A Sponge Is an Animal With No Organs at All
A sponge soaks up liquid. The natural kind is an animal, and one of the simplest: no nerves, no muscles, no organs.
A sponge is a porous object that absorbs liquid, and the original was harvested from the sea. Sponges are animals, but astonishingly simple ones: no nerves, no muscles, no digestive system, no organs of any kind. Push one through a fine sieve and the separated cells can crawl back together and rebuild the animal.
- An absorbent object. *A kitchen sponge.*
- A marine animal. *Sponges filter feed.*
- A light cake. *A Victoria sponge.*
- To live off others. *He sponged off his brother for years.*
- Throw in the sponge — give up, the older form of throw in the towel. *He threw in the sponge.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | sponge | A damp sponge. |
| Plural | sponges | Sea sponges. |
| Verb | sponge | Sponge the wound. |
| Agent | sponger | An unrepentant sponger. |
| Adjective | spongy | Spongy ground. |
- Wipe it with a damp sponge.Household.
- Children are sponges for language.Figurative: absorbing.
- A sponge with jam and cream.Baking.
Facts about sponges
- No organs — they are among the simplest animals alive
- Filter feeders — water passes through pores and food is caught
- Regeneration — separated cells can reassemble into a whole animal
- Very old — the fossil record goes back hundreds of millions of years
- Most kitchen sponges are now synthetic, not harvested
Old English *sponge*, from Latin *spongia*, from Greek *spongos*. The sense of living off others dates from the 1600s.
Are sponges plants or animals?
Animals. They lack organs and nervous tissue but are multicellular animals that feed by filtering water.
Where does throw in the towel come from?
From boxing, where a cornerman threw in a towel or sponge to stop the fight. The sponge version is the older phrase.