Chapter 84

Bath sponge, any one of several varieties of coarse commercial sponges, especially Spongia equina. -- Cup sponge, a toilet sponge growing in a cup- shaped form. -- Glass sponge. See Glass- sponge, in the Vocabulary. -- Glove sponge, a variety of commercial sponge (Spongia officinalis, variety tubulufera), having very fine fibers, native of Florida, and the West Indies. -- Grass sponge, any one of several varieties of coarse commercial sponges having the surface irregularly tufted, as Spongia graminea, and S. equina, variety cerebriformis, of Florida and the West Indies. -- Horse sponge, a coarse commercial sponge, especially Spongia equina. -- Platinum sponge. (Chem.) See under Platinum. -- Pyrotechnical sponge, a substance made of mushrooms or fungi, which are boiled in water, dried, and beaten, then put in a strong lye prepared with saltpeter, and again dried in an oven. This makes the black match, or tinder, brought from Germany. -- Sheep's-wool sponge, a fine and durable commercial sponge (Spongia equina, variety gossypina) found in Florida and the West Indies. The surface is covered with larger and smaller tufts, having the oscula between them. -- Sponge cake, a kind of sweet cake which is light and spongy. -- Sponge lead, or Spongy lead (Chem.), metallic lead brought to a spongy form by reduction of lead salts, or by compressing finely divided lead; -- used in secondary batteries and otherwise. -- Sponge tree (Bot.), a tropical leguminous tree (Acacia Farnesiana), with deliciously fragrant flowers, which are used in perfumery. -- Toilet sponge, a very fine and superior variety of Mediterranean sponge (Spongia officinalis, variety Mediterranea); -- called also turkish sponge. -- To set a sponge (Cookery), to leaven a small mass of flour, to be used in leavening a larger quantity. - - To throw up the sponge, to give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; -- from a custom of the prize ring, the person employed to sponge a pugilist between rounds throwing his sponge in the air in token of defeat. [Cant or Slang] "He was too brave a man to throw up the sponge to fate." Lowell. -- Vegetable sponge. (Bot.) See Loof. -- Velvet sponge, a fine, soft commercial sponge (Spongia equina, variety meandriniformis) found in Florida and the West Indies. -- Vitreous sponge. See Glass-sponge. - - Yellow sponge, a common and valuable commercial sponge (Spongia agaricina, variety corlosia) found in Florida and the West Indies.

Sponge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sponged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Sponging (?).] 1. To cleanse or wipe with a sponge; as, to sponge a slate or a cannon; to wet with a sponge; as, to sponge cloth.

2. To wipe out with a sponge, as letters or writing; to efface; to destroy all trace of. Hooker.

3. Fig.: To deprive of something by imposition. "How came such multitudes of our nation . . . to be sponged of their plate and their money?" South.

4. Fig.: To get by imposition or mean arts without cost; as, to sponge a breakfast. Swift.

Sponge, v. i. 1. To suck in, or imbile, as a sponge.

2. Fig.: To gain by mean arts, by intrusion, or hanging on; as, an idler sponges on his neighbor. E. Eggleston.

The fly is an intruder, and a common smell-feast, that sponges upon other people's trenchers.

L'Estrange.

3. To be converted, as dough, into a light, spongy mass by the agency of yeast, or leaven.

Sponge"let (?), n. See Spongiole.

Spon"geous (?), a. [See Spongious.] Resembling sponge; having the nature or qualities of sponge.

Spon"ger (?), n. 1. One who sponges, or uses a sponge.

2. One employed in gathering sponges.

3. Fig.: A parasitical dependent; a hanger- on.

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||Spon"gi*æ (?), n. pl. [See Sponge.] (Zoöl.) The grand division of the ||animal kingdom which includes the sponges; -- called also Spongida, ||Spongiaria, Spongiozoa, and Porifera.

In the Spongiæ, the soft sarcode of the body is usually supported by a skeleton consisting of horny fibers, or of silleceous or calcareous spicules. The common sponges contain larger and smaller cavities and canals, and numerous small ampullæ which which are lined with ciliated cells capable of taking in solid food. The outer surface usually has minute pores through which water enters, and large openings for its exit. Sponges produce eggs and spermatozoa, and the egg when fertilized undergoes segmentation to form a ciliated embryo.

||Spon"gi*da (?), n. pl. [NL.] Spongiæ.

