Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to sponge
Participle: sponged
Gerund: sponging
Cognates
-
Indicative
Present
| I | sponge |
| you | sponge |
| he;she;it | sponges |
| we | sponge |
| you | sponge |
| they | sponge |
Perfect
| I | have sponged |
| you | have sponged |
| he;she;it | has sponged |
| we | have sponged |
| you | have sponged |
| they | have sponged |
Past
| I | sponged |
| you | sponged |
| he;she;it | sponged |
| we | sponged |
| you | sponged |
| they | sponged |
Pluperfect
| I | had sponged |
| you | had sponged |
| he;she;it | had sponged |
| we | had sponged |
| you | had sponged |
| they | had sponged |
Future
| I | will sponge |
| you | will sponge |
| he;she;it | will sponge |
| we | will sponge |
| you | will sponge |
| they | will sponge |
Future Perfect
| I | will have sponged |
| you | will have sponged |
| he;she;it | will have sponged |
| we | will have sponged |
| you | will have sponged |
| they | will have sponged |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | sponge |
| you | sponge |
| he;she;it | sponge |
| we | sponge |
| you | sponge |
| they | sponge |
Perfect
| I | have sponged |
| you | have sponged |
| he;she;it | have sponged |
| we | have sponged |
| you | have sponged |
| they | have sponged |
Imperfect
| I | sponged |
| you | sponged |
| he;she;it | sponged |
| we | sponged |
| you | sponged |
| they | sponged |
Pluperfect
| I | had sponged |
| you | had sponged |
| he;she;it | had sponged |
| we | had sponged |
| you | had sponged |
| they | had sponged |
Conditional
Present
| I | would sponge |
| you | would sponge |
| he;she;it | would sponge |
| we | would sponge |
| you | would sponge |
| they | would sponge |
Perfect
| I | would have sponged |
| you | would have sponged |
| he;she;it | would have sponged |
| we | would have sponged |
| you | would have sponged |
| they | would have sponged |
Imperative
| you | sponge |
| we | Let's sponge |
| you | sponge |
Verbs conjugated like 'sponge'
abacinate,
abalienate,
abase,
abate,
abbreviate,
abdicate,
abduce,
aberrate,
aberuncate,
abirritate,
abjudge,
abjudicate,
abjugate,
abjure,
ablactate,
ablaqueate,
able,
ablegate,
abligate,
abnegate, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'sponge'
spange,
spooge,
spunge,
disponge,
fonge,
plonge,
ponce,
pong,
sconce,
scone,
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
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”).
Sample Sentences
-
The fly is an intruder, and a common smell-feast, that spunges upon other Peoples Trenchers. [1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:]
-
You can’t go on spunging upon the women. [1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 32, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:]
-
He has been sponging off his friends for a month now.
-
“[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. [1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:]
-
July 17 1735, Jonathan Swift, letter to Lord Ornery
-
I am an utter stranger to the persons and places, except when half a score come to sponge on me every Sunday evening
-
to sponge a breakfast
-
How came such multitudes of our nation […] to be sponged of their plate and their money? [1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:]
-
Before stepping into the bath the head should be wet with cold water, and in the bath the pit of the stomach should first be sponged. [1876, Eliza Bisbee Duffey, Our Behaviour: A Manual of Etiquette and Dress of the Best American Society, Philadelphia:]
-
Lett the eyes which have looked on Idols, sponge out their unlawfull acts [[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):]
-
Why do dolphins sponge instead of foraging in a more "normal" way? [2013, Pamela S. Turner, The Dolphins of Shark Bay, page 22:]
-
Sponging is worth thinking about in some detail because it illustrates many of the challenges and sources of controversy in studying social learning and culture in wild cetaceans. [2015, Hal Whitehead, Luke Rendell, The Cultural Lives of Whales and, page 109:]
-
Moreover, the females that do it seem to "sponge" relentlessly throughout the day, hunting more than other females and more than male spongers too. [2017, Janet Mann, Deep Thinkers: Inside the Minds of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises, page 153:]