(countable, uncountable, Britain) A type of steamedpudding.
(slang) A person who takes advantage of the generosity of others (abstractly imagined to absorb or soak up the money or efforts of others like a sponge).
Any sponge-like substance.
Dough before it is kneaded and formed into loaves, and after it is converted into a light, spongy mass by the agency of the yeast or leaven.
Iron from the puddling furnace, in a pasty condition.
Iron ore, in masses, reduced but not melted or worked.
A mop for cleaning the bore of a cannon after a discharge. It consists of a cylinder of wood, covered with sheepskin with the wool on, or cloth with a heavy looped nap, and having a handle, or staff.
“So does it make you a sponger to get money from the State to buy a baby's buggy?”
“The message from the Committee is if you watch the picture please pay up and don't be a sponger.”
“I've been called a scrounger, a sponger, a faker and other words you wouldn't be able to put in print.”
spongin
A horny, sulfur-containing protein, related to keratin, that forms the skeletal structure of certain classes of sponges. A proteinaceous compound of which the spicules in Demospongiae are composed.
“First of all, however, spongin is not a feature consistent of all Porifera, but may be a constituent character of the Demospongiae only.”
“In other species the spongin is intermixed with spicules of silica, or of carbonate of lime, in various shapes.”
“In this genus the skeleton is more or less flexible, being composed of spongin.”
spongiopilin
(medicine) A kind of cloth interwoven with small pieces of sponge and rendered waterproof on one side by a covering of rubber. When moistened with hot water it is used as a poultice.
“The body structure is characterized by a stalk-like spongocoel surrounded by a single layer of choanocytes.”
“Continuous central tubular spongocoel extends upward from preserved early juvenile chambers to open at the top of the uppermost chambers in tallest specimens.”
“Chambers are in a moniliform arrangement, without a spongocoel wall.”