Spon"gi*form (?), a. Resembling a sponge; soft and porous; porous.

||Spon*gil"la (?), n. [NL., dim. of spongia a sponge.] (Zoöl.) A genus ||of siliceous spongea found in fresh water.

Spon"gin (?), n. (Physiol. Chem.) The chemical basis of sponge tissue, a nitrogenous, hornlike substance which on decomposition with sulphuric acid yields leucin and glycocoll.

Spon"gi*ness (?), n. The quality or state of being spongy. Dr. H. More.

Spon"ging (?), a. & n. from Sponge, v.

Sponging house (Eng. Law), a bailiff's or other house in which debtors are put before being taken to jail, or until they compromise with their creditors. At these houses extortionate charges are commonly made for food, lodging, etc.

Spon"gi*ole (?; 277), n. [L. spongiola a rose gall, small roots, dim. of spongia: cf. F. spongiole.] (Bot.) A supposed spongelike expansion of the tip of a rootlet for absorbing water; -- called also spongelet.

Spon"gi*o*lite (?), n. [Gr. &?; sponge + -lite.] (Paleon.) One of the microsporic siliceous spicules which occur abundantly in the texture of sponges, and are sometimes found fossil, as in flints.

Spon`gi*o*pi"lin (?), n. [Gr. &?;, dim. of &?; a sponge + &?; felt.] (Med.) A kind of cloth interwoven with small pieces of sponge and rendered waterproof on one side by a covering of rubber. When moistend with hot water it is used as a poultice.

{ Spon"gi*ose` (?), Spon"gi*ous (?) }, a. [L. spongious, spongeosus: cf. F. spongieux. See Sponge.] Somewhat spongy; spongelike; full of small cavities like sponge; as, spongious bones.

||Spon`gi*o*zo"a (?), n. pl. [NL., Gr. &?; sponge + &?; an animal.] ||(Zoöl.) See Sponglæ.

Spon"go*blast (?), n. [Gr. &?; sponge + -blast.] (Zoöl.) One of the cells which, in sponges, secrete the spongin, or the material of the horny fibers.

Spon"goid (?; 277), a. [Gr. &?; sponge + -oid.] Resembling sponge; like sponge.

Spon"gy (?), a. 1. Soft, and full of cavities; of an open, loose, pliable texture; as, a spongy excrescence; spongy earth; spongy cake; spongy bones.

2. Wet; drenched; soaked and soft, like sponge; rainy. "Spongy April." Shak.

3. Having the quality of imbibing fluids, like a sponge.

Spongy lead (Chem.), sponge lead. See under Sponge. -- Spongy platinum. See under Platinum.

Sponk (?), n. See Spunk.

Spon"sal (?), a. [L. sponsalis, fr. sponsus a betrothal, fr. spondere, sponsum, to betroth. See Spouse, and cf. Esousal, Spousal.] Relating to marriage, or to a spouse; spousal.

Spon"si*ble (?), a. [Abbrev. from responsible.] responsible; worthy of credit. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Spon"sion (?), n. [L. sonsio, fr. spondere, sponsum, to promise solemnly.] 1. The act of becoming surety for another.

2. (Internat. Law) An act or engagement on behalf of a state, by an agent not specially authorized for the purpose, or by one who exceeds the limits of authority.

Spon"sion*al (?), a. Of or pertaining to a pledge or agreement; responsible. [R.]

He is righteous even in that representative and sponsional person he put on.

Abp. Leighton.

Spon"son (?), n. (Shipbuilding) (a) One of the triangular platforms in front of, and abaft, the paddle boxes of a steamboat. (b) One of the slanting supports under the guards of a steamboat. (c) One of the armored projections fitted with gun ports, used on modern war vessels.

Spon"sor (?), n. [L., from spondere, sponsum, to engage one's self. See Spose.] 1. One who binds himself to answer for another, and is responsible for his default; a surety.

2. One who at the baptism of an infant professes the Christian faith in its name, and guarantees its religious education; a godfather or godmother.

