Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Sucker

Suck′er

(sŭk′ẽr)
,
Noun.
1.
One who, or that which, sucks; esp., one of the organs by which certain animals, as the octopus and remora, adhere to other bodies.
2.
A suckling; a sucking animal.
Beau. & Fl.
3.
The embolus, or bucket, of a pump; also, the valve of a pump basket.
Boyle.
4.
A pipe through which anything is drawn.
5.
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.
6.
(Bot.)
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.
7.
(Zool.)
(a)
Any one of numerous species of North American fresh-water cyprinoid fishes of the family
Catostomidae
; 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 (
Catostomus teres
), the hog sucker (
Catostomus nigricans
), and the chub, or sweet sucker (
Erimyzon sucetta
). Some of the large Western species are called
buffalo fish
,
red horse
,
black horse
, and
suckerel
.
(b)
The remora.
(c)
The lumpfish.
(d)
The hagfish, or myxine.
(e)
A California food fish (
Menticirrus undulatus
) closely allied to the kingfish
(a)
; – called also
bagre
.
8.
A parasite; a sponger. See def. 6, above.
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.
Fuller.
9.
A hard drinker; a soaker.
[Slang]
10.
A greenhorn; someone easily cheated, gulled, or deceived.
[Slang, U.S.]
11.
A nickname applied to a native of Illinois.
[U. S.]
Carp sucker
,
Cherry sucker
,
etc. See under
Carp
,
Cherry
, etc.
Sucker fish
.
See
Sucking fish
, under
Sucking
.
Sucker rod
,
a pump rod. See under
Pump
.
Sucker tube
(Zool.)
,
one of the external ambulacral tubes of an echinoderm, – usually terminated by a sucker and used for locomotion. Called also
sucker foot
. See
Spatangoid
.

Suck′er

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Suckered
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Suckering
.]
1.
To strip off the suckers or shoots from; to deprive of suckers;
as, to
sucker
maize
.

Suck′er

,
Verb.
I.
To form suckers;
as, corn
suckers
abundantly
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Sucker

SUCK'ER

,
Noun.
He or that which draws with the mouth.
1.
The embolus or piston of a pump.
2.
A pipe through which any thing is drawn.
3.
The shoot of a plant from the roots or lower part of the stem; so called perhaps from its drawing its nourishment from the root or stem.
4.
A fish, called also remora; also, a name of the Cyclopterus or lump-fish.
5.
The name of a common river fish in New England.

SUCK'ER

,
Verb.
T.
To strip off shoots; to deprive of suckers; as, to sucker maiz.

Definition 2024


Sucker

Sucker

See also: sucker

English

Noun

Sucker (plural Suckers)

  1. (US, slang) A native of Illinois.

sucker

sucker

See also: Sucker

English

Noun

sucker (plural suckers)

  1. A person or thing that sucks.
  2. An organ or body part that does the sucking.
  3. An animal such as the octopus and remora, which adhere to other bodies with such organs.
  4. A piece of candy which is sucked; a lollipop.
  5. (horticulture) An undesired stem growing out of the roots or lower trunk of a shrub or tree, especially from the rootstock of a grafted plant or tree.
  6. (Britain, colloquial) A suction cup.
  7. A suckling animal.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)
  8. The embolus, or bucket, of a pump; also, the valve of a pump basket.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Boyle to this entry?)
  9. A pipe through which anything is drawn.
  10. 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; formerly used by children as a plaything.
  11. A parasite; a sponger.
    • Fuller
      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.
  12. (slang, archaic) A hard drinker; a soaker.
Synonyms
Translations

Verb

sucker (third-person singular simple present suckers, present participle suckering, simple past and past participle suckered)

  1. (transitive) To strip the suckers or shoots from; to deprive of suckers.
    to sucker maize

Etymology 2

Possibly from the Pig in a poke scam, where victims were tricked into believing they were buying a young (that is a suckling) pig. Also possibly from suckener.

Noun

sucker (plural suckers)

  1. One who is easily fooled, or gulled.
Synonyms
Translations

Verb

sucker (third-person singular simple present suckers, present participle suckering, simple past and past participle suckered)

  1. To fool someone; to take advantage of someone.
    The salesman suckered him into signing an expensive maintenance contract.
Translations

Etymology 3

Possibly from German Sache (thing).

Noun

sucker (plural suckers)

  1. (slang) A thing or object. Any thing or object being called attention to with emphasis, as in "this sucker".
Synonyms

See also

Anagrams