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What is "sponger"

Crossword clues for sponger

sponger
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
sponger
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And yet, she didn't look a sponger, she didn't sound a sponger.
▪ He recognised no social barriers when making friends and was surrounded by an army of spongers.
▪ The world seemed to consist of spongers like Marc, supporters like Christopher, and victims like Francis.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sponger

Sponger \Spon"ger\ (-j[~e]r), n.

  1. One who sponges, or uses a sponge.

  2. One employed in gathering sponges.

  3. Fig.: A parasitical dependent; a hanger-on.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
sponger

1670s, "parasite," agent noun from sponge (v.) in figurative sense. As a job on a cannon crew, by 1828.

Wiktionary
sponger

n. 1 One who uses a sponge. 2 A parasitic hanger-on. 3 One employed in gathering sponges from the sea.

WordNet
sponger

  1. n. a workman employed to collect sponges

  2. a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage [syn: leech, parasite, sponge]

Usage examples of "sponger".

The 2d Sponger and 2d Loader haul taut side-tackles and choke luffs, or, if rolling deep, hitch the falls round the straps of the blocks, and then unshackle the old breeching and shackle the new, which is to be brought to the gun by the 2d Captain.

Sponger and 2d Loader, after securing the side-tackle falls, will assist to load the gun, and the additional men will assist in unshackling the old and shackling the new breeching, but one of these will do all the duties just assigned to the 1st Captain, so as not to interfere with his ordinary duties in loading.

Sponger and Loader together thrust it down smartly with the rammer, as in ordinary loading.

In all vessels there shall be two divisions of Sail-trimmers, composed of all the men at the spar-deck guns, except 1st Captains, 1st Spongers, 1st Loaders, and Powder-boys.

Loader and 1st Shellman bring the port-bar to the Loader and Sponger, who put it in place across the port, hook the port-hooks in the ring-bolts in the port-lids, and drive in the keys until the port is perfectly closed.

From an early hour Mr Meares, the gunner, his mate, the quarter-gunners and of course the guncrews, first captain, second captain, sponger, fireman, sail-trimmers, boarders, powder-boys and Marines, had been titivating their pieces, greasing trucks, begging slush from the cooks to ease the blocks, arranging tackles and shot-garlands just so, while the midshipmen and officers in charge of stated divisions also fussed over every detail of powder-horns, wads, cartridge-cases, locks, works and the like: and this each crew did on both the starboard and larboard batteries, for although the Bellona had rather better than five hundred people aboard, that was not enough to provide men for each side, and a single crew had to serve two guns.