Spon*so"ri*al (?), a. Pertaining to a sponsor.

Spon"sor*ship (?), n. State of being a sponsor.

Spon`ta*ne"i*ty (?), n.; pl. Spontaneities (#). [Cf. F. spontanéité.] 1. The quality or state of being spontaneous, or acting from native feeling, proneness, or temperament, without constraint or external force.

Romney Leigh, who lives by diagrams, And crosses not the spontaneities Of all his individual, personal life With formal universals.

Mrs. Browning.

2. (Biol.) (a) The tendency to undergo change, characteristic of both animal and vegetable organisms, and not restrained or cheked by the environment. (b) The tendency to activity of muscular tissue, including the voluntary muscles, when in a state of healthful vigor and refreshment.

Spon*ta"ne*ous (?), a. [L. spontaneus, fr. sponte of free will, voluntarily.] 1. Proceding from natural feeling, temperament, or disposition, or from a native internal proneness, readiness, or tendency, without constraint; as, a spontaneous gift or proportion.

2. Proceeding from, or acting by, internal impulse, energy, or natural law, without external force; as, spontaneous motion; spontaneous growth.

3. Produced without being planted, or without human labor; as, a spontaneous growth of wood.

Spontaneous combustion, combustion produced in a substance by the evolution of heat through the chemical action of its own elements; as, the spontaneous combustion of waste matter saturated with oil. -- Spontaneous generation. (Biol.) See under Generation.

Syn. -- Voluntary; uncompelled; willing. -- Spontaneous, Voluntary. What is voluntary is the result of a volition, or act of choice; it therefore implies some degree of consideration, and may be the result of mere reason without excited feeling. What is spontaneous springs wholly from feeling, or a sudden impulse which admits of no reflection; as, a spontaneous burst of applause. Hence, the term is also applied to things inanimate when they are produced without the determinate purpose or care of man. "Abstinence which is but voluntary fasting, and . . . exercise which is but voluntary labor." J. Seed.

Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play, The soul adopts, and owns their firstborn away.

Goldsmith.

-- Spon*ta"ne*ous*ly, adv. -- Spon*ta"ne*ous*ness, n.

Spon*toon" (?), n. [F. sponton, esponton, it. spontone, spuntone.] (Mil.) A kind of half-pike, or halberd, formerly borne by inferior officers of the British infantry, and used in giving signals to the soldiers.

Spook (?), n. [D. spook; akin to G. spuk, Sw. spöke, Dan. spögelse a specter, spöge to play, sport, joke, spög a play, joke.] 1. A spirit; a ghost; an apparition; a hobgoblin. [Written also spuke.] Ld. Lytton.

2. (Zoöl.) The chimæra.

Spool (?), n. [OE. spole, OD. spoele, D. spoel; akin to G. spule, OHG. spuola, Dan. & Sw. spole.] A piece of cane or red with a knot at each end, or a hollow cylinder of wood with a ridge at each end, used to wind thread or yarn upon.

Spool stand, an article holding spools of thread, turning on pins, -- used by women at their work.

Spool, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spooled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Spooling.] To wind on a spool or spools.

Spool"er (?), n. One who, or that which, spools.

Spoom (?), v. i. [Probably fr. spum foam. See Spume.] (Naut.) To be driven steadily and swiftly, as before a strong wind; to be driven before the wind without any sail, or with only a part of the sails spread; to scud under bare poles. [Written also spoon.]

When virtue spooms before a prosperous gale, My heaving wishes help to fill the sail.

Dryden.

Spoon (spn), v. i. (Naut.) See Spoom. [Obs.]

We might have spooned before the wind as well as they.

Pepys.

Spoon, n. [OE. spon, AS. spn, a chip; akin to D. spaan, G. span, Dan. spaan, Sw. spån, Icel. spánn, spónn, a chip, a spoon. &radic;170. Cf. Span- new.] 1. An implement consisting of a small bowl (usually a shallow oval) with a handle, used especially in preparing or eating food.

"Therefore behoveth him a full long spoon That shall eat with a fiend," thus heard I say.

Chaucer.

He must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.

Shak.

