sucker

plural suckers

1. A person or animal that sucks, especially a breast or udder; especially a suckling animal, young mammal before it is weaned.First known use late 14th century

   Sir Gregory. I promise you, not a house-rabbit, sir. Sir Perfidious. No sucker on ’em all.

   1647, Uncertain, perhaps Beaumont and Fletcher or Thomas Middleton and William Rowley?, Wit at Several Weapons, act 3, scene 1, page 44

2. agricultureAn undesired stem growing out of the roots or lower trunk of a shrub or tree, especially from the rootstock of a grafted plant or tree.First known use 1570s
3. broadlyA parasite; a sponger.

   They who constantly converse with men far above their estates shall reap shame and loss thereby; if thou payest nothing, they will count thee a sucker, no branch.

   1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Prophane State

   1 more example

   Of the scaly tribe, I may mention those suckers belonging to the body loaferish, that never rise to the surface of respectability, but are always groveling in the mud of corruption, whose sole study appears to be to see how much they can get without the least physical exertion; and who would rather ride to hell in a hand-cart than walk to heaven supported by the staff of industry.

   1841, Elbridge Gerry [Dow, Jr.] Paige, Short Patent Sermons, revised and corrected edition, New York: Lawrence Labree, page 232

   Synonyms: bloodsucker, bludger, bummer, freeloader, free rider, gadfly, leech, mooch

4. An organ or body part that does the sucking; especially a round structure on the bodies of some insects, frogs, and octopuses that allows them to stick to surfaces.
5. A thing that works by sucking something.
6. The embolus, or bucket, of a pump; also, the valve of a pump basket.

   The last Mr. Hobbs’s principal explanations, is of the experiment wherein above 100 pound weight, being hung at the depress’d sucker, the sucker was, notwithstanding, impell’d up again, by the air, to the top of the cylinder.

   1725, Robert Boyle, The Philosophical Works, page 687

7. A pipe through which anything is drawn.
8. A small piece of leather, usually round, having a string attached to the center, which, when saturated with water and pressed upon a stone or other body having a smooth surface, adheres, by reason of the atmospheric pressure, with such force as to enable a considerable weight to be thus lifted by the string; formerly used by children as a plaything.
9. UKcolloquialA suction cup.
10. An animal such as the octopus and remora, which adhere to other bodies with such organs.
11. biologyAny fish in the family Catostomidae of North America and eastern Asia, which have mouths modified into downward-pointing, suckerlike structures for feeding in bottom sediments.First known use 1750s
12. USinformalA lollipop; a piece of candy which is sucked.First known use 1820s
13. archaicslangA hard drinker.

    Synonyms: soaker, suck-pint, alco, alcoholic, alkie, bacchanal, bacchant, barfly

14. USobsoleteAn inhabitant of Illinois.

    A band of music was sent thirty miles to wake up the sleepy suckers, and draw them, by the magic of their music, to the Douglas gathering at Quincy, Illinois.

    1854 October 19, New York Tribune

    1 more example

    There is a swarm of 'suckers,' 'hoosiers,' 'buckeyes,' 'corn-crackers,' and 'wolverines,' eternally on the qui vive, in those parts—a migratory race of bipeds—who float about from spot to spot, 'squatting,' for the nonce, wherever their fancy or interest may incline them; and a rougher set of men will rarely be met with, saving the genuine 'voyageurs,' or 'trappers'—so notorious for their hardihood.

    1848, Francis Alexander Durivage, George P. Burnham, “How the Wolverine Discovered the Lead Mine—A Fact”, in Stray Subjects, Arrested And Bound Over, page 79

    Synonyms: Illinoisian

15. USobsoleteA migrant lead miner working in the Driftless Area of northwest Illinois, southwest Wisconsin, and northeast Iowa, working in summer and leaving for winter, so named because of the similarity to the migratory patterns of the North American Catostomidae.
16. USslangA person who is easily deceived, tricked or persuaded to do something; a naive or gullible person.First known use 1830s

    One poor sucker had actually given her his life’s savings.

    5 more examples

    This ſucker thinks nane wiſe. / But him that can to immenſe riches riſe:

    1728, Allan Ramsay, “The General Mistake”, in The Poems of Allan Ramsay, new edition, volume 1, published 1800, page 352

    They had sorcerized me, and I were a done-over sucker; so I jist gin up. No sooner had we ’rove at the boat, instead o’ feastin’ me on gully-whompin oysters, they nabbed me quick as a snappin’ turtle

    1859, Oliver Stanley, “The Escape from the Whale”, in Hardin E. Taliaferro, editor, Fisher's River (North Carolina): Scenes and Characters, page 126

    “George, them fellows took me for a sucker. Do I look like a sucker?” ¶ “No, Bill; you look like a nice, smart counter-hopper,” I replied.

    1887, George Devol, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, page 221

    Then he burst into a stream of horrible profanity. "What's the game?" he cried, glaring round him. "Do you think I am easy and that you can play me for a sucker? Is it a frame-up, or what?

