Spondylus 
2. II. e.] An oyster of this genus. 3. [1. c.} A 
vertebra. 
sponet, . A Middle English form of spoon*-. 
spong (spong), H. [Prob. a form of sptnit/. n 
clasp, brooch (taken as a point, a gore ?) : see 
spangl.} A projection of laud; an irregular, 
narrow, projecting part of a field. [Obsolete 
or prov. Eng.] 
The tribe of Judah with a narrow spong confined on the 
kingdom of Edom. 
Flitter , Pisgah Sight, II. iv. 2. (Trench.) 
sponge (spunj), . [Formerly also spunge; < 
ME. sponge, spunge, spounge (= D. spangle, 
spans), < OF. esponge, F. sponge = Pr. esponja, 
esponga = Sp. Pg. esponja = It.spngiiu, spttgna 
= AS. sponge = Gael. Ir. sponc, < L. spongia, 
< Gr. avoyyia, also OTTO/} of (Attic a$6-yyoc), a 
sponge, any spongy substance, = L. fungus, a 
mushroom, fungus ; perhaps akin to Gr. oou</>6(, 
spongy, porous, and to Dan. Sw. scamp, a sponge, 
fungus, = Icel. svoppr, a sponge, and; so to Goth. 
svxtmms, a sponge, = OHG. steam, swamp, MHG. 
swam, swamp (swamo-), G. schwamm = MLG. 
swam, swamp, LG. swamm, s>camp, a sponge, 
fungus: see swamp, and cf. spunk &M fungus.} 
1. A fixed aquatic organism of a low order, va- 
rious in form and texture, composed of an ag- 
gregate of amoebiform bod- 
ies disposed about a com- 
mon cavity provided with 
one or more inhalent and ex- 
halent orifices (ostioles and 
oscules), through which wa- 
ter pours in and out. The 
proper sponge-substance is trav- 
ersed by a water-vascular system 
or set of irrigating canals, and in 
nearly all cases is supported and 
strengthened by a skeleton in the 
form of horny fibers, or silicious or 
calcareous spicules. The stream- 
ing of the water is kept up by the 
vibration of cilia in the water-vas- 
cular system that is, by the lash- 
ing of flagella borne upon the in- 
dividual sponge-cells. These so 
much resemble flagellate infuso- 
rians that some naturalists re- 
gard sponges as compound infuso- 
rians, and consequently as protozo- 
ans. Those cells which have defl- 
nite form are spindle-shaped, or 
flask-shaped, and provided with 
flagella, round the base of which 
there may be a little rim or collar, 
as in those infusorians known as 
collar-bearing monads, or Choano- 
flagellata. Sponges propagate by 
budding or gemmation, a process 
involving cell-flssion or ordinary 
division of cells. They also repro- 
duce sexually by ova and sperma- 
tozoa. Sponge-germs resulting from fission are called 
gemmules. The spermatozoa are spindle-shaped. The 
ova are like ordinary amcebiform cells, and are usually 
shed into the canals and pass out of the system to be 
developed ; in some species they develop in the substance 
of the parent. The embryo forms a hollow ball with a 
ciliated cavity, and then acquires inhalent and exhalent 
pores. The living tissue proper of sponges is disposed 
in three layers or sets of cells, as in all higher animals. 
These are an ectoderm, cuticle, or out-layer; an endo- 
derm, innermost layer, or in-layer; and amesoderm, middle 
layer, or mid-layer, which may be quite thick. It is from 
the mid-layer that the reproductive elements, and all the 
many forms of skeletal elements, are derived. Special 
sense-organs have been described in some sponges. (See 
cut under synocil.) Sponges as a class or phylum of aui- 
mals have many technical names as Acnidophora. because 
they have no cnidse or stinging-organs (compare Cnidaria) ; 
Amorphozoa,tiom their shapelessness, or rather their many 
shapes ; Parazoa, from their position with respect to both 
Protozoa and Metazoa ; Porifera, Poriferata, Porozoa, and 
Polystomata, from their many pores or openings (see cut 
under Porifera); Spongite, Spongiaria, Sponyida, Spontri- 
ozoa, etc. They are divided into various primary groups, 
the most tangible of which are two the chalk-sponges 
or Calcispongix, and the fibrous and flinty sponges or 
Silicispongise. But the leading authorities differ irrecon- 
cilably in the arrangement and nomenclature of the many 
orders, families, and genera they respectively adopt- and 
the opinion has been expressed that the sponges are not 
susceptible of satisfactory treatment by the ordinary meth- 
ods of zoological classification. See also cuts under cat- 
ate, Spoiigilla, monadi/orm, Euplectella, and Hyalonemidx. 
