Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

spongin

[spuhn-jin]
noun
  1. a scleroprotein occurring in the form of fibers that form the skeleton of certain sponges.
Show More

Origin of spongin

First recorded in 1865–70; sponge + -in2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for spongin

Historical Examples

  • You better hustle ahead with your spongin' off; I'm just about through here!

    The Deserter, and Other Stories

    Harold Frederic

  • I can't stay an' be spongin' on you folks any longer, it wouldn't be proper.

  • The amount of spongin present is also different in different species.

  • In other species the spongin is intermixed with spicules of silica, or of carbonate of lime, in various shapes.

    The Sea-beach at Ebb-tide

    Augusta Foote Arnold

  • In this genus the skeleton is more or less flexible, being composed of spongin.

    The Sea-beach at Ebb-tide

    Augusta Foote Arnold

British Dictionary definitions for spongin

spongin

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

Word Origin

C19: from German, from Latin spongia sponge + -in
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012