2. Anything which resembles a spoon in shape; esp. (Fishing), a spoon bait.

3. Fig.: A simpleton; a spooney. [Slang] Hood.

Spoon bait (Fishing), a lure used in trolling, consisting of a glistening metallic plate shaped like the bowl of a spoon with a fishhook attached. -- Spoon bit, a bit for boring, hollowed or furrowed along one side. -- Spoon net, a net for landing fish. -- Spoon oar. see under Oar.

Spoon, v. t. To take up in, or as in, a spoon.

Spoon, v. i. To act with demonstrative or foolish fondness, as one in love. [Colloq.]

Spoon"bill` (?), n. (Zoöl.) (a) Any one of several species of wading birds of the genera Ajaja and Platalea, and allied genera, in which the long bill is broadly expanded and flattened at the tip.

The roseate spoonbill of America (Ajaja ajaja), and the European spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) are the best known. The royal spoonbill (P. regia) of Australia is white, with the skin in front of the eyes naked and black. The male in the breeding season has a fine crest.

(b) The shoveler. See Shoveler, 2. (c) The ruddy duck. See under Ruddy. (d) The paddlefish.

Spoon"-billed` (?), a. (Zoöl.) Having the bill expanded and spatulate at the end.

Spoon"drift (?), n. [Spoom + drift.] Spray blown from the tops waves during a gale at sea; also, snow driven in the wind at sea; -- written also spindrift.

Spoon"ey (?), a. Weak-minded; demonstratively fond; as, spooney lovers. [Spelt also spoony.] [Colloq.]

Spoon"ey, n.; pl. Spooneye (&?;). A weak-minded or silly person; one who is foolishly fond. [Colloq.]

There is no doubt, whatever, that I was a lackadaisical young spooney.

Dickens.

Spoon"ful (?), n.; pl. Spoonfuls (&?;). 1. The quantity which a spoon contains, or is able to contain; as, a teaspoonful; a tablespoonful.

2. Hence, a small quantity. Arbuthnot.

Spoon"i*ly (?), adv. In a spoony manner.

Spoon"-meat` (?), n. Food that is, or must be, taken with a spoon; liquid food. "Diet most upon spoon-meats." Harvey.

Spoon"wood` (?), n. (Bot.) The mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia).

Spoon"worm` (?), n. (Zoöl.) A gephyrean worm of the genus Thalassema, having a spoonlike probiscis.

Spoon"wort` (?), n. (Bot.) Scurvy grass.

Spoon"y (?), a. & n. Same as Spooney.

Spoor (?), n. [D. spoor; akin to AS. spor, G. spur, and from the root of E. spur. &radic;171. See Spur.] The track or trail of any wild animal; as, the spoor of an elephant; -- used originally by travelers in South Africa.

Spoor, v. i. To follow a spoor or trail. [R.]

||Spor"a*des (?), n. pl. [L., fr. Gr. spora`des. Cf. Sporadic.] ||(Astron.) Stars not included in any constellation; -- called also ||informed, or unformed, stars.

Spo*ra"di*al (?), a. Sporadic. [R.]

Spo*rad"ic (?), a. [Gr. &?; scattered, fr. &?;, &?;, scattered, fr. &?; to sow seed, to scatter like seed: cf. F. sporadique. See Spore.] Occuring singly, or apart from other things of the same kind, or in scattered instances; separate; single; as, a sporadic fireball; a sporadic case of disease; a sporadic example of a flower.

Sporadic disease (Med.), a disease which occurs in single and scattered cases. See the Note under Endemic, a.

Spo*rad"ic*al (?), a. Sporadic.

Spo*rad"ic*al*ly, adv. In a sporadic manner.

Spo*ran"gi*o*phore (?), n. [Sporangium + Gr. &?; to bear.] (Bot.) The axis or receptacle in certain ferns (as Trichomanes), which bears the sporangia.

||Spo*ran"gi*um (?), n.; pl. Sporangia (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a sowing, ||seed + &?; a receptacle.] (Bot.) A spore case in the cryptogamous ||plants, as in ferns, etc.

Spore (?), n. [Gr. &?; a sowing, seed, from &?; to sow. Cf. Sperm.] 1. (Bot.) (a) One of the minute grains in flowerless plants, which are analogous to seeds, as serving to reproduce the species.