<t. I he fibrous framework of a colony of sponge- 
animalcules, from which the animalcules them- 
selves have been washed out, and from which 
the gritty or sandy parts of the colony, if there 
were any, have been taken away. See skeleton, 
\V ' The framew rk of sponges is of different characters 
in the several orders. The slime-sponges hare none, or 
scarcely any. In the ordinary fibrous sponges the skeleton 
is a quantity of interlacing fibers and layers, forming an 
intricate network. This is further strengthened in the 
chalky and glassy sponges by hard spicules, either sepa- 
rately embedded in the general skeletal substance called 
ceratode, or solidified in a kind of latticework. (See Calci- 
upongije, Silicispongiee.) The chalk-needles or calcareous 
spicules are either straight or oftener rayed in three- 
armed or four-armed crosses. The sand-needles or sili- 
cious spicnles present an extraordinary and beautiful va- 
riety. Among them are many starry figures and whei'l- 
like forms, resembling snow-crystals; others are still 
more curious, in the forms of crosses, anchors, grapnels, 
shirt-studs, bodkins, etc. The six-rayed star is the char- 
acteristic shape in the glass-sponges. (SceHexactiiiellida.) 
Sponge-spicules are named in an elaborate special vocabu- 
lary. (See sponge-spicule.) The glass-sponges have some 
commercial value from their beauty as objects of curiosity ; 
but a few of the fibrous sponges are the only others out of 
many hundreds of species, both fossil and recent, of any 
economic importance. Sponges, when wetted, swell to 
a much greater size, and become very flexible ; they are 
therefore used as vehicles and absorbents of water and 
other liquids, in wiping or cleansing surfaces, erasing 
marks, as from a slate, etc. See bath-sponge, Euspongia, 
and Hippospongia. 
The Spounge, and the Reed, of the whiche the Jewes 
zaven cure Lord Eyselleand Oalle, in the Cros. 
Manderille, Travels, p. 10. 
3. Any sponge-like substance, (a) In bating, 
dough before it is kneaded and formed, when full of glob- 
ules of carbonic acid generated by the yeast or leaven (6) 
A metal when obtained in a finely divided condition, the 
particles having little coherence, and the mass more or 
less of a spongy texture. Thus, a " metallic sponge " of 
iron is obtained by the reduction of brown hematite ore 
by cementation with charcoal in the so-called "Chenot 
process" for the manufacture of steel. Spongy iron is 
also prepared on a large scale by the reduction of various 
ores, and in this form is used for purifying water. Plati- 
num-sponge may be prepared by gently heating the double 
chlorid of platinum and ammonium. Platinum-black is 
a black powder not differing much in its properties from 
platinum-sponge, except that it is less dense ; it may be 
made to take on the spongy character by repeated ignition 
in a mixture of air and a combustible gas : both are used 
as oxidizing agents. 
4. A tool for cleaning a cannon after its dis- 
charge. The sponge used for smooth-bore guns con- 
sists of a cylinder of wood covered with sheepskin or some 
similar woolly fabric, and fitting the bore of the gun rather 
closely; this is secured to a long handle, or, for field- 
guns, to the reverse end of the rammer. For modern 
rifled guns and breech-loaders, sponges of different forms 
and materials have been introduced. A common form is 
a cylinder to which bristles are fixed, forming a cylindri- 
cal brush, the rounded end being also covered with the 
bristles. See cut under gun-carriage. 
5. Figuratively, one who or that which absorbs 
without discrimination, and as readily gives up, 
when subjected to pressure, that which hasbeen 
absorbed. 6. One who persistently lives upon 
others; a sycophantic or cringing dependent; 
a hanger-on for the sake of maintenance : a 
parasite. 
Ascetta frimordialis, 
one of the Chalk-sponges: 
a part of one side of the 
body removed, exposing 
the ventriculus. 
