| 释义 |
▪ I. sponge, n.1|spʌndʒ|
Forms: α. 1– sponge (2 spunge). β. (Chiefly north. and Sc.) 4–7 spounge, 5 spoungge, spwnge, 5–6 spownge, 6 spoung, 6, 9 spoonge. γ. 6–9 spunge, 7 spundge.
[OE. sponge (acc. -ean) and spunge (spiunge), ad. L. spongia, spongea, a. Gr. σπογγιά, later derivative form of σπόγγος sponge. In other Teutonic languages the word appears as OS. spunsia, MDu. spongie, sponge, sponse (WFlem. sponsie, Du. spons, WFris. spons, spouns), and in the Romanic group as OF. esponge (16th cent. in Littré), F. éponge, Sp. and Pg. esponja, It. spugna.
OE. had also the more popular and older form spynge, spinge.]
I.
1. a. The soft, light, porous, and easily compressible framework which remains after the living matter has been removed from various species of porifers (see 3), characterized by readily absorbing fluids and yielding them on pressure, and much used in bathing, cleansing surfaces, etc.
In older Sc. use (see β) app. also ‘a brush’.
αc1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 48 Ða hrædlice arn an heora & ᵹenam ane spongean [c 1160 ænne spongen], & fylde hiᵹ mid ecede. c1160Hatton Gosp. Mk. xv. 36 Þa arn hyre an & fylde ane spunge mid eisile. a1225Ancr. R. 262 Nes his pitaunce o rode bute a sponge of galle. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 185 Sponges i-watred and i-holde at hir nostrilles. a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 26 In þe mornyng be it clensed with hote watre and a sponge. 1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 88 Sponges grete ij and small xxvj. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §44 Than washe your shepe there-with, with a sponge or a pece of an olde mantell. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 204 b, The Crosse,..Nayles, Sponge, launce, Crowne of thorne. 1625N. Carpenter Geogr. Del. ii. v. (1635) 68 Others againe..suppose the earth to bee like a sponge to drinke vp the water. 1676L'Estrange Seneca's Mor., Anger xii. (1696) 423 He..caus'd their Mouths to be stopt with Sponges. 1800Med. Jrnl. III. 556, I have constantly recommended cold vinegar..to be applied..by means of a sponge. 1863Ansted Ionian Isl. 255 A considerable fishery for fine sponges, of which many, fully equal to fine Turkey sponges, come into the market. 1876Harley Royle's Mat. Med. 783 The Sponge is imported from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
β1388Wyclif Mark xv. 36 And oon ranne, and fillide a spounge with vynegre. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) iii. 9 [Þai] held to þaire noses spoungez moisted with water. 1483Cath. Angl. 356/1 A Spoungge.., spongia. 1491Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 188 For a spwnge to the Kingis claythis, ij s. 1501Ibid. II. 27 Byrs spowngis for the Kingis bonatis, vj d. 1549Ibid. IX. 353 Item, ane spoung send to Dunfermeling to his graces sone, iiij s. 1612Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 329 Spounges or brushes.
γ1572in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 180 For spunges for snoballs. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 425 The Spunge is full of water, yet is it not seene. 1661J. Childrey Brit. Bacon. 41 An earth porous like a spunge. 1726Pope Odyss. xx. 189 And let the abstersive spunge the board renew. 1767Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 259 To wipe it dry with a spunge.
fig.1602How Chuse Good Wife v. ii, For her death The spunge of either eye Shall weep red tears. 1622Donne Serm. xvi. 159 Every man is but a spunge, and but a spunge filled with teares. 1726Bolingbroke Study Hist. vii. (1752) I. 265 Colbert made the most of all these advantageous circumstances, and whilst he filled the national spunge, he taught his successors how to squeeze it.
transf.1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 271 With flew or wooll of Hares..the Grecians made spunges..to clense the eies of men. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., Pyrotechnical Spunges are made of the large Mushrooms or fungous Excrescences growing on old Oaks, Ashes, Firs, &c.
b. As a type of something of small value.
1671Milton P.R. iv. 329 Collecting toys, And trifles for choice matters, worth a spunge.
c. to throw (or chuck) up the sponge, to abandon a contest or struggle; to submit, give in. colloq.
1860Slang Dict. 224 ‘To throw up the sponge,’ to submit, give over the struggle,—from the practice of throwing up the sponge used to cleanse the combatants' faces, at a prize⁓fight, as a signal that the ‘mill’ is concluded. 1872‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It xlvii. 333 One of the boys has gone up the flume..throwed up the sponge..kicked the bucket..he's dead! 1874Trollope Phineas Redux I. xxxix. 325 When..Thursday afternoon came, Mr. Daubeny ‘threw up the sponge’. 1877T. A. Trollope Life Pius IX, II. 130 This tranquil confidence..degenerated..into inertness, acquiescence in evil, and..throwing up the sponge. 1889‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xxiv, If Tim had got this letter..he'd have chucked up the sponge and cleared out for good and all.
2. Without article: The material of which this is composed.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxviii. (Tollem. MS.), It is made harde and turneþ in to sponge. 1683Salmon Doron Med. i. 110 If for Application by Spunge, Cloath, or Stuph. 1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., A pound of spunge.., on drying carefully.., will be reduced to eleven ounces. Ibid., Burnt spunge is much recommended as a sweetner of the blood. 1813T. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 345 The tent was formed of prepared sponge. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 382/2 Inferior sponge, with a large-holed texture, called horse sponge.
transf.1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2286/1 Artificial sponge is made of caoutchouc [etc.].
3. a. Zool. One or other of various species of aquatic (chiefly marine) animals (or colony of animals) of a low order belonging to the group Porifera, characterized by a tough elastic skeleton of interlaced fibres.
