Word Meanings - SPONGER - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. One who sponges, or uses a sponge. 2. One employed in gathering sponges. 3. Fig.: A parasitical dependent; a hanger-on.

Related words: (words related to SPONGER)

• SPONGE
  Any one of numerous species of Spongiæ, or Porifera. See Illust. and Note under Spongiæ. 2. The elastic fibrous skeleton of many species of horny Spongiæ , used for many purposes, especially the varieties of the genus Spongia. The most valuable
• HANGER
  1. One who hangs, or causes to be hanged; a hangman. 2. That by which a thing is suspended. Especially: A strap hung to the girdle, by which a dagger or sword is suspended. A part that suspends a journal box in which shafting runs. See Illust.
• DEPENDENT
  1. Hanging down; as, a dependent bough or leaf. 2. Relying on, or subject to, something else for support; not able to exist, or sustain itself, or to perform anything, without the will, power, or aid of something else; not self-sustaining;
• GATHERER
  An attachment for making gathers in the cloth. (more info) 1. One who gathers or collects.
• EMPLOYER
  One who employs another; as, an employer of workmen.
• GATHERABLE
  Capable of being gathered or collected; deducible from premises. Godwin.
• HANGER-ON
  One who hangs on, or sticks to, a person, place, or service; a dependent; one who adheres to others' society longer than he is wanted. Goldsmith.
• GATHER
  To bring together, or nearer together, in masonry, as where the width of a fireplace is rapidly diminished to the width of the flue, or the like. (more info) together, fr. gæd fellowship; akin to E. good, D. gaderen to collect, G. gatte husband,
• EMPLOYMENT
  1. The act of employing or using; also, the state of being employed. 2. That which engages or occupies; that which consumes time or attention; office or post of business; service; as, agricultural employments; mechanical employments;
• EMPLOYEE
  One employed by another.
• DEPENDENTLY
  In a dependent manner.
• SPONGELET
  See SPONGIOLE
• SPONGEOUS
  Resembling sponge; having the nature or qualities of sponge.
• EMPLOYE
  One employed by another; a clerk or workman in the service of an employer.
• EMPLOYABLE
  Capable of being employed; capable of being used; fit or proper for use. Boyle.
• SPONGER
  1. One who sponges, or uses a sponge. 2. One employed in gathering sponges. 3. Fig.: A parasitical dependent; a hanger-on.
• GATHERING
  1. The act of collecting or bringing together. 2. That which is gathered, collected, or brought together; as: A crowd; an assembly; a congregation. A charitable contribution; a collection. A tumor or boil suppurated or maturated; an abscess.
• EMPLOY
  implicate, engage; in + plicare to fold. See Ply, and cf. Imply, 1. To inclose; to infold. Chaucer. 2. To use; to have in service; to cause to be engaged in doing something; -- often followed by in, about, on, or upon, and sometimes by to; as:
• UNEMPLOYMENT
  Quality or state of being not employed; -- used esp. in economics, of the condition of various social classes when temporarily thrown out of employment, as those engaged for short periods, those whose trade is decaying, and those least competent.
• ON-HANGER
  A hanger-on.
• MEGATHEROID
  One of a family of extinct edentates found in America. The family includes the megatherium, the megalonyx, etc.
• TAXGATHERER
  One who collects taxes or revenues. -- Tax"gath`er*ing, n.
• UPGATHER
  To gather up; to contract; to draw together. Himself he close upgathered more and more. Spenser.
• PARASITIC; PARASITICAL
  Of or pertaining to parasites; living on, or deriving nourishment from, some other living animal or plant. See Parasite, 2 & 3. Parasitic gull, Parasitic jager. See Jager. -- Par`a*sit"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Par`a*sit"ic*al*ness, n. (more info) 1.
• UNEMPLOYED
  1. Nor employed in manual or other labor; having no regular work. 2. Not invested or used; as, unemployed capital.
• INTERDEPENDENT
  Mutually dependent.
• PREEMPLOY
  To employ beforehand. "Preëmployed by him." Shak.
• GLASS-SPONGE
  A siliceous sponge, of the genus Hyalonema, and allied genera; -- so called from their glassy fibers or spicules; -- called also vitreous sponge. See Glass-rope, and Euplectella.
• DISEMPLOYMENT
  The state of being disemployed, or deprived of employment. This glut of leisure and disemployment. Jer. Taylor.
• MEGATHERE; MEGATHERIUM
  An extinct gigantic quaternary mammal, allied to the ant-eaters and sloths. Its remains are found in South America.
• MISEMPLOYMENT
  Wrong or mistaken employment. Johnson.
• DISPONGE
  To sprinkle, as with water from a sponge. O sovereign mistress of true melancholy, The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me. Shak.