spunge

English

Noun

spunge (plural spunges)

1. Obsolete form of sponge.
   • 1810, [anonymous] […], chapter XXVII, in Splendid Follies. A Novel, […]. Founded on Facts., volume III, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, page 106:

     ‘What do you wear a mask too?’ enquired Sir William. ‘Oh yes, by gad, it’s the most useful thing upon earth—don’t you know the mask of necessity is so elastic, it pulls into every shape?’ replied Sponge. ‘True! flexible as a spunge,’ returned Sir William.

Verb

spunge (third-person singular simple present spunges, present participle spunging, simple past and past participle spunged)

1. Obsolete form of sponge.

Usage notes

• Both spunge and sponge spellings were used with approximately equal frequency since Middle English through the 1700s. In 1806, Noah Webster favored the spelling spunge in A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.

Anagrams

• gens up, unpegs