1538Elyot, Achilleum, a sponge, whiche is verye softe, and hath smalle holes. 1552Ibid., Cystiolithi, certayne stones, whiche growe in spunges, holsome against diseases of the bladder. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Providence xxxiv, Frogs marry fish and flesh; bats, bird and beast; Sponges, non-sense and sense. 1651Jer. Taylor Course Serm. i. 4 We are no more such really, then Mandrakes are Men, or Spunges are living creatures. 1725Family Dict. s.v., The Ancients would have a Spunge to be Zoophite. Ibid., There are two sorts of Spunges, the Male..and the Female. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 289 Here are seen the madrepores, the sponges, mosses, sea mushrooms, and other marine productions. 1834McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 11 It is a kind of sponge, which has the same form as the body. 1857Livingstone Trav. xiv. 249 Around the reeds..we see fresh-water sponges. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 843 Nearly all Sponges possess a skeleton or the rudiments of one.
b. With distinguishing terms, denoting various species of these.
glass-rope sponge, glass-sponge: see glass n.1 16.
1681Grew Musæum ii. v. ii. 251 The Hollow Cylindrick or Pipe-Sponge. 1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., 9. The branched river-spunge. 10. The hairy spunge. 11. The sail spunge [etc.] 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 708 Branched sponge;..cock's comb sponge;..tow-sponge [etc.]. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. ii. 89 Fine Syrian Sponge... Fine Archipelago Sponge... White Sponge of Syria, called also Venetian Sponge. 1883Adderley Fisheries Bahamas 49 The finest type of all, the Levant toilet or Turkish cup⁓sponge (Spongia officinalis).
†c. sponge of the river: (see quot.). Obs.
1611Cotgr., Esponge d'eau douce, a certaine hearbe, that flotes on riuers, and is called, Spunge of the riuer.
4. a. A moistened piece of the above substance (sense 1) as used for wiping a surface in order to obliterate writing, etc. Also in fig. context.
1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 196 The leaues, wheron they wryte with any sharpe instrument, and blotte the same againe with a spunge or sum suche other thynge. 1591Spenser Ruins Time 361 Great ones.., Of whome no word we heare, nor signe now see, But as things wipt out with a sponge to perishe. 1644Sir E. Dering Prop. Sacr. c iiij b, Clavis Mystica under-went a great deal of Spunge. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 216 The hand-writing against us is not blotted out, yet..we have a sponge given us to wipe it away ourselves. 1865M. E. Braddon Only a Clod iv, Do you think two years' absence won't act as a sponge, and wipe my image out of her thoughts. 1867Goldw. Smith 3 Eng. Statesm. (1882) 212 No great nature ever passes a sponge over its former self.
b. fig. That which blots out of existence, wipes out of memory, effaces, etc.
1558Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. xviii. 117 Daylye confession..is..a sponge to wype awaye the fylthynesse of oure synnes. 1657Trapp Comm. Ezra ix. 7 Confession..is that happy Spunge, that wipeth out all the blottes and blurres of our lives. 1748Geddes Composit. Antients 268 Fear, grief, pain, and desire, are the most effectual spunges. 1799H. More Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 36 Which fits of charity are made the sponge of every sin, and the substitute of every virtue.
c. A method of cancelling or wiping off debts without payment.
1717(title), Fair Payment no Spunge: or, some Considerations on the Unreasonableness of Refusing to Receive back Money Lent on Publick Securities. 1753Hanway Trav. i. vii. (1762) II. 40 We have an example in France..of a large national debt being paid with a sponge. 1787Bentham Def. Usury xii. 124 A spunge..is the only needful and only availing remedy. 1803Cobbett in Pol. Reg. (1817) 8 Feb. 176 Your tax upon the funds, or..that admirable sponge which you are now about to apply to one twentieth part of the debt.
5. A kind of mop or swab for cleansing a cannon-bore after firing.
a1625Nomencl. Navalis (MS. Harl. 2301) s.v., The spunge of a peece of Ordnaunce is that which makes it cleane; they are comonlie Sheepeskins putt at the ende of a Staffe. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xiv. 66 A Spunge is such another staffe, with a peece of a Lambe skin at the end.., to thrust vp and downe the Peece. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 45 A Gunner..ought to have in readiness..Sheep-skins to make Spunges. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine s.v. Cannon, In the land-service, the handle of the spunge is nothing else than a long wooden staff. 1846A. Young Naut. Dict. 292 For a long gun, the sponge and rammer are fixed each on a separate staff. 1884‘H. Collingwood’ (W. J. C. Lancaster) Under Meteor Flag 40 A sponge was thrust out of one of the upper deck ports, catching him in the face.
II.
6. †a. The fibrous matted root of asparagus shoots. Obs.
c1440Pallad. on Husb. iv. 233 This seedis [of asparagus] wol connect intil oon roote, This calle a sponge. 1563T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 58 The small rootes will be so folded and tyed one to an other, that they will seeme to be fastned and ioyned togither in one, and this is named of the ancient Gardner, a Spunge. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 54 The rootes haue sundry long threeds, which they call the Spoonge.
b. A spongy gall or excrescence on rose-bushes; = bedeguar 2.
1608Topsell Serpents 97 A certaine little Worme which is found in the sponge of the Dogge-bryer (called of the Physitions Bedeguar). 1698Phil. Trans. XX. 464 In brief, it is nothing else but the Sponge of the Dogs Rose, called by some Bedeguar. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. v. 153 Bedeguars—commonly called ‘Soft Apples’ or ‘Vegetable Sponges’.
c. Something having the appearance or consistency of a sponge.
1683K. Digby Chym. Secr. 12 The ☉ and ☿ will be precipitated indistinguishible, in the form of a black Spunge. 1893F. F. Moore Gray Eye or So xxvii, Sitting for five or six hours on gigantic sponges (damp) of heather.
d. The soft fermenting dough of which bread is made. Freq. in the phr. to set (or lay) the sponge.