    1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Which Introduces Some Very Physical Phenomena”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

    “After twenty years you’re still a sucker for her lies? […]”

    1934, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 13, in The Thin Man, New York: Vintage, published 1972, page 59

    Synonyms: chump, fall guy, fish, fool, gull, mark, mug, patsy

17. informalA person irresistibly attracted by something specified.

    I'm a sucker for ghost stories.

    3 more examples

    He must be a sucker for punishment to try to climb that mountain barefoot.

    So don't be alarmed if he takes you by the arm / I won't let him win, but I'm a sucker for his charm / Trouble is a friend, yeah, trouble is a friend of mine, oh oh!

    2009 September 1, Lenka, Tawgs Salter, “Trouble Is a Friend”, in Lenka, performed by Lenka

    2015, Clutch, Sucker for the Witch Oh, I begged and I pleaded like a fiend for a fix / I must unburden my guilty conscience / I admit it, I'm a sucker for the witch

18. BritishobsoleteslangvulgarThe penis.

    Thus to and again to our paſtime we went, / And my Cards I play'd fairly to Jenny's content; / I work'd at her Pump till my Sucker grew dry, / Then I left pumping, a good Reaſon why.

    1750, “Ge ho, Dobbin or the Waggoner”, in The Tulip, page 2

    Synonyms: anaconda, baloney pony, bald-headed hermit, banana, bird, birdie, bobby, boonga

present singular third person suckers · participle present suckering · participle past suckered · past suckered

1. transitiveagricultureTo strip the suckers or shoots from; to deprive of suckers.

   to sucker maize

   1 more example

   It is as important to sucker tobacco carefully and as often as the situation demands it as it is to search for and remove the green-horn worm.

   1881, F. R. Diffenderffer, “Tobacco Culture”, in Agriculture of Pennsylvania, volume 5, page 91

2. intransitiveagricultureTo produce suckers; to throw up additional stems or shoots.

   ‘That’s if they don’t all sucker, darn them!’

   1911, ‘Steel Rudd’, The Book of Dan, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, published 1970, page 27

   2 more examples

   I have let my vines sucker more than I ought this year, perhaps, but I want to start them out in better shape by encouraging a large growth of wood.

   1880, Samuel Thorton Kemeys Prime, The Model Farms and Their Methods, page 423

   We prefer to plant in rows instead of hills because the plants sucker so badly here, and because, with our scanty rainfall, it is better to have the plants isolated than bunched.

   1892, Washington Agricultural Experiment Station, “Tests of vegetables in the experiment station garden”, in Bulletin, number 57, page 45

3. intransitiveTo move or attach oneself by means of suckers.

   I am now the octopus, mucus, held together by soft moist membrane, suckering everywhere.

   1961, Olympia, numbers 1-4, page 83

   2 more examples

   He paused at the octopus tank. Clyde, our resident giant Pacific octopus, was suckering his way across the front panel.

   2017, Elizabeth Hand, Bradford Morrow, Other Aliens

   I hold the octopus around the middle, suckering and so heavy, trying to crawl down my belly and legs to get away. I run to shore, trying to keep the tentacles off me, but it's too big and strong.

   2018, TW Neal, Freckled: A Memoir of Growing up Wild in Hawaii

4. informaltransitiveTo fool someone; to take advantage of someone.

   The salesman suckered him into signing an expensive maintenance contract.

   1 more example

   I asked him to tell me specifically just what his gripe might be, but he told me never mind what the details are; that he had put his faith in you on my recommendation but that you had suckered him and he refused to tell me anything about how you suckered him.

   1963, Sewell Thomas, Yaquí Gold, page 170

5. informaltransitiveusuallyTo lure someone.

   As the escort carriers chug away south, their single 5-inch rear guns are now cleared to open fire as the range closes. Disappointed gunners on other weapons are informed, "Just wait a little longer, boys; we're suckering them into 40-mm range."

   2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 24:22 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022

plural suckers

1. emphaticslangAny thing or object.

   See if you can get that sucker working again.

   3 more examples

   She's in love with a boy from the rodeo who pulls the rope on the chute when they let those suckers go.

   1975, Frank Zappa, San Ber'dino

   1984, Runaway (film): scene in a helicopter, around 5 min 20 sec RAMSAY: Dave, can you land this sucker?

   The back plating looks vulnerable, light that sucker up!

   2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, spoken by Marcus Stacker (Pete Stacker), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: The Ark

   Synonyms: thing, object

2. derogatoryslangA person.

   Maybe you hit that sucker and we'll get some DNA ...

   2016, John Sandford, Extreme Prey, Prey, →ISBN, page 244

   1 more example

   You got to hit that sucker and hit him over and over. You got to hope he runs out ...

   2009, Stephen Hunter, The Day Before Midnight: A Novel, Bantam, →ISBN, page 232

plural Suckers

1. USdatedslangA native or resident of Illinois.

   The pride of the Suckers so lucky—

   1860, Jesse Hutchinson, “Lincoln and Liberty”

   Synonyms: Illinoisan