sponginessn.
/ˈspʌndʒɪnɪs/ 1.
a. Spongy or porous character, nature, or quality.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > softness > types of softness > [noun] > sponginess
spongiousness1598
sponginess1610
fuzziness1613
foziness1821
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun] > small opening > minute hole > quality of being full of
plumminessa1398
porositya1398
spongiosity?1541
spongiousness1598
sponginess1610
poriness1653
porousness1653
porishness1670
poroseness1679
pore1756
α.
β. 1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Móllo,..the soft or spunginesse of any thing, as of crummes of bread.1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) II. 20 Because of its spunginess the Rain easily penetrates.1788 Med. Communications 2 209 A spunginess..of the membrane.1610 G. Markham Maister-peece i. lxiv. 134 It through the sponginesse is apt to sucke in all manner of filth.
1659 H. More Immortality of Soul ii. ix. 214 The sponginess & laxness of the Brain.
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 603 In what the soil extracts from the stream by its sponginess.
1836–41 W. T. Brande Man. Chem. (ed. 5) 512 Animal Charcoal..often has a peculiar lustre and sponginess.
1883 J. Millington Are we to read Backwards? 76 The paper should be..free from sponginess.
b. figurative and transferred.
ΚΠ
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1955) II. 107 For, this plurality..of sin, hath found first a spunginesse in the soul.
1670 Earl of Clarendon Contempl. & Reflexions upon Psalms in Coll. Tracts (1727) 666 We must have all that looseness and spunginess of our hearts removed.
1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. iv. 145 The size and sponginess of the two Sydney butchers.
2. Pathology. The characteristic soft fungous condition of the gums in scurvy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of mouth > [noun] > disorders of gums
gumboil1753
pyorrhoea1787
gum-rash1822
epulis1859
gingivitis1860
periodontitis1870
sponginess1873
Riggs' disease1875
gingivostomatitis1900
periodontoclasia1914
periodontosis1936
1873 F. T. Roberts Handbk. Med. 824 Sponginess of the gums with tendency to bleed, and rapid destruction of the teeth are frequently noticed.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 158 It..frequently begins with a simple sponginess of gums.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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n.1610