1747H. Glasse Art of Cookery (ed. 2) xvii. 297 To make White Bread..when your Spunge has stood its proper Time clear the Oven, and begin to make your Bread. 1796A. Simmons Amer. Cookery 38 Butter biscuit. One pint each milk and emptins, laid into flour, in sponge. 1822Imison's Sci. & Art II. 152 This is called setting the sponge. 1830M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 355 To this strained matter, one half of the whole quantity of flour is to be added, and well worked up with the hands so as to form sponge. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 113 The mass swells up, or, as the baker terms it, the sponge rises. 1896T. Hardy Jude v. iii, He was obliged to go to bed at night immediately after laying the sponge.
e. A stretch of ground of a swampy nature.
1856Olmsted Slave States 157, I am aware of but a single attempt, as yet, to cultivate the sponge or true swamp soil. 1890Contemp. Rev. Jan. 137 The ‘great sponge’, from which the Zambesi and the Congo draw their remote supplies. 1901Q. Rev. July 22 It has been conjectured that some of these sponges may be fed by the waters of the Victoria Nyanza.
f. techn. Metal in a porous or sponge-like form, usu. obtained by reduction without fusion.
1861Sir W. Fairbairn Iron 176 M. Chenot makes steel direct from the ore by converting it into a substance he calls sponge, in a peculiarly constructed furnace. 1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 389 To remove the silver sponge, which falls to the bottom and is taken out. This sponge is very light. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 844 The sponge..is plunged in a bath of resin, tar, or some fatty matter.
g. With defining word: a type of thick jelly eaten as a dessert.
1859J. H. Walsh Eng. Cookery Bk. 275 Lemon sponge... Take half an ounce of isinglass..the juice of eight lemons. 1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 55/1 Sweets..Lemon Sponge, Raspberry Sponge (in copper moulds, 10/0 extra, returnable). 1978E. Lothian Country House Cookery from West 19 Orange sponge. 1 oz (30 g) gelatine. 4 oranges.
h. A sponge-cake; the mixture from which such a cake is made.
1877Cassell's Dict. Cookery 920/1 Sponge, Savoy,..pour the batter gently into a mould. 1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 55/2 Golf Sponge, iced chocolate, coffee, pink or white..each of 0/11. 1917Harrods Gen. Catal. 1269/2 Sponge Swiss Roll..per lb. 1/8... Caracas Roll (Rich Chocolate Sponge)..per lb. 1/10. 1948Good Housek. Cookery Bk. ii. 447 Steamed sponge puddings. Ibid. 579 Genoese Sponge (basic recipe) 3 oz. butter 2½ oz. flour ½ oz. cornflour 3 large eggs 4 oz. caster sugar. 1960R. Daniel Death by Drowning v. 54 A jam sponge, please. 1975Times 10 May 13/4 The mixture can be baked..as a sponge flan.
†7. An open-work coat of mail. Obs.—1
1600Holland Livy ix. xl. 344 Their brest and stomack was fenced with spounges, the left leg armed with a good greeue.
III. fig.
8. An immoderate drinker; a soaker.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. ii. 108, I will doe any thing Nerrissa ere I will be married to a spunge. 1693Bowles in Dryden's Juvenal v. 34 For him is kept a Liquor more Divine, You Spunges must be drunk with Lees of Wine. 1708Brit. Apollo No. 73. 2/2 For ever too th' Amphibious Spunge does drink. 1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Spunge, a thirsty fellow, a great drinker. 1887Henley Villon's Good-night 3 You spunges miking round the pubs.
9. a. One who or that which absorbs, drains, or sucks up, in a sponge-like manner.
In various passages of Elizabethan writers the exact sense of the word is not quite clear.
1603J. Davies (Heref.) Microcosmos Wks. (Grosart) I. 63/1 These senslesse spunges of Improbity Are full of pleasure, but it is vnright. 1607T. Walkington Opt. Glass xii. (1664) 130 We count a Melancholick man the very Spunge of all sad Humors. 1677Otway Cheats of Scapin ii. i, Do ye not see every Day how the Spunges [sc. the lawyers] suck poor Clients. 1755Young Centaur iii. Wks. 1757 IV. 168 Our thirsty spunges of sensuality, who suck up every drop of it. 1891O. W. Holmes Over Teacups viii. 181 The muscles are great sponges that suck up and make use of large quantities of blood. 1893Saltus Madam Sapphira 219 After hours of that sponge for thought [sc. fatigue] which the saddle alone supplies.
b. spec. One who or that which appropriates or absorbs material or other advantages, wealth, etc.
1601Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. xl. Cc iv, This spunge sucketh dry the commerce of societies. 1602Shakes. Ham. iv. ii. 12 Rosin. Take you me for a Spundge, my Lord? Ham. I sir, that sokes vp the Kings Countenances, his Rewards, his Authorities. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §162 Ireland, which had been a Spunge to draw..all that could be got from England.
c. A person, etc., of this kind as a source from which something may be recovered or extracted.
1602Shakes. Ham. iv. ii. 22 It is but squeezing you, and Spundge you shall be dry againe. a1618Raleigh Prerog. Parl. 9 The people,..when they saw hee had squeased those spunges of the Common-wealth,..willingly yeelded to giue him satisfaction. c1670Hobbes Dial. Com. Laws (1681) 156 Empson and Dudley were no Favourites of Hen. the 7th, but Spunges, which King Hen. the 8th did well squeeze. 1722–7Boyer Dict. Royal i, Presser l'éponge,..to squeeze the Spunge, to make one refund. 1779Earl Carlisle in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 256 He is a sponge full of knowledge, which you may squeeze at your leisure.
d. An object of extortion; a source of profit or pecuniary advantage.