0, osculutn, mouth, or 
exhalent aperture ; A one 
of the many ostioles or 
inhalent pores ; i, endo- 
derm ; e, ectoderm, in 
which triradiate spicules 
are embedded ; , ova. 
Better a penurious Kingdom then where excessive 
wealth flowes into the gracelesse and injurious hands of 
common sponges to the impoverishing of good and loyall 
men - Milton, Reformation in Eng., ii. 
7. In the manege l the extremity or point of a 
horseshoe answering to the heel. 8. The coral, 
or mass of eggs, under the abdomen of a crab. 
[Chesapeake Bay.] -Bahama sponge, one of three 
species or varieties of bath-sponges procured from the Ba- 
hamas. Burnt sponge, sponge that has been burnt, used 
in the treatment of goiter and scrofulous swellings. Cal- 
careous sponge, a chalk-sponge. Crumb-of-bread 
sponge. See Halichondria. Dog-head sponge, a kind 
f bath-sponge, Spongia agaricina punctata. Fibrous 
sponge, any horny sponge. Glove-sponge, a ftnger- 
sponge; a reef-sponge. Hardhead sponge, a kind of 
bath-sponge, the hardhead, Spongia duro.-Holy sponge 
in the Or. Ch., a piece of compressed sponge which [the 
deacon uses in the office of prothesis to gather together 
the portions in the disk under the holy bread, and with 
which he wipes the disk after communion. Honeycomb 
sponge, the grass-sponge, Spongia equina. ccrebnjvnnis. 
- Horny sponge, a fibrous or flbrosilicious sponge ; a 
sponge of the group Ceratosa, as distinguished from a 
lalk-sponge or glass-sponge. Pyrotecnnical sponge. 
Same as amadou. -Red sponge, Microciona prolifera, 
the red beard of the oyster of the northern United States. 
- Reef-sponge, a kind of bath-sponge, Spongia offici- 
nalts, var. tubulifera, growing on the Florida reefs and 
in the West Indies. Sheepswool sponge. See sheeps- 
wool. Sponge tent. See tent. Toilesponge a bath- 
sponge of fine quality; a Turkish sponge. -^To set a 
sponge, in baking, to leaven a small mass of dough, to be 
used in leavening a larger quantity. To throw up the 
sponge, in pugilism, to toss up the sponge used to freshen 
a fighter, in acknowledgment of his defeat; hence in gen- 
eral, to acknowledge that one is conquered or beaten ; sub- 
mit; give up the contest or struggle. [Slang.] Turkey 
cup-sponge, Spongia adriatica. Vegetable sponge 
See sponge-gourd. Velvet sponge, a fine soft sponge of 
the vt est Indies and Florida, Spongia equina, var. rntan- 
drifonnis. Vitreous sponge, a g'tass-sponge. Waxed 
sponge. Same as sponge tent. Yellow sponge zimoc- 
ca sponge. See bath-sponge. (See also bonng-spom/e 
cup-sponge, finger-sponge, flint-sponye, glass-sponge, grass- 
sponge, horse-sponge, woot-sponge.) 
sponge (spunj), r. ; pret. and pp. sponged, ppr. 
sponging. [Formerly also spunge; = D. span- 
sen = F. eponger = Sp. esponjar, sponge, < LL. 
spongiare, wipe off with a sponge ; cf. Gr. mro)- 
}>, sponge; from the noun.] I. trans. 1. 
To cleanse or wipe with a sponge: as, to sponge 
the body; to sponge a slate or a cannon. 
Brush thon, and spunge thy cloaths to, 
That thou that day shalt weare. 
Babees Boolr(E. E. T. S.), p. 73. 
2. To wipe out with a sponge, as letters or 
writing; efface; remove with a sponge ; destroy 
all traces of: with out, off, etc. 
sponge-spicule 
Every little difference should not seem an intolerable 
blemish necessarily to be spunged out. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 19. 
Specifically 3. Todampen, as in cloth-manu- 
facturing. 4. To absorb; use a sponge, or act 
like a sponge, in absorbing: generally with up: 
as, to sponge up water that luis been spilled. 
They spunged up my money while it lasted, borrowed 
my coals and never paid for them, and cheated me when 
I played at cribbage. 
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xxvii. 
