Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that gathers sponges.
  • noun Informal A person who sponges on others; a parasite.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who uses a sponge.
  • noun A person or vessel engaged in fishing for sponges.
  • noun In cloth-manuf., a machine in which cloth is dampened previous to ironing. It has a perforated adjustable cylinder, which is filled with steam, and about which the cloth is rolled.
  • noun A parasitical dependent; a hanger-on for maintenance; a sponge.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who uses a sponge.
  • noun A parasitic hanger-on.
  • noun One employed in gathering sponges from the sea.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a workman employed to collect sponges
  • noun a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

to sponge + -er

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Examples

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  • This word was also used in the movie version of "Master And Commander" when they were singing at dinner.

    June 28, 2012