spongin

[spuhn-jin]

noun

1. a scleroprotein occurring in the form of fibers that form the skeleton of certain sponges.

spongin

/ ˈspʌndʒɪn /

noun

1. a fibrous horny protein that forms the skeletal framework of the bath sponge and related sponges

Word History and Origins

Origin of spongin¹

First recorded in 1865–70; sponge + -in ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of spongin¹

C19: from German, from Latin spongia _sponge + _-in

Example Sentences

“What if we could cool him down quicker? If he came to himself even for a minute, you could talk to him! Why don’t we put him in the bathtub? It’d soak him cool a lot quicker than all that spongin’.

From Literature

“You ain’t got to ast’m. You jest got to let’m. Soon as he gits over the chill, y’all go’n be spongin’ him off night and day.

From Literature

The skeleton of sponges, when it is not composed wholly of spongin, consists of, or at any rate contains, spicules that have a definite chemical composition and definite shapes in accordance with the class, order, family, genus, and species of the sponge.

From Project Gutenberg

Skeleton forming a moderately dense network of slender radiating and transverse fibres feebly held together; little spongin present; the meshes much smaller than in S. lacustris or S. proliferens.

From Project Gutenberg

Skeleton with well-defined but slender radiating fibres, which contain very little spongin; transverse fibres close together but consisting for the most part of one or two spicules only.

From Project Gutenberg