suck in

See also: suckin'

English

Verb

suck in (third-person singular simple present sucks in, present participle sucking in, simple past and past participle sucked in)

1. (transitive) To draw inward using suction. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see suck,‎ in.

   This is the component of the vacuum cleaner that sucks in dust.

   I sucked in my belly, hoping to hide the extra weight I had put on over the holidays.

2. (transitive, idiomatic) To cause (someone) to become slowly more and more involved in some business or situation that may not be to their advantage.

   I really didn't want to be on the committee, but somehow I got sucked in.

Usage notes

• When used in the sense "to cause someone to become involved in a situation", it is usually in the passive; one is sucked in by the situation.

Synonyms

• (cause someone to become involved in a situation:) draw into, draw in, rope in, rope into, suck into

Translations

to draw inward using suction

• German: einsaugen
• Hungarian: beszív (hu)
• Italian: risucchiare (it)
• Polish: wsysać (pl) impf, wessać (pl) pf, zasysać (pl) impf, zassać (pl) pf
• Russian: вса́сывать (ru) impf (vsásyvatʹ), всоса́ть (ru) pf (vsosátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: усиса́вати impf, у̀сисати pf

  Roman: usisávati (sh) impf, ùsisati (sh) pf

• Ukrainian: всмо́ктувати impf (vsmóktuvaty), всмокта́ти pf (vsmoktáty), всо́тувати impf (vsótuvaty), всота́ти pf (vsotáty), всиса́ти impf (vsysáty), ввісса́ти pf (vvissáty)

Anagrams

• cuskin, insuck, unsick