Spores are produced differently in the different classes of cryptogamous plants, and as regards their nature are often so unlike that they have only their minuteness in common. The peculiar spores of diatoms (called auxospores) increase in size, and at length acquire a siliceous coating, thus becoming new diatoms of full size. Compare Macrospore, Microspore, Oöspore, Restingspore, Sphærospore, Swarmspore, Tetraspore, Zoöspore, and Zygospore.

(b) An embryo sac or embryonal vesicle in the ovules of flowering plants.

2. (Biol.) (a) A minute grain or germ; a small, round or ovoid body, formed in certain organisms, and by germination giving rise to a new organism; as, the reproductive spores of bacteria, etc. (b) One of the parts formed by fission in certain Protozoa. See Spore formation, belw.

Spore formation. (a) (Biol) A mode of reproduction resembling multitude fission, common among Protozoa, in which the organism breaks up into a number of pieces, or spores, each of which eventually develops into an organism like the parent form. Balfour. (b) The formation of reproductive cells or spores, as in the growth of bacilli.

Spo"rid (?), n. (Bot.) A sporidium. Lindley.

Spo`ri*dif"er*ous (?), a. [Sporidium + -ferous.] (Bot.) Bearing sporidia.

||Spo*rid"i*um (?), n.; pl. Sporidia (#). [NL. See Spore.] (Bot.) (a) A ||secondary spore, or a filament produced from a spore, in certain ||kinds of minute fungi. (b) A spore.

Spo*rif"er*ous (?), a. [Spore + -ferous.] (Biol.) Bearing or producing spores.

Spo`ri*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [Spore + L. -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy.] (Biol.) Spore formation. See Spore formation (b), under Spore.

Spo"ro*carp (?), n. [Spore + Gr. &?; fruit.] (Bot.) (a) A closed body or conceptacle containing one or more masses of spores or sporangia. (b) A sporangium.

Spo"ro*cyst (?), n. [Gr. &?; seed + &?; bladder.] 1. (Zoöl.) An asexual zooid, usually forming one of a series of larval forms in the agamic reproduction of various trematodes and other parasitic worms. The sporocyst generally develops from an egg, but in its turn produces other larvæ by internal budding, or by the subdivision of a part or all of its contents into a number of minute germs. See Redia.

2. (Zoöl.) Any protozoan when it becomes encysted produces germs by sporulation.

Spo`ro*gen"e*sis (?), n. [Spore + genesis.] (Biol.) reproduction by spores.

Spo*rog"o*ny (?), n. [Spore + root of Gr. &?; to be born.] (Zoöl.) The growth or development of an animal or a zooid from a nonsexual germ.

Spo"ro*phore (?), n. [Spore + Gr. &?; to bear.] (Bot.) (a) A placenta. (b) That alternately produced form of certain cryptogamous plants, as ferns, mosses, and the like, which is nonsexual, but produces spores in countless numbers. In ferns it is the leafy plant, in mosses the capsule. Cf. Oöphore.

Spo`ro*phor"ic (?), a. (Bot.) Having the nature of a sporophore.

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Spo"ro*sac (?), n. [Spore + sac.] (Zoöl.) (a) A hydrozoan reproductive zooid or gonophore which does not become medusoid in form or structure. See Illust. under Athecata. (b) An early or simple larval stage of trematode worms and some other invertebrates, which is capable or reproducing other germs by asexual generation; a nurse; a redia.

||Spo`ro*zo"a (?), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. spo`ros a spore + zo^,on an ||animal.] (Zoöl.) An extensive division of parasitic Protozoa, which ||increase by sporulation. It includes the Gregarinida.

Spo`ro*zo"id (?), n. [Spore + Gr. &?; an animal.] (Bot.) Same as Zoöspore.

Spor"ran (spr"ran), n. [Gael. sporan.] A large purse or pouch made of skin with the hair or fur on, worn in front of the kilt by Highlanders when in full dress.

Sport (sprt), n. [Abbreviated frm disport.] 1. That which diverts, and makes mirth; pastime; amusement.

It is as sport a fool do mischief.

prov. x. 23.

Her sports were such as carried riches of knowledge upon the stream of delight.

