Sponge \Sponge\ (sp[u^]nj), n. [OF. esponge, F. ['e]ponge, L.
spongia, Gr. spoggia`, spo`ggos. Cf. Fungus, Spunk.]
[Formerly written also spunge.]
1. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of Spongiae, or
Porifera. See Illust. and Note under Spongiae.
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2. The elastic fibrous skeleton of many species of horny
Spongiae (Keratosa), used for many purposes, especially
the varieties of the genus Spongia. The most valuable
sponges are found in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea,
and on the coasts of Florida and the West Indies.
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3. Fig.: One who lives upon others; a pertinacious and
indolent dependent; a parasite; a sponger.
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4. Any spongelike substance. Specifically:
(a) Dough before it is kneaded and formed into loaves, and
after it is converted into a light, spongy mass by the
agency of the yeast or leaven.
(b) Iron from the puddling furnace, in a pasty condition.
(c) Iron ore, in masses, reduced but not melted or worked.
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5. (Gun.) A mop for cleaning the bore of a cannon after a
discharge. It consists of a cylinder of wood, covered with
sheepskin with the wool on, or cloth with a heavy looped
nap, and having a handle, or staff.
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6. (Far.) The extremity, or point, of a horseshoe, answering
to the heel.
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Bath sponge, any one of several varieties of coarse
commercial sponges, especially Spongia equina.
Cup sponge, a toilet sponge growing in a cup-shaped form.
Glass sponge. See Glass-sponge, in the Vocabulary.
Glove sponge, a variety of commercial sponge (Spongia
officinalis, variety tubulifera), having very fine
fibers, native of Florida, and the West Indies.
Grass sponge, any one of several varieties of coarse
commercial sponges having the surface irregularly tufted,
as Spongia graminea, and Spongia equina, variety
cerebriformis, of Florida and the West Indies.
Horse sponge, a coarse commercial sponge, especially
Spongia equina.
Platinum sponge. (Chem.) See under Platinum.
Pyrotechnical sponge, a substance made of mushrooms or
fungi, which are boiled in water, dried, and beaten, then
put in a strong lye prepared with saltpeter, and again
dried in an oven. This makes the black match, or tinder,
brought from Germany.
Sheep's-wool sponge, a fine and durable commercial sponge
(Spongia equina, variety gossypina) found in Florida and
the West Indies. The surface is covered with larger and
smaller tufts, having the oscula between them.
Sponge cake, a kind of sweet cake which is light and
spongy.
Sponge lead, or Spongy lead (Chem.), metallic lead
brought to a spongy form by reduction of lead salts, or by
compressing finely divided lead; -- used in secondary
batteries and otherwise.
Sponge tree (Bot.), a tropical leguminous tree (Acacia
Farnesiana), with deliciously fragrant flowers, which are
used in perfumery.
Toilet sponge, a very fine and superior variety of
Mediterranean sponge (Spongia officinalis, variety
Mediterranea); -- called also Turkish sponge.
To set a sponge (Cookery), to leaven a small mass of flour,
to be used in leavening a larger quantity.
To throw up the sponge, to give up a contest; to
acknowledge defeat; -- from a custom of the prize ring,
the person employed to sponge a pugilist between rounds
throwing his sponge in the air in token of defeat; -- now,
throw in the towel is more common, and has the same
origin and meaning. [Cant or Slang] "He was too brave a
man to throw up the sponge to fate." --Lowell.
Vegetable sponge. (Bot.) See Loof.
Velvet sponge, a fine, soft commercial sponge (Spongia
equina, variety meandriniformis) found in Florida and the
West Indies.
Vitreous sponge. See Glass-sponge.
Yellow sponge, a common and valuable commercial sponge
(Spongia agaricina, variety corlosia) found in Florida
and the West Indies.
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Vegetable \Veg`e*ta*ble\, a. [F. v['e]g['e]table growing,
capable of growing, formerly also, as a noun, a vegetable,
from L. vegetabilis enlivening, from vegetare to enliven,
invigorate, quicken, vegetus enlivened, vigorous, active,
vegere to quicken, arouse, to be lively, akin to vigere to be
lively, to thrive, vigil watchful, awake, and probably to E.
wake, v. See Vigil, Wake, v.]
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1. Of or pertaining to plants; having the nature of, or
produced by, plants; as, a vegetable nature; vegetable
growths, juices, etc.
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Blooming ambrosial fruit
Of vegetable gold. --Milton.
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2. Consisting of, or comprising, plants; as, the vegetable
kingdom.