1625Purchas Pilgrims II. 1480 Which make Merchants to conceale their Riches lest they should be made Spunges. 1630R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem. (1641) 31 Another not so proud as covetous:..such an one makes all his inferiours his sponges. 1781Cowper Expost. 531 Thy monarchs..in distress Found thee a goodly sponge for Power to press. 1821Examiner 744/1 Ireland has been made all along a sponge for sinecurists, a field for jobbers. 1835James Gipsy ii, I will be no sponge to be squeezed for any man's pleasure.
10. One who meanly lives at the expense of others; a parasite, a sponger.
1838Stephens Trav. Turkey 36 As I could only contribute [to the meal] a couple of rolls of bread,..I am inclined to think that he considered me rather a sponge. 1866Whipple Character & Charact. Men 22 That large..class of our fellow-citizens who are commonly included in the genus ‘sponge’. 1883H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. 350 All social sponges; all satellites of the court; all beggars of the market-place.
IV. attrib. and Comb.
11. a. Attrib. in various uses, as sponge-bag, sponge-bank, sponge-basin, sponge-bath, sponge-bed, sponge box, etc.
The number of such combs. in recent use is very large, chiefly in the senses ‘forming part of, found in, sponges’, ‘producing or yielding sponges’, ‘used in fishing for sponges’, ‘used or intended for holding a sponge’.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Sponge-bag, an oil-skin case for a toilet sponge.
1885A. Brassey The Trades 333 Then we went..to see the *sponge-bank, where some of the finest specimens of sponge are procured.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 5825, *Sponge basin, soap box.
1859Habits of Gd. Society i. (new ed.) 106 The best bath for general purposes..is a *sponge bath.
1883in Adderley Fisheries Bahamas 55 The complete exhaustion of the *sponge beds.
1885A. Brassey The Trades 310 It is through this strait that many if not most of the *sponge⁓boats go.
1895Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 191/2 *Sponge box for travelling, patent aluminium. 1970Canadian Antiques Collector Oct. 18/2 Similar trifles for feminine use included snuff boxes, sponge boxes and bodkin cases.
1849Ann. Nat. Hist. IV. 87 When living and isolated the *sponge-cell is polymorphous.
1883Adderley Fisheries Bahamas 7 A new *sponge-field was discovered last year.
1867Chambers's Encycl. IX. 57/2 The number of men employed in the Ottoman *sponge-fishery is between 4000 and 5000.
1855T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 2) 28 To this contractile substance..he [M. Dujardin] proposed to give provisionally the name of Halisarca (*sponge-flesh).
1883Adderley Fisheries Bahamas 53 To..protect the selected *sponge grounds from robbery.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 128 Drilling through their pores or *spung⁓holes. Ibid. 185 Any little spungholes or crannies.
1883Adderley Fisheries Bahamas 6 They are taken to Nassau to be sold in the *sponge-market.
1870H. A. Nicholson Man. Zool. v. 70 The so-called ‘*sponge-particles’ or ‘sarcoids’.
1889Science-Gossip XXV. 230 Sometimes casts of the exhalant *sponge pores were made in chalcedony overlaid with quartz.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 821 The free bleeding will be staunched by *sponge-pressure.
1878Huxley Physiogr. xvi. 271 A highly fossiliferous limestone with..*sponge spicules.
1885J. E. Taylor Brit. Fossils i. 17 The various appearances of *sponge structure under the microscope.
1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 429/2 Recent statistics as to the extent of the *sponge trade.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 6130, *Sponge tray, soap boxes.
1848Carpenter Anim. Phys. ii. 113 The class of Porifera, or the *Sponge tribe.
1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 689/1 Within the trabeculæ of the *sponge-work blood circulates. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 266 The blood-vessels form an expressible sponge-work.
1885A. Brassey The Trades 310 Many *sponge-yards, where the process of cleaning and drying sponges is carried on.
b. In the sense ‘made of sponge’.
1859Semple Diphtheria 248 The *sponge-brush is moistened with the caustic liquid.
1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 490 A rapid series of shocks may thus be communicated..by means of the *sponge directors.
1837Penny Cycl. IX. 27/1 Its interior may be..cleaned by..running *sponge-rammers through the..straight pipes.
1739S. Sharp Treat. Surgery p. xxi, A piece of *Sponge-Tent, which is made by dipping a dry bit of Sponge in melted Wax [etc.]. 1803Med. Jrnl. X. 490 Keeping the abscess open by means of a sponge tent. 1876Trans. Clinical Soc. IX. 106 Sponge-tents are to be used to dilate the wound.
12. Comb.
a. Parasynthetic, as sponge-coloured, sponge-footed, sponge-leaved, etc.
b. With agent-nouns, as sponge-diver, sponge-fisher, sponge-maker, etc.
c. With vbl. ns. and ppl. adjs., as sponge-bearing, sponge-farming, sponge-fishing, etc.
a.1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Pine, Spunge-leaved Pine. 1826–7Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XVIII. 580 Fluviatile, sponge-shaped. 1845G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. IV. 33 A very curious sponge-coloured slab of stalagmitic marble. 1896Westm. Gaz. 26 Apr. 1/3 The silent sponge-footed camels.
b.17886th Rep. Dep. Kpr. Pub. Rec. ii. 179 Henry Cook,..Spunge Maker. 1858Homans Cycl. Comm. 1751 The principal sponge-fishers of the Archipelago and Levant. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. II. 238 The sponge-divers in the Archipelago. 1887Pall Mall G. 23 Feb. 9/1 The prisoner..was a sponge trimmer.
c.1861E. A. Beaufort Egypt. Sepulchres II. 334 The sponge-gathering is a very lucrative business. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2286/1 On the Barbary coast sponge-fishing is..actively prosecuted. 1885J. E. Taylor Brit. Fossils i. 16 Fossil sponge-hunting. Ibid. 23 Sponge-bearing chalk-flints. 1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 428/2 The method of sponge-farming.
