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Spange vs Sponge - What's the difference?

spange | sponge |

As verbs the difference between spange and sponge

is that spange is to beg, particularly using the phrase “spare change?” while sponge is to take advantage of the kindness of others.

As a noun sponge is

any of various marine invertebrates, mostly of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.

spange

English

Verb

  • (US) to beg, particularly using the phrase “spare change?”

    • Usage notes

    Often used to refer to one’s own activities, without pejorative sense. Compare spanger, often used pejoratively to refer to others.

    Quotations

    * 1996 , Tim “Salvage”, quoted in Ian Fisher, “Erin’s looking for Leg-Rub Steve. Fly’s looking for CD’s to steal. Star’s looking for Jaya. And it’s starting to get cold.”“ Erin’s looking for Leg-Rub Steve. Fly’s looking for CD’s to steal. Star’s looking for Jaya. And it’s starting to get cold,” Ian Fisher, December 8, 1996, The New York Times *: I don’t spange much because I really don’t like doing it. I eat out of trash cans a lot. * 2009 , Kelly Myers, 33, quoted in Joe Deegan, “ Nowhere To Go]”, San Diego Reader[http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/oct/14/city-light-2/ Nowhere To Go, by Joe Deegan, San Diego Reader, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 *: Then my father would send all us kids out to ‘spange ’ [beg for spare change]. You could sometimes make $50 a day by spanging. Other days you might make a dollar.

    Derived terms

    * spanger * spanging

    References

    * Word Watch, The Atlantic, April 1997, by Anne H. Soukhanov, executive editor of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition.

    sponge

    English

    ("sponge" on Wikipedia)

    Noun

  • (countable) Any of various marine invertebrates, mostly of the phylum Porifera , that have a porous skeleton often of silica.
  • (countable) A piece of porous material used for washing (originally made from the invertebrates, now often made of plastic).
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
    • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=5 citation , passage=She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination. The elder woman returned with dressings and a sponge , which she placed on a chair.}}
  • (uncountable) A porous material such as sponges consist of.
  • (informal) A heavy drinker.
  • (countable, uncountable) A type of light cake; sponge cake.
  • (countable, uncountable, British) A type of steamed pudding.
  • (slang) A person who takes advantage of the generosity of others (abstractly imagined to absorb or soak up the money or efforts of others like a sponge).
  • (countable) A form of contraception that is inserted vaginally; a .
  • Any spongelike substance.
  • # Dough before it is kneaded and formed into loaves, and after it is converted into a light, spongy mass by the agency of the yeast or leaven.
  • # Iron from the puddling furnace, in a pasty condition.
  • # Iron ore, in masses, reduced but not melted or worked.
  • A mop for cleaning the bore of a cannon after a discharge. It consists of a cylinder of wood, covered with sheepskin with the wool on, or cloth with a heavy looped nap, and having a handle, or staff.
  • The extremity, or point, of a horseshoe, answering to the heel.

    • Synonyms

    * (marine invertebrate) sea sponge, bath sponge, poriferan, porifer * (piece of porous material used for washing) bath sponge * (light cake) sponge cake * (type of steamed pudding) sponge pudding * (person) freeloader, sponger

    Derived terms

    * breadcrumb sponge * demosponge * sea sponge * spongey * sponge bath * sponge cake

    See also

    * foam

    Verb

    (spong)
  • (slang) To take advantage of the kindness of others.
  • * L'Estrange
    • The fly is an intruder, and a common smell-feast, that sponges upon other people's trenchers.
  • To