sponge

What it means

1. countableAny of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.

   Synonyms: sea sponge, bath sponge, poriferan, porifer

2. countableA piece of porous material used for washing (originally made from the invertebrates, now often made of plastic).

   She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination. The elder woman returned with dressings and a sponge, which she placed on a chair.

   1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad

   1 more example

   The redactor of the story in its final form has removed this stone of offence from the path of the faithful by the simple act of blotting out the incident entirely from the legend. Yet the yawning gap left by his sponge has not escaped the commentators, who look in vein for the part which should have been played in the narrative by the tree of life.

   1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 77

   Synonyms: bath sponge

3. uncountableThe porous material that synthetic washing sponges are made of.

In a sentence

She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination. The elder woman returned with dressings and a sponge, which she placed on a chair.

1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad

Where it comes from

1. Ancient Greekσπογγιά
2. Latinspongia
3. Old Englishspunge
4. Middle Englishsponge
5. Englishsponge

From Middle English sponge, from Old English spunge, taken from Latin spongia, from Ancient Greek σπογγιά (spongiá), from σπόγγος (spóngos). Displaced native Old English swamm (“fungus, sponge”).