13. a. Special Combs.: sponge-bag trousers, a pair of men's checked trousers, patterned in the style of many sponge-bags; sponge biscuit, a flour-biscuit of a similar composition to sponge-cake; sponge cloth, (a) (see quots.); (b) a thin piece of spongy material used for cleaning; (c) a type of cotton fabric (see quot. 1957); sponge-finger, an elongated form of sponge-biscuit; sponge-glass, a device for discovering sponges at the bottom of the sea; sponge-gold, gold as it remains after the silver has been removed in the process of ‘parting’; sponge-head, the top of an artillery sponge-staff; sponge-hook, a hook with which sponges are pulled up from the sea-bottom; sponge-iron, iron ore rendered light and porous by the removal of foreign matter; sponge mixture, (a) a packet of prepared dry ingredients for making a sponge-cake; (b) the ingredients of a sponge-cake mixed together ready for baking; sponge-pole = sponge-staff (b); sponge rubber, liquid rubber latex processed into a sponge-like substance; freq. attrib.; sponge sandwich, a sponge-cake consisting of two halves sandwiched together with a filling; in earlier use, covered with custard and eaten as a pudding; sponge-staff, (a) the staff of an artillery sponge; (b) the staff of a sponge-hook; † sponge-stone (see quots.); sponge-swamp (see sense 6 e).
1915V. Woolf Voyage Out xxiii. 376 Can't you imagine him—bald as a coot with a pair of *sponge-bag trousers? 1977A. J. Ayer Part of My Life ii. 35 The members of Pop also had the privileges..of wearing coloured waistcoats, sponge-bag trousers, braid on their tail-coats, flowers in their button-holes and sealing wax on their top-hats.
1736Bailey Househ. Dict. s.v. Biscuit, To make *Spunge Biscuit. 1837Mrs. Gaskell Let. 18 Mar. (1966) 10 Aunt L. has..expressed a strong wish to hear ‘her dear little voice once again’ and has a spunge biscuit behind her pillow this 4 days to give her. 1892T. F. Garrett Encycl. Pract. Cookery 147/1 Sponge Biscuit.—Beat ten eggs very thick and smooth. 1954D. Hartley Food in England vii. 218 (heading) Egg and lemon jelly (using sponge biscuits).
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 3643, Patent *sponge cloths for cleaning machinery and fire-arms. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 397/1 Sponge Cloth, a peculiar kind of cloth, moist with oil; it is used to clean the screws of Armstrong guns. 1902D. Salomons in A. C. Harmsworth Motors & Motor Driving vi. 93 Sponge cloths are a desirable accessory for cleaning and for polishing up. 1919Queen 26 July 138 White sponge cloth is the thing for this new coat and skirt. 1957M. B. Picken Fashion Dict. 318/2 Sponge cloth... Cotton fabric of coarse yarn woven in honeycomb weave to produce open spongy effect. 1976W. Trevor Children of Dynmouth iii. 58 Timothy rinsed the sponge-cloth he was using, squeezing it out in his bowl of dirty water. He wiped the inside of the oven..and closed the door.
1906Westm. Gaz. 11 Sept. 10/2 The biscuits, *sponge-fingers, sultana-cakes [etc.].
1885A. Brassey The Trades 301 Their *sponge-glasses..may perhaps be best described as square buckets with a glass bottom to them. 1887Goode Fisheries U.S. 823 The sponge-glass as originally constructed consisted of a small, square, wooden box having a glass bottom.
1882U.S. Rep. Prec. Met. 648 Pouring melted phosphorus upon hot *sponge⁓gold.
1828Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 177 Number 2 passes his sponge..to 4, who straps on the *sponge-head.
1840Gen. Mercer in R. J. Macdonald Hist. Dress R.A. (1899) 56 Mine [i.e. a hat] was one of the low fans, with the spunge-head feather.
1881Ingersoll Oyster-Industr. (Hist. Fish. Industr. U.S.) 248 *Sponge-hook.—The bent, two-pronged iron tool at the end of a pole, with which sponges are gathered from the bottom. 1887Goode Fisheries U.S. 823 The sponge-hooks are made of iron, with three curved prongs, measuring in total width about 5 or 6 inches.
1874J. A. Phillips Elem. Metall. 434 The precipitation of copper is very rapidly effected by the use of *sponge-iron.
1926–7Army & Navy Stores Catal. 50/1 *Sponge mixture..pkt. -/5½. 1962‘O. Mills’ Headlines make Murder x. 119 She..poured boiling water on her sponge mixture. 1975Times 10 May 13/4 A sponge mixture that you bake yourself tastes very much nicer than a shop bought one.
1881Ingersoll Oyster-Industr. (Hist. Fish. Industr. U.S.) 248 *Sponge-pole.—The pole by which the hook is operated in gathering sponges.
1932New Yorker 9 Apr. 56/3 A luxurious soft pile combined with a *sponge rubber back. 1934G. F. Charnock Mech. Technol. (ed. 2) xxii. 278 Sponge rubber, such as is sometimes used for upholstery, and in which the pores are many times larger than the cells of expanded rubber, is not such an effective insulator. 1951Archit. Rev. CIX. 164 (caption) A sponge rubber overlay is fitted over the springs. 1967N. Freeling Strike out where not Applicable 20 Metal furniture, upholstered in sponge rubber, covered with grey plastic.
1884Myra's Cookery Bk. xiv. 309 *Sponge sandwiches... Sponge cakes 6—cut in half lengthways. 1917Harrods Gen. Catal. 1269/2 Sponge Sandwiches..each 1/6. 1967A. Laski Seven Other Years iii. 30, I want you to go..and get a sponge sandwich for tomorrow. A chocolate sponge with cream.
