/ sʌk; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
1.
[ vn , usually + adv. / prep. ] to take liquid, air, etc. into your mouth by using the muscles of your lips :
to suck the juice from an orange
She was noisily sucking up milk through a straw.
2.
suck (at, on) sth to keep sth in your mouth and pull on it with your lips and tongue :
[ v , vn ]
She sucked on a mint.
She sucked a mint.
[ vn ]
Stop sucking your thumb!
[ v ]
The baby sucked at its mother's breast.
3.
to take liquid, air, etc. out of sth :
[ vn + adv. / prep. ]
The pump sucks air out through the valve.
[ vn - adj ]
Greenfly can literally suck a plant dry.
4.
[ vn + adv. / prep. ] to pull sb/sth with great force in a particular direction :
The canoe was sucked down into the whirlpool.
5.
sth sucks [ v ] ( slang ) used to say that sth is very bad :
Their new CD sucks.
—compare rock verb (4)
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IDIOMS
- suck it and see
- suck it up
—more at dry adjective , teach
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- suck sb in | suck sb into sth
- suck up (to sb)
■ noun
[ usually sing. ] an act of sucking
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English sūcan (verb), from an Indo-European imitative root; related to soak .