SPONGE

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English, from Latin spongia, from Greek Date: before 12th century 1. a. an elastic porous mass of interlacing horny fibers that forms the internal skeleton of various marine animals (phylum Porifera) and is able when wetted to absorb water, a piece of ~ (as for scrubbing and cleaning), a porous rubber or cellulose product used similarly to a ~, any of a phylum (Porifera) of aquatic chiefly marine simple invertebrate animals that have a double-walled body of loosely aggregated cells with a skeleton supported by spicules or spongin and are filter feeders that are sessile as adults, a pad (as of folded gauze) used in surgery and medicine (as to remove discharge or apply medication), one who lives on others ; ~r, 4. a soft mixture of yeast, liquid, and flour that is allowed to rise and then mixed with additional ingredients to create bread dough, a whipped dessert usually containing whites of eggs or gelatin, a metal (as platinum) obtained in porous form usually by reduction without fusion , the egg mass of a crab, an absorbent contraceptive device that is impregnated with spermicide and inserted into the vagina before sexual intercourse to cover the cervix, see: parasite II. verb (~d; sponging) Date: 14th century transitive verb to cleanse, wipe, or moisten with or as if with a ~, to erase or destroy with or as if with a ~, to get by sponging on another, to absorb with or as if with or in the manner of a ~, intransitive verb to absorb, soak up, or imbibe like a ~, to get something from or live on another by imposing on hospitality or good nature , to dive or dredge for ~s, ~r noun