1772Phil. Trans. LXII. 90, I took..sheet lead..and beat it on a *sponge staff to make it round. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 160 Sponge Staffs, with Hook attached, used in obtaining..sponge.
1668Charleton Onomast. 253 Lapis Spongiæ,..the *Sponge-stone. 1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 100 The Spunge-Stone..is made of the Matter of Spunges petrified. 1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., The spunge-stone, or tartarous incrustation on this plant.
1901Q. Rev. July 22 There is a ‘*sponge’ swamp, or stream-head.
b. In names of crustacea, insects, etc., as sponge centre-shell, crab, moth, shrimp.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 378 And so the Sponge-Spy warily awakes The Sponge's dull sense, when repast it takes. 1681Grew Musæum i. vi. ii. 148 The Spung-Centre-Shell. Balanus Spongiarum. 1848Maunder Treas. Nat. Hist. 197/1 Sponge Crab.—Dromia vulgaris. 1888Amer. Naturalist Mar. 256 The Sponge Shrimp. Alpheus. 1891Cent. Dict., Sponge-moth, the gipsy-moth.
c. In names of plants, etc., as sponge-cucumber, gourd, -leather, mushroom, -tree, -wood.
1891Cent. Dict., *Sponge-cucumber, same as sponge-gourd.
1861Bentley Man. Bot. 548 The fruit of Luffa fœtida is termed the *Sponge Gourd, as it consists of a mass of fibres entangled together, and is used for cleaning guns, &c.
1887Cassell's Encycl. Dict., *Sponge-leather,..Polytrichum commune.
1681Grew Musæum ii. iii. iv. 239 The *Sponge Mushroom..hath the substance of a Tree-Mushroom.
1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 328 *Spunge-tree, Mimosa. 1829Loudon Encycl. Plants 858 Acacia farnesiana, Sponge Tree... [Native of] St. Domin[go].
1828Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XIX. 487/2 One species, Gastonia spongiosa, native of the Island of Bourbon; a tree with bark similar to sponge, it is called by the natives *Sponge wood. 1866Treas. Bot. 1086/2 Spongewood, æschynomene aspera.
Add:[I.] [1.] d. A piece of sponge or similar material (esp. one impregnated with spermicide) inserted into the vagina as a form of barrier contraceptive.
1823To Married of Both Sexes of Working People (handbill) 3 If the sponge be large enough, that is; as large as a green walnut, or a small apple, it will prevent conception. 1902F. Hollick Origin of Life (new ed.) xxxviii. 428 No certain dependence can be placed upon introducing any object into the vagina before association, as a sponge, for instance, which, on being withdrawn, may bring the semen with it. 1933C. I. B. Voge Chem. & Physics of Contraceptives v. 196 The sponge itself acts as a barrier and the action of coitus forces the spermicide out of the sponge into the vaginal cavity. 1983N.Y. Times 13 Mar. 25/3 Physicians said the sponge proved to be about as effective as the diaphragm in tests on 2,000 women in several countries, including the United States.
[IV.] [13.] [b.] sponge-fly = spongilla fly s.v. *spongilla n.
1901J. G. Needham in Bull N.Y. State Mus. No. 47. 560, I would suggest that as a common name for the insects of these two genera, spongilla flies, or *sponge flies, would not be inappropriate. 1968Oxf. Bk. Insects 36/1 Sponge-fly (Sisyra fuscata). A small, semi-aquatic Lacewing which flies from May to September.
▪ II. sponge, n.2
Also 7–8 spunge.
[f. the vb.]
1. The act of living parasitically on others.
1693Humours Town 37 Another..is faine to live upon the Spunge the rest of his days. 1716C'tess Cowper Diary (1864) 105 Lady W. Powlett complains of Mademoiselle Schutz, and says she is so importunate and troublesome, and always upon the Spunge.
2. An act of wetting or wiping (off) with or as by means of a sponge. Also with advs.
1720A. Hutcheson Collect. Calcul. S. Sea Scheme 138 Whether the Parliament..shall now take the Benefit of such a Spunge made by the Directors of the South-Sea Company. 1873Tristram Moab xv. 285 For myself a sponge at that heat was quite enough. 1905Daily Chron. 21 Apr. 4/5 The mildest form of the cold bath is the cold sponge down. 1954M. Stewart Madam, will you Talk? vii. 60, I hadn't time for a bath, but I took a quick cool sponge down. 1960House & Garden Mar. 63/1 All the paper will need will be a sponge down. 1977W. Golding Moving Target (1982) 66 Ann has just had a sponge-down in the beastly bath.
▪ III. † sponge, n.3 Obs.
Also spunge.
[ad. older F. esponge (mod.F. éponge), alteration of OF. esponde:—L. sponda frame (of a bed, etc.).]
A heel of a horse-shoe.
1580Blundevil Horsemanship iv. 62 b, The Grauelling..commeth by meanes of little grauell stones getting betwixt the hooue, or calking, or sponge of the [horse's] shooe. 1596L. Mascall Cattle 156 In shooing the fore feete, make your shooes with a broade webbe and with thick sponges. 1607Markham Cavel. vi. (1617) 64 The heeles shal be made with extraordinary long spunges, & those spunges more broad and flat then commonly is vsed. 1726Dict. Rust. s.v., Those who make the spunges of their Horses Shoes too long..spoil their Feet.
▪ IV. sponge, v.|spʌndʒ|
Also 6–9 spunge (7–8 spung), 6 spundge; Sc. 6, 9 spounge, 9 spoonge.
[f. sponge n.1, or ad. OF. esponger (mod.F. éponger), late L. spongiāre (rare).]
I.
1. a. trans. To wipe or rub with a wet sponge for the purpose of cleaning. Also with advs., as down, over, up.
