sponge

noun

1. (countable)Any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.
2. (countable)A piece of porous material used for washing (originally made from the invertebrates, now often made of plastic).

   “She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination. The elder woman returned with dressings and a sponge, which she placed on a chair.”

3. (uncountable)The porous material that synthetic washing sponges are made of.
4. (countable, informal, uncountable)A heavy drinker.
5. (countable, uncountable)A type of light cake.
6. (British, countable, uncountable)A type of steamed pudding.
7. (countable, slang, uncountable)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).
8. (countable, uncountable)A person who readily absorbs ideas.

   “For this reason, we need to think of our children as sponges of information and watch their sources carefully. We also need to always model appropriate behaviour, as we are a constant source of new information.”

9. (countable)A form of contraception that is inserted vaginally; a contraceptive sponge.
10. (countable, uncountable)Any sponge-like substance.
11. (countable, uncountable)Any sponge-like substance.
12. (countable, uncountable)Any sponge-like substance.
13. (countable, uncountable)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.

    “The great guns ranged along the deck — each bound fast by its new breechings — with their linstocks and sponges and ladles and rammers, made no idle show of warlike strength.”

14. (countable, uncountable)The extremity, or point, of a horseshoe, corresponding to the heel.
15. (countable, slang, uncountable)A nuclear power plant worker routinely exposed to radiation.

verb

1. (intransitive, slang)To take advantage of the kindness of others.

   “The fly is an intruder, and a common smell-feast, that spunges upon other Peoples Trenchers.”

   “You can’t go on spunging upon the women.”

   “He has been sponging off his friends for a month now.”

2. (transitive)To get by imposition; to scrounge.

   ““[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.”

   “July 17 1735, Jonathan Swift, letter to Lord Ornery I am an utter stranger to the persons and places, except when half a score come to sponge on me every Sunday evening”

   “to sponge a breakfast”

3. (transitive)To deprive (somebody) of something by imposition.

   “How came such multitudes of our nation […] to be sponged of their plate and their money?”

4. To clean, soak up, or dab with a sponge.

   “Before stepping into the bath the head should be wet with cold water, and in the bath the pit of the stomach should first be sponged.”

5. To suck in, or imbibe, like a sponge.
6. To wipe out with a sponge, as letters or writing; to efface; to destroy all trace of.

   “Lett the eyes which have looked on Idols, sponge out their unlawfull acts”

7. (intransitive)To be converted, as dough, into a light, spongy mass by the agency of yeast or leaven.
8. To use a piece of wild sponge as a tool when foraging for food.

   “Why do dolphins sponge instead of foraging in a more "normal" way?”

   “Sponging is worth thinking about in some detail because it illustrates many of the challenges and sources of controversy in studying social learning and culture in wild cetaceans.”

   “Moreover, the females that do it seem to "sponge" relentlessly throughout the day, hunting more than other females and more than male spongers too.”