sponge
(spʌndʒ )
Word forms: sponges , sponging , sponged
1. countable noun
Sponge is a very light soft substance with lots of little holes in it, which can be either artificial or natural. It is used to clean things or as a soft layer.
...a sponge mattress.
2. countable noun
A sponge is a sea animal with a soft round body made of natural sponge.
3. countable noun
A sponge is a piece of sponge that you use for washing yourself or for cleaning things.
He wiped off the table with a sponge.
4. verb [Also VERB PARTICLE noun (not pronoun)]
If you sponge something, you clean it by wiping it with a wet sponge.
Fill a bowl with water and gently sponge your face and body. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: swab, wipe, mop, clean
Sponge down means the same as sponge.
If your child's temperature rises, sponge her down gently with tepid water. [VERB noun PARTICLE]
5. variable noun
A sponge is a light cake or pudding made from flour, eggs, sugar, and sometimes fat.
It makes a superb filling for cakes and sponges.
6. verb
If you say that someone sponges off other people or sponges on them, you mean that they regularly get money from other people when they should be trying to support themselves. [informal, disapproval]
He should just get an honest job and stop sponging off the rest of us! [V + off]
He spent his life grumbling about missed opportunities and sponging on his father for money. [VERB + on]
Image of sponge
© 24/04/2018, Shutterstock
Collocations:
wet sponge
Remember, it's not all that long ago that football's idea of a cure for everything - from a split lip to a broken tibia - was a wet sponge.
Times, Sunday Times
This involves running déshabillé outside to paste wallpaper on the garden table then running back into the house with a wet sponge and a plumb line.
Times, Sunday Times
We go to experience the elation of slopping a wet sponge into an innocent person's face, or a moment of burning disappointment as the hoop somehow touches the wiggly wire.
Times, Sunday Times
Run a bit of toothpaste over your bathroom fixtures on a wet sponge to get gunk off the chrome.
Times, Sunday Times
I even gave the outside a bit of a wipe down with a wet sponge.
The Sun
Translations:
Chinese: 海绵, 松软蛋糕
Japanese: スポンジ for washing, スポンジケーキ cake
- decimal point
- decimate
- decimate the population
- decimation
- decipher
- decipher a clue
- decipher a code
- decipher a message
- decipher a word
- decipher the meaning
- decision
- decision-making
- decision-making ability
- decision-making authority
- decision-making body
- decision-making capacity
- decision-making involves
- decision-making process
- decisive
- decisive action
- decisive advantage
- decisive battle
- decisive blow
- decisive break
- decisive contribution