1392Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 178 Et per manus eiusdem pro spongyng j last barello. 1530Palsgr. 729, I sponge a gowne or any other garment to scoure the fylthe out of it, je esponge. 1550H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. 73 Brush thou, and spunge thy cloaths to, that thou that day shalt weare. 1609T. Cocks Diary (1901) 81 Given to nursse for spunginge my jerkyn ijd. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. ii. 440 In their sight to spunge his foame-bespawled beard. 1687Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii, To spunge a Thing over. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton vi, Too busy planning how her..gown..might be sponged, and turned. 1889Gunter That Frenchman viii. 89 It [the dress-suit] looks very nice now, and Gretchen can sponge it up to-morrow.
absol.1853Kane Grinnell Exp. 326 Another..sponged freely and regularly..in water colored brown by coffee.
fig.1842Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 156 God hath now Sponged and made blank of crimeful record all My mortal archives.
b. To swab the bore of (a cannon), esp. after a discharge. Also absol.
a1625Nomencl. Navalis (MS. Harl. 2301) s.v., Wee have it also fitted to the ends of a stiff roape..to spunge and lade within Board. We over spung a Peece [etc.]. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. To Rdr., To spunge, lade, and fire a Gun. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Cannon, To spunge a piece therefore is to introduce this instrument into the bore, and thrusting it home.., to clean the whole cavity. 1828Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 175 Number 1, points and commands; 2, sponges; 3, loads. 1863Kinglake Crimea (1877) III. i. 119 In less time than it took the Russian artillerymen to sponge and load their guns.
c. spec. (See quot.)
1775Ash, Sponge (v.t.),..to take off the gloss of new cloth with a sponge.
d. To wipe, wet, or moisten, with some liquid applied by means of a sponge.
1800Med. Jrnl. III. 557, I then directed..the whole surface of his body to be sponged with cold vinegar. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 742 To make the colour of the sky spread more evenly, it is a frequent practice to sponge the paper with clean water. 1876J. S. Bristowe Th. & Pract. Med. (1878) 174 The patient should be..frequently sponged with tepid water. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 780 The best treatment would be to sponge the parts with a one in two thousand perchloride of mercury.
†2.
a. With up: To make spruce, smart, or trim.
1588Greene Pandosto Wks. (Grosart) IV. 296 His Wife, a good cleanly wenche, brought him all things fitte, and spunged him vp very handsomelie. 1590Tarlton News Purgat. (1844) 83 On goes she with her holiday partlet & spundging herself up went with her husband to church. 1605Chapman All Fools i. i. 73 Undressed, sluttish, nasty, to their husbands; Spung'd up, adorn'd, and painted to their lovers. 1626Middleton Women Beware Women ii. ii, When she was invited to an early wedding; She'ld dress her head o'r night, spunge up herself, And give her neck three lathers.
†b. Similarly without up. Obs.
1592Greene Upst. Courtier Wks. (Grosart) XI. 239 He as neatly spunged as if he had been a bridegrome. 1594Nashe Terrors of Night To Rdr., You shal haue them..spend a whole twelue month in spunging & sprucing them.
3. a. To apply with a sponge. rare—1.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 184 Diuers Authors haue also prescribed these outward medicines against the bitinges of Dogs in generall, namely Vinegar spunged, the lees of vineger [etc.].
b. To remove, wipe away, off, or up, by means of a sponge. Also in fig. context.
1624Quarles Job Militant xii, O! bathe me in his Blood, spunge euery Staine, That I may boldly sue my Counter⁓paine. 1767Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 258 After the bone is laid sufficiently bare, and the blood well spunged up. 1846F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 10 Carefully sponge away the blood or serum which exudes during the application of the caustic. 1906F. S. Oliver A. Hamilton iv. iv. 309 All the old accounts were sponged off the slate.
c. To take out, extract, by means of a sponge or in a similar manner.
1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 91 Golden-sand which the People spong'd out of the Water with their sheep-skins. 1894Daily News 17 July 6/3 The collector would not fairly be stigmatised as a Vandal if he sponged out the plate. Ibid., These [book-]plates, containing the names..of the owners from whose books they have been ‘sponged’.
4. To convert (flour or dough) into ‘sponge’. Also intr.
1772Ann. Reg. ii. 109/2 So will a thimble-full of barm, by adding of warm water, raise or spunge any body of flour. 1876Mid-Yorks. Gloss. 134/2. 1962 M. E. Murie Two in Far North ii. vii. 171 The [bread] sponge didn't sponge in spite of red damask tablecloth and fur parka I had lovingly wrapped it in.
5. intr. To issue or rise in a spongy form; to foam; to drip as from a sponge.
1790J. Fisher Poems 93 Sips o' it seem to come spunging Out frae your mouth. 1867Stamford Mercury 20 Sept., She did not even sponge at her mouth. 1880J. Lomas Alkali Trade iii. 73 The cast-iron burner pipe..should project some 6 or 9 in. into the interior, to prevent any sponging back of the acid. 1884Burroughs Locusts & Wild H. 112 Rain..sponging off every leaf of every tree in the forest and every growth in the fields.
6. trans. To throw up the sponge on behalf of (one who is beaten in a fight). slang.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 56 They'll fight on till they go down together, and then if one [dog] leave hold, he's sponged.
