Other forms: sponges, sponging
A sponge is a soft block full of holes, used with water and soap for washing. A kitchen sponge, wipe it with a sponge, squeeze the sponge out.
The original is an animal: sponges are simple sea creatures, and natural sponges are their skeletons. Most household sponges are now plastic foam. In British baking, a sponge is a light cake — a Victoria sponge, sponge pudding — which is a whole other everyday sense. And to sponge off somebody means to live at their expense, which is a real insult. Note throw in the sponge, the older form of throw in the towel.
1nounspongeA soft absorbent block used for washing.
“The sponge had seen better days.”
Patterna wet / dry / soapy sponge · wipe sth with a sponge · squeeze out a sponge · sponge sth down
2nounlightA light cake.
“She made a sponge with jam and cream in the middle.”
3verbliveTo live at somebody else's expense.
“He sponged off his brother for two years.”
sponge is an absorbent block, or a cake.
SPONGEbob → the yellow one by your sink
SpongeBob is one: yellow, square and full of holes, like the one by your sink. And he lives at the bottom of the sea, because the first sponges were real sea animals, dried in the sun and used for washing.
hooks ontosea
Greek spongia named the sea animal, and the word has passed almost unchanged through Latin into every European language. Fungus comes from the same root, which is a fair guess at what a sponge looks like when you find one on a beach.
Ancient Greek
σπογγιά
Latin
spongia
Old English
spunge
Middle English
sponge
English, today
sponge
From Middle English sponge, from Old English spunge, taken from Latin spongia, from Ancient Greek σπογγιά, from σπόγγος. Displaced native Old English swamm (“fungus, sponge”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in In the Kitchen, Insects & Sea Life, Cleaning & Housework