sucker

[ suhk-er ]

/ ˈsʌk ər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sucker ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person or thing that sucks.

Informal. a person easily cheated, deceived, or imposed upon.

an infant or a young animal that is suckled, especially a suckling pig.

a part or organ of an animal adapted for sucking nourishment, or for adhering to an object as by suction.

any of several freshwater, mostly North American food fishes of the family Catostomidae, having thick lips: some are now rare.

Informal. a lollipop.

the piston of a pump that works by suction, or the valve of such a piston.

a pipe or tube through which something is drawn or sucked.

Botany. a shoot rising from a subterranean stem or root.

Informal. a person attracted to something as indicated: He's a sucker for new clothes.

Slang. any person or thing: He's one of those smart, handsome suckers everybody likes. They're good boots, but the suckers pinch my feet.

verb (used with object)

Slang. to make a sucker of; fool; hoodwink: another person suckered by a con artist.

verb (used without object)

to send out suckers or shoots, as a plant.

Nearby words

Origin of sucker

1350–1400; 1835–45 for def 2; Middle English; see suck, -er¹

Related formssuck·er·like, adjective

Can be confusedsuccor sucker

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sucker

Sucker," the young man taunted, "I should be fighting Patterson, not you.
The Stacks: Harold Conrad Was Many Things, But He Was Never, Ever Dull|Mark Jacobson|March 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Sucker of the soft gelatinous world, was himself soft and gelatinous.
The Sea|Jules Michelet
Then Fish Hawk rose into the air to a point where his shadow fell exactly on the spot where Sucker lay.
Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes|Various
So she ran for the fording place on Sucker Creek, which was a good half mile above the shack in which the stranger was living.
The Country Beyond|James Oliver Curwood

Sucker trees are objected to upon the grounds that they are not healthy and thrifty, that they do not have good roots.
American Pomology|J. A. Warder
Nothing doing in the way of buying booms around Sucker Brook.
Shorty McCabe on the Job|Sewell Ford

British Dictionary definitions for sucker

sucker

/ (ˈsʌkə) /

noun

a person or thing that sucks

slang a person who is easily deceived or swindled

slang a person who cannot resist the attractions of a particular type of person or thinghe's a sucker for blondes

a young animal that is not yet weaned, esp a suckling pig

zoology an organ that is specialized for sucking or adhering

a cup-shaped device, generally made of rubber, that may be attached to articles allowing them to adhere to a surface by suction

botany

a strong shoot that arises in a mature plant from a root, rhizome, or the base of the main stem
a short branch of a parasitic plant that absorbs nutrients from the host

a pipe or tube through which a fluid is drawn by suction

any small mainly North American cyprinoid fish of the family Catostomidae, having toothless jaws and a large sucking mouth

any of certain fishes that have sucking discs, esp the clingfish or sea snail

a piston in a suction pump or the valve in such a piston

verb

(tr) to strip off the suckers from (a plant)

(intr) (of a plant) to produce suckers

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

Word Origin and History for sucker

sucker

"young mammal before it is weaned," late 14c., agent noun from suck. Slang meaning "person who is easily deceived" is first attested 1836, American English, on notion of naivete; the verb in this sense is from 1939. But another theory traces the slang meaning to the fish called a sucker (1753), on the notion of being easy to catch in their annual migrations. Meaning "lollipop" is from 1823.

Science definitions for sucker

sucker

[ sŭk′ər ]

A part by which an animal sucks blood from or uses suction to cling to another animal. Leeches and remoras have suckers.

A shoot growing from the base or root of a tree or shrub and giving rise to a new plant, a clone of the plant from which it comes. The growth of suckers is a form of asexual reproduction.

sucker

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

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Nearby words

Origin of sucker

Examples from the Web for sucker

British Dictionary definitions for sucker

sucker

noun

verb

Word Origin and History for sucker

sucker

Science definitions for sucker

sucker