Word Study
sucker
CIDE DICTIONARY
sucker, n.
- One who, or that which, sucks; esp., one of the organs by which certain animals, as the octopus and remora, adhere to other bodies. [1913 Webster]
- A suckling; a sucking animal. Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster]
- The embolus, or bucket, of a pump; also, the valve of a pump basket. Boyle. [1913 Webster]
- A pipe through which anything is drawn. [1913 Webster]
- 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; -- used by children as a plaything. [1913 Webster]
- A shoot from the roots or lower part of the stem of a plant; -- so called, perhaps, from diverting nourishment from the body of the plant. [1913 Webster]
- Any one of numerous species of North American fresh-water cyprinoid fishes of the family
Catostomidæ ; so called because the lips are protrusile. The flesh is coarse, and they are of little value as food. The most common species of the Eastern United States are the northern sucker (Catostomus Commersoni ), the white sucker (C. teres ), the hog sucker (C. nigricans ), and the chub, or sweet sucker (Erimyzon sucetta ). Some of the large Western species are calledbuffalo fish ,red horse ,black horse , andsuckerel . [1913 Webster] - A parasite; a sponger. See def. 6, above. [1913 Webster]"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." [1913 Webster]
- A hard drinker; a soaker. [1913 Webster]
- A greenhorn; someone easily cheated, gulled, or deceived. [1913 Webster]
- A nickname applied to a native of Illinois. [1913 Webster]
- A person strongly attracted to something; -- usually used with
for ; as, he's a sucker for tall blondes. [PJC] - Any thing or person; -- usually implying annoyance or dislike; as, I went to change the blade and cut my finger on the sucker. [PJC]
sucker, v. t.
- To strip off the suckers or shoots from; to deprive of suckers; as, to sucker maize. [1913 Webster]
- To cheat or deceive (a gullible person); to make a sucker of (someone). [PJC]
sucker, v. i.
To form suckers; as, corn suckers abundantly. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
sucker, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a person or thing that sucks. b a sucking-pig, newborn whale, etc.
2 sl. a a gullible or easily deceived person. b (foll. by for) a person especially susceptible to.
3 a a rubber cup etc. that adheres to a surface by suction. b an organ enabling an organism to cling to a surface by suction.
4 Bot. a shoot springing from the rooted part of a stem, from the root at a distance from the main stem, from an axil, or occasionally from a branch.
5 any of various fish that has a mouth capable of or seeming to be capable of adhering by suction.
6 a the piston of a suction-pump. b a pipe through which liquid is drawn by suction.
7 US colloq. a lollipop.
--v. Bot.
1 tr. remove suckers from.
2 intr. produce suckers.
--n.
1 a a person or thing that sucks. b a sucking-pig, newborn whale, etc.
2 sl. a a gullible or easily deceived person. b (foll. by for) a person especially susceptible to.
3 a a rubber cup etc. that adheres to a surface by suction. b an organ enabling an organism to cling to a surface by suction.
4 Bot. a shoot springing from the rooted part of a stem, from the root at a distance from the main stem, from an axil, or occasionally from a branch.
5 any of various fish that has a mouth capable of or seeming to be capable of adhering by suction.
6 a the piston of a suction-pump. b a pipe through which liquid is drawn by suction.
7 US colloq. a lollipop.
--v. Bot.
1 tr. remove suckers from.
2 intr. produce suckers.
THESAURUS
sucker
babe, barnacle, beat, bilk, bine, bloodsucker, boob, bough, branch, branchedness, branchiness, burgeon, butt, chump, cinch, client, cozen, credulous person, cull, customer, deadwood, defraud, diddle, do, dupe, easy mark, easy pickings, fair game, fall guy, fish, flagellum, fool, fork, freeloader, frond, goat, gobe-mouches, greener, greenhorn, greeny, gudgeon, gull, gyp, hanger-on, innocent, leadpipe cinch, leech, limb, lounge lizard, mark, monkey, mug, offshoot, overreach, patron, patsy, pigeon, plaything, prize sap, prospect, pushover, ramage, ramification, regular, regular customer, runner, sap, saphead, sapling, sarment, schlemiel, scion, seedling, set, shoot, sitting duck, slip, soft touch, spear, spiv, sponge, sponger, spray, sprig, sprit, sprout, stolon, stooge, switch, take, tendril, thallus, toy, trusting soul, twig, victimROGET THESAURUS
sucker
Servility
N servility, slavery, obsequiousness, subserviency, abasement, prostration, prosternation, genuflection, fawning, tuft- hunting, timeserving, flunkeyism, sycophancy, humility, sycophant, parasite, toad, toady, toad-eater, tufthunter, snob, flunky, flunkey, yes-man, lapdog, spaniel, lickspittle, smell-feast, Graeculus esuriens, hanger on, cavaliere servente, led captain, carpet knight, timeserver, fortune hunter, Vicar of Bray, Sir- Pertinax, Max Sycophant, pickthank, flatterer, doer of dirty work, ame damnee, tool, reptile, slave, courtier, beat, dead beat, doughface, heeler, homme de cour, sponger, sucker, tagtail, truckler, servile, obsequious, supple, supple as a glove, soapy, oily, pliant, cringing, abased, dough-faced, fawning, slavish, groveling, sniveling, mealy-mouthed, beggarly, sycophantic, parasitical, abject, prostrate, down on ones marrowbones, base, mean, sneaking, crouching, hat in hand, cap in hand.Opening
N opening, hole, foramen, puncture, perforation, fontanel, transforation, pinhole, keyhole, loophole, porthole, peephole, mousehole, pigeonhole, eye of a needle, eyelet, slot, opening, aperture, apertness, hiation, yawning, oscitancy, dehiscence, patefaction, pandiculation, chasm, embrasure, window, casement, abatjour, light, sky light, fan light, lattice, bay window, bow window, oriel, dormer, lantern, outlet, inlet, vent, vomitory, embouchure, orifice, mouth, sucker, muzzle, throat, gullet, weasand, wizen, nozzle, placket, portal, porch, gate, ostiary, postern, wicket, trapdoor, hatch, door, arcade, cellarway, driveway, gateway, doorway, hatchway, gangway, lich gate, way, path, thoroughfare, channel, passage, passageway, tube, pipe, water pipe, air pipe, vessel, tubule, canal, gut, fistula, adjutage, ajutage, ostium, smokestack, chimney, flue, tap, funnel, gully, tunnel, main, mine, pit, adit, shaft, gallery, alley, aisle, glade, vista, bore, caliber, pore, blind orifice, fulgurite, thundertube, porousness, porosity, sieve, cullender, colander, cribble, riddle, screen, honeycomb, apertion, perforation, piercing, terebration, empalement, pertusion, puncture, acupuncture, penetration, key, opener, master key, password, combination, passe- partout, open, perforated, perforate, wide open, ajar, unclosed, unstopped, oscitant, gaping, yawning, patent, tubular, cannular, fistulous, pervious, permeable, foraminous, vesicular, vasicular, porous, follicular, cribriform, honeycombed, infundibular, riddled, tubulous, tubulated, piped, tubate, opening, aperient, Int, open sesame!.Dupe
N dupe, gull, gudgeon, gobemouche, cull, cully, victim, pigeon, April fool, jay, sucker, laughingstock, Cyclops, simple Simon, flat, greenhorn, fool, puppet, cat's paw, credulous, mistaken.For further exploring for "sucker" in Webster Dictionary Online