II. fig.
7. To rub or wipe out, to efface or obliterate:
a. With out or out of.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 200 b, Which spot no wayes can be sponged out nor recompenced, for shame in a kynred can by no treasure be redemed. 1570Foxe A. & M. 688/1, I trust..yt your dyrtie pen..hath not so bedaubed and bespotted me..but I hope to spunge it out. 1629Lynde Via Tuta 285 After I..had noted six hundred seuerall passages to be spunged and blotted out. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 258 To spunge out prejudicate Notions or Opinions. 1838Eliza Cook Lines written at Midn. vi, Time..That sponges out all trace of truth. 1887D. C. Murray & Herman Traveller Returns v. 69 Its gloom saturated the forest rim, and then sponged it out of sight. 1888W. Richmond Chr. Econ. 232 The difficulty is one to be met in detail. It cannot be sponged out by any general statement.
b. Without adv.
a1636Lynde Case for Spectacles (1638) 103 Or must we beleeve, that your Inquisitors would take such infinite care and paines to review all Authours for 1600. yeares, and spunge them onely in the Index? 1819Keats Otho i. iii. 44 No, not a thousand foughten fields could sponge Those days paternal from my memory. 1866Crump Banking ii. 70 It would remain in the power of the tribunal..to sponge from their name the least suspicion.
c. With off. (Chiefly of debts.)
1720A. Hutcheson Collect. Calcul. S. Sea Scheme 138 Whether the Parliament had, by an express Law, Spunged off Seven Millions of this Debt. 1803Cobbett in Pol. Reg. (1817) 8 Feb. 177 There is none of the debt sponged off by this tax. 1824Examiner 817/2 The debt would be spunged off.
8. a. To divest of something. rare—1.
1594Kyd Cornelia ii. 7 O eyes,..make the blood..trickle by your vaults; And spunge my bodies heate of moisture so, As my displeased soule may shunne my hart.
b. To drain or empty; to clear out. rare.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xvi. 147 When they haue done, and their Clients purses well spunged, they are better friends then euer they were. 1814Scott Wav. xlvi, This the young Highlander performed, not without examining the pockets of the defunct, which, however, he remarked, had been pretty well spunged.
c. To deprive (one) of something by sponging; to press (one) for money; to squeeze.
1631R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature i. 11 Those Hogs hee must feed, till they spunge him of all his substance. 1677Miége Fr. Dict. ii, To spunge one, to get what one can of him. 1692South Serm. (1697) I. 538 How came such multitudes..to be spunged of their Plate and Money. 1716Wodrow's Corr. (1843) II. 132 Yea, taking the clothes off the people's very backs,..and always spunged them for money. 1724Ramsay Vision xii, By rundging, and spunging, The leil laborious pure [= poor].
9.
†a. To obtain by pressure or extortion. Obs.
1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 95 Their Principal Revenue arising from what they spunge from their Vassals. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. lxxiv, To spunge Composition out of such as are willing to buy their Peace.
b. To get from another in a mean or parasitic manner. Also with up.
1676Wycherley Pl. Dealer Prol., If y'ave any wit, 'Tis but what here you spunge and daily get. 1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 369 Any that would spunge a Dinner. 1735Swift in Portland Papers VI. 61 (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I spend six hogsheads every year, which some of my Prebendaries..sponge from me at noon or evening. 1760–2Goldsm. Cit. W. xxvii, They spunged up my money whilst it lasted. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) I. 201 Once many a bit we sponged; but now, God help us, that is done with.
10. a. intr. To live on others in a parasitic manner; to obtain assistance or maintenance by mean arts.
1673R. Head Canting Acad. 103 He may Spunge, and have his Leachery for nothing. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Spunge, to drink at others Cost. 1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T., To spunge, to eat and drink at another's cost. 1849W. Irving Goldsm. xxv. 222 An Irishman..who lived nobody knew how nor where; sponging wherever he had a chance. 1884G. Moore Mummer's Wife (1887) 203 Fearing to look as if she were sponging, Kate insisted on..standing treat.
b. Const. on or upon (a person, etc.).
(a)1677Miége Fr. Dict., To spunge upon one, écornifler. 1693Humours Town 101 The poor Curate is fain to Spunge upon the Wealthier Sinners of his Parish. 1706–7Farquhar Beaux' Strat. iv. iii, I had rather spunge upon Morris, and sup upon a Dish of Bohee scor'd behind the Door. 1730Fielding Tom Thumb ii. i, There when I have him, I will spunge upon him. 1824Hist. Gaming 41 Frequenting shabby ale-houses, sponging upon credulous persons. 1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 198 They will cheat the public at their shops or sponge on their friends at their houses. 1887M. E. Braddon Like & Unlike x, I hope I shall never be obliged to sponge upon you.
(b)1681–6J. Scott Chr. Life iii. Mortification iii, What man in his Wits would keep such a Company of devouring Lusts about him, that are perpetually spungeing upon his Estate. a1692H. Pollexfen Disc. Trade (1697) 155 [They] must live by preying, pilfering or spunging upon other Mens Labours. 1855Trollope Warden xx, It was an easy matter to abandon his own income, as he was able to sponge on that of another person. 1902L. Stephen Stud. Biogr. III. iii. 114 Humbugs, ready to..spunge upon his benevolence.
c. With for (something).
1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) I. 200 That all Bullies should pay; And sponge no more for recreation. 1735Sheridan Let. to Swift 5 Oct., Do not think to sponge upon me for anything but meat, drink, and lodging. 1837Lytton E. Maltrav. i. xvii, A doubt lest I should some day or other sponge upon his lordship for a place. 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. i. v, I'm to be a poor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling in a coach!
11. To go about in a sneaking or loafing fashion, esp. in order to obtain something.
1825Jamieson Suppl. s.v. 1866Lond. Rev. 3 Mar. 245/2 Soldiers..loafing and spunging from tavern to tavern during the entire day.
III. 12. intr. (See quot.)
1881Ingersoll Oyster-Industr. (Hist. Fish. Industr. U.S.) 248 Sponge, or To go Sponging.—To go on a cruise for gathering sponges.
Hence ˈspongeable a., able to be wiped with a sponge.
1971Ideal Home Apr. 75/2 Spongeable wallpaper. 1976Milton Keynes Express 23 July 22/5 (Advt.), Roller blind kits and dozens of fabulous spongeable fabrics at Bedford Wednesday Market behind statue. |