Search the Dictionary

The spongelike fibers of the fruit of a cucurbitaceous plant (Luffa Ægyptiaca); called also vegetable sponge.

The fibrous skeleton of the fruit, used as a sponge and in the manufacture of caps and women's hats; -- written also loofah.

A half horseshoe, which wants the sponge.

A mop or sponge attached to a jointed staff for swabbing out a cannon.

lycerin, -- used in blasting. -- Neptune's cup (Zoöl.), a very large, cup-shaped, marine sponge (Thalassema Neptuni).

One of the excurrent apertures of sponges.

A minute soft filamentary process springing from the surface of certain hydroids and sponges.

el. True corms, composed of united personæ . . . usually arise by gemmation, . . . yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons. Encyc. Brit. Artificial, or Fictitious, person (Law), a corporation or body politic. blackstone. -- Natural person (Law), a man, woman, or child, i…

A group of simple marine organisms, usually classed as the lowest of the sponges. They have inflated hollow bodies.

, viz., osmium, iridium, and platinum, whose specific gravities are over 21. -- Platinum sponge (Chem.), metallic platinum in a gray, porous, spongy form, obtained by reducing the double chloride of platinum and ammonium. It absorbs oxygen, hydrogen, and certain other gases, to a high degree, and is employed as an age…

on of several structural forms without a corresponding difference in function; -- said of sponges, etc.

A grand division of the Invertebrata, including the sponges; -- called also Spongiæ, Spongida, and Spongiozoa. The principal divisions are Calcispongiæ, Keratosa or Fibrospongiæ, and Silicea.

The fresh-water sponges. See Spongilla.

A slender elastic rod, as of whalebone, with a sponge on the end, for removing obstructions from the esophagus, etc.

Of or pertaining to fireworks, or the art of forming them. Pyrotechnical sponge. See under Sponge.

irections of which things are to be taken or combined; a recipe; as, a receipt for making sponge cake. She had a receipt to make white hair black. Sir T. Browne.

Having a straight shaft with whorls of spines; -- said of certain sponge spicules. See Illust. under Spicule.

Having six rays; -- said of certain sponge spicules. See Illust. of Spicule.

acid taste like sorrel. -- Sheep's-wool (Zoöl.), the highest grade of Florida commercial sponges (Spongia equina, variety gossypina). -- Sheep tick (Zoöl.), a wingless parasitic insect (Melophagus ovinus) belonging to the Diptera. It fixes its proboscis in the skin of the sheep and sucks the blood, leaving a swelling…

One who is apt to find and frequent good tables; a parasite; a sponger. The epicure and the smell-feast. South.