5. To gain by sycophantic or mean arts. 
Here wont the dean, when he 's to seek, 
To sponge a breakfast once a week, 
Swi,ft, Richmond Lodge and Marble Hill. 
" Whatelse haveyoubeen spunginti?" said Maria 
'A'puiiging, my dear! It is nothing but four of those 
beautiful pheasants' eggs, which Mrs. Whitaker would 
quite force upon me." Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, x. 
6. To drain ; harass by extortion ; squeeze ; 
plunder. 
How came such multitudes of our own nation . to 
be spunged of their plate and money? 
South, Sermons, I. xil. 
7. In baking, to set a sponge for: as, to sponge 
bread. 
H. in trans. 1. To gather sponges where they 
grow ; dive or dredge for sponges. 
There were a few small open boats engaged in sponging 
from Apalachicola, which were not entered upon the cus- 
tom-house books. Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 824. 
2. To live meanly at the expense of others; 
obtain money or other aid in a mean way: with 
M, 
She was perpetually plaguing and sjnmging on me. 
Swift, To Dr. Sheridan, April 24, 1738. 
sponge-animalcule (spunj'an-i-mal"kul), . A 
sponge-cell. See cut under monadiform. 
sponge-bar (spunj'bar), . A sand-bar or rock 
bottom on which sponges grow. [Florida.] 
sponge-cake (spunj'kak'), . A very light sweet 
cake made of flour, eggs, and sugar, flavored 
with lemon: so called from its light, spongy 
substance. 
sponge-crab (spunj'krab), n. A crab with 
which a sponge is habitually cahcrisocial, as a 
member of the genus Dromia. See cut under 
Dromia. 
sponge-cucumber (spunj'ku'kum-ber), n. 
Same as sponge-gourd. 
sponge-diver (spunj'di"ver), . One who dives 
tor sponges ; a sponge-fisher. 
sponge-farming (spunj'far"ming), M. The in- 
dustry of breeding and rearing sponges. En- 
eye. Brit., XXII. 428. 
sponge-fisher (spunj'fish^er), . One who 
fishes for sponges, or is engaged in the sponge- 
fishery. 
sponge-fishery (spunj'fish"er-i), n. The pro- 
cess or occupation of fishing for sponges. 
sponge-glass (spunj'glas), n. I. Abucket with 
a glass bottom, used in searching for sponges 
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XXXIX. 179. 2. The 
flint-sponge, Byalonema mirabilis, found on the 
coast of Japan. 
sponge-gourd (spunj'gord), n. The washing- or 
towel-gourd, Luffa cylindrica (L. Mgyytiaca), 
also L. acittangula. The netted fiber from the interior 
of the fruit is used for washing and other purposes, hence 
called vegetable sponge or dish-rag. See Luffa and strainer- 
vine. 
sponge-hook (spunj'huk), n. See hook. 
spongelet (spunj'let), n. [< sponge + -let.} 1 . 
A little sponge. neye.Dict. 2. In So*., same 
as spongiole. 
sponge-moth (spunj'moth), n. The gipsv-moth 
[Eng. and (recently) U. S.] 
spongeous(spun'jus),a. [< sponge + -ous. Cf. 
spongious.} Same as spongy. 
sponger (spun'jer), . [Formerly also spunger; 
< sponge + -*/!.] 1. One who uses a sponge. 
2. A person or vessel engaged in fishing for 
sponges. Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 823. 3. In 
cloth-maniif., a machine in which cloth is damp- 
ened previous to ironing. It has a perforated 
adjustable cylinder, which is filled with steam, 
and about which the cloth is rolled. 4. A par- 
asitical dependent; a hanger-on for mainte- 
nance ; a sponge. 
Trencher-flies and spungen. Sir R. L'Eetrange. 
sponge-spicule (spunj'spik'ul), n. One of the 
calcareous or silicious spicules peculiar to 
sponges. They generally appear in more or less modi- 
fled geometrical figures, with definite axes represented by 
a non-skeletal rod or axial canal, around which the lime 
or silica is deposited in concentric layers. There may be 
one such axis or several. Sponge-spicules are either calca- 
reous or silicious ; according to their position and relations, 
they are either supporting-spicules or skeleton-spicnles 
(megascleres), or flesh-spicules or tension-spicules (micro- 
