on others; a parasite.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who uses a sponge.
- noun A person or vessel engaged in fishing for sponges.
- noun In cloth-manuf., a machine in which cloth is dampened previous to ironing. It has a perforated adjustable cylinder, which is filled with steam, and about which the cloth is rolled.
- noun A parasitical dependent; a hanger-on for maintenance; a sponge.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One who sponges, or uses a sponge.
- noun One employed in gathering sponges.
- noun Fig.: A parasitical dependent; a hanger-on.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun One who uses a
sponge . - noun A
parasitic hanger-on . - noun One employed in gathering
sponges from thesea .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a workman employed to collect sponges
- noun a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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There is a nasty sound about the word sponger, don't you think?
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Cowell then explained the meaning of the word sponger for American audiences as 'that means somebody who makes their money from sponging off other people.'
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He explained the meaning of the word sponger for the American audience: "That means somebody who makes their money by sponging off other people," he said.
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A soldier without his arms, a dress without its purple, a horse without its trappings, are poor things; and a rich man without his sponger is a mean, cheap spectacle.
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Cold hungry philosophers you may see any day, but never a cold hungry sponger; the man would not be a sponger, that is all, but a wretched pauper, no better than a philosopher.
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But of course, if never to be hungry, thirsty, or cold, is to be happy, the sponger is the man who is in that position.
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If the courageous is so in virtue of his courage, the sensible sensible in virtue of his sense, then the sponger is a sponger in virtue of sponging.
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That word "sponger" as it came to Dan caused him to straighten himself up and step forward more quickly.
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Mr Griffin said Miss Hanson, who once claimed Australia was being "swamped by Asians", would not be a "sponger".
Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph
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Buckingham Palace denies Prince Philip called pop impresario Simon Cowell a "sponger".
dailyword commented on the word sponger
This word was also used in the movie version of "Master And Commander" when they were singing at dinner.
June 28, 2012