Sir P. Sidney.

Think it but a minute spent in sport.

Shak.

2. Mock; mockery; contemptuous mirth; derision.

Then make sport at me; then let me be your jest.Shak.

3. That with which one plays, or which is driven about in play; a toy; a plaything; an object of mockery.

Flitting leaves, the sport of every wind.

Dryden.

Never does man appear to greater disadvantage than when he is the sport of his own ungoverned pasions.

John Clarke.

4. Play; idle jingle.

An author who should introduce such a sport of words upon our stage would meet with small applause.

Broome.

5. Diversion of the field, as fowling, hunting, fishing, racing, games, and the like, esp. when money is staked.

6. (Bot. & Zoöl.) A plant or an animal, or part of a plant or animal, which has some peculiarity not usually seen in the species; an abnormal variety or growth. See Sporting plant, under Sporting.

7. A sportsman; a gambler. [Slang]

In sport, in jest; for play or diversion. "So is the man that deceiveth his neighbor, and saith, Am not I in sport?" Prov. xxvi. 19.

Syn. -- Play; game; diversion; frolic; mirth; mock; mockery; jeer.

Sport, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sported; p. pr. & vb. n. Sporting.] 1. To play; to frolic; to wanton.

[Fish], sporting with quick glance, Show to the sun their waved coats dropt with gold.

Milton.

2. To practice the diversions of the field or the turf; to be given to betting, as upon races.

3. To trifle. "He sports with his own life." Tillotson.

4. (Bot. & Zoöl.) To assume suddenly a new and different character from the rest of the plant or from the type of the species; -- said of a bud, shoot, plant, or animal. See Sport, n., 6. Darwin.

Syn. -- To play; frolic; game; wanton.

Sport, v. t. 1. To divert; to amuse; to make merry; -- used with the reciprocal pronoun.

Against whom do ye sport yourselves?

Isa. lvii. 4.

2. To represent by any knd of play.

Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth.

Dryden.

3. To exhibit, or bring out, in public; to use or wear; as, to sport a new equipage. [Colloq.] Grose.

4. To give utterance to in a sportive manner; to throw out in an easy and copious manner; -- with off; as, to sport off epigrams. Addison.

To sport one's oak. See under Oak, n.

Sport`a*bil"i*ty (?), n. Sportiveness. [Obs.]

Sport"al (?), a. Of or pertaining to sports; used in sports. [R.] "Sportal arms." Dryden.

Sport"er (?), n. One who sports; a sportsman.

As this gentleman and I have been old fellow sporters, I have a frienship for him.

Goldsmith.

Sport"ful (?), a. 1. Full of sport; merry; frolicsome; full of jesting; indulging in mirth or play; playful; wanton; as, a sportful companion.

Down he alights among the sportful herd.

Milton.

2. Done in jest, or for mere play; sportive.

They are no sportful productions of the soil.

Bentley.

-- Sport"ful*ly, adv. -- Sport"ful*ness, n.

Sport"ing, a. Of pertaining to, or engaging in, sport or sporrts; exhibiting the character or conduct of one who, or that which, sports.

Sporting book, a book containing a record of bets, gambling operations, and the like. C. Kingsley. -- Sporting house, a house frequented by sportsmen, gamblers, and the like. -- Sporting man, one who practices field sports; also, a horse racer, a pugilist, a gambler, or the like. -- Sporting plant (Bot.), a plant in which a single bud or offset suddenly assumes a new, and sometimes very different, character from that of the rest of the plant. Darwin.

Sport"ing*ly, adv. In sport; sportively.

The question you there put, you do it, I suppose, but sportingly.

Hammond.

Sport"ive (?), a. Tending to, engaged in, or provocate of, sport; gay; froliscome; playful; merry.

Is it I That drive thee from the sportive court?

Shak.

-- Sport"ive*ly, adv. -- Sport"ive*ness, n.

Sport"less, a. Without sport or mirth; joyless.

Sport"ling (?), n. A little person or creature engaged in sports or in play.

When again the lambkins play -- Pretty sportlings, full of May.

Philips.

Sports"man (?), n.;pl. Sportsmen (&?;). One who pursues the sports of the field; one who hunts, fishes, etc.