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Vegetable alkali (Chem.), an alkaloid.
Vegetable brimstone. (Bot.) See Vegetable sulphur, below.
Vegetable butter (Bot.), a name of several kinds of
concrete vegetable oil; as that produced by the Indian
butter tree, the African shea tree, and the Pentadesma
butyracea, a tree of the order Guttiferae, also
African. Still another kind is pressed from the seeds of
cocoa (Theobroma).
Vegetable flannel, a textile material, manufactured in
Germany from pine-needle wool, a down or fiber obtained
from the leaves of the Pinus sylvestris.
Vegetable ivory. See Ivory nut, under Ivory.
Vegetable jelly. See Pectin.
Vegetable kingdom. (Nat. Hist.) See the last Phrase, below.
Vegetable leather.
(a) (Bot.) A shrubby West Indian spurge (Euphorbia
punicea), with leathery foliage and crimson bracts.
(b) See Vegetable leather, under Leather.
Vegetable marrow (Bot.), an egg-shaped gourd, commonly
eight to ten inches long. It is noted for the very tender
quality of its flesh, and is a favorite culinary vegetable
in England. It has been said to be of Persian origin, but
is now thought to have been derived from a form of the
American pumpkin.
Vegetable oyster (Bot.), the oyster plant. See under
Oyster.
Vegetable parchment, papyrine.
Vegetable sheep (Bot.), a white woolly plant (Raoulia
eximia) of New Zealand, which grows in the form of large
fleecy cushions on the mountains.
Vegetable silk, a cottonlike, fibrous material obtained
from the coating of the seeds of a Brazilian tree
(Chorisia speciosa). It is used for various purposes, as
for stuffing cushions, and the like, but is incapable of
being spun on account of a want of cohesion among the
fibers.
Vegetable sponge. See 1st Loof.
Vegetable sulphur, the fine and highly inflammable spores
of the club moss (Lycopodium clavatum); witch meal.
Vegetable tallow, a substance resembling tallow, obtained
from various plants; as, Chinese vegetable tallow,
obtained from the seeds of the tallow tree. Indian
vegetable tallow is a name sometimes given to piney
tallow.
Vegetable wax, a waxy excretion on the leaves or fruits of
certain plants, as the bayberry.
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Vegetable kingdom (Nat. Hist.), that primary division of
living things which includes all plants. The classes of
the vegetable kingdom have been grouped differently by
various botanists. The following is one of the best of the
many arrangements of the principal subdivisions.
[1913 Webster] I. Phaenogamia (called also
Phanerogamia). Plants having distinct flowers and true
seeds. [ 1. Dicotyledons (called also Exogens). --
Seeds with two or more cotyledons. Stems with the pith,
woody fiber, and bark concentrically arranged. Divided
into two subclasses: Angiosperms, having the woody fiber
interspersed with dotted or annular ducts, and the seeds
contained in a true ovary; Gymnosperms, having few or no
ducts in the woody fiber, and the seeds naked. 2.
Monocotyledons (called also Endogens). -- Seeds with
single cotyledon. Stems with slender bundles of woody
fiber not concentrically arranged, and with no true bark.]
[1913 Webster] II. Cryptogamia. Plants without true
flowers, and reproduced by minute spores of various kinds,
or by simple cell division. [ 1. Acrogens. -- Plants
usually with distinct stems and leaves, existing in two
alternate conditions, one of which is nonsexual and
sporophoric, the other sexual and oophoric. Divided into
Vascular Acrogens, or Pteridophyta, having the
sporophoric plant conspicuous and consisting partly of
vascular tissue, as in Ferns, Lycopods, and Equiseta, and
Cellular Acrogens, or Bryophyta, having the sexual
plant most conspicuous, but destitute of vascular tissue,
as in Mosses and Scale Mosses. 2. Thallogens. -- Plants
without distinct stem and leaves, consisting of a simple
or branched mass of cellular tissue, or reduced to a
single cell. Reproduction effected variously. Divided into
Algae, which contain chlorophyll or its equivalent, and
which live upon air and water, and Fungi, which contain
no chlorophyll, and live on organic matter. (Lichens are
now believed to be fungi parasitic on included algae.]
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Note: Many botanists divide the Phaenogamia primarily into
Gymnosperms and Angiosperms, and the latter into
Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. Others consider
Pteridophyta and Bryophyta to be separate classes.
Thallogens are variously divided by different writers,
and the places for diatoms, slime molds, and stoneworts
are altogether uncertain.
[1913 Webster] For definitions, see these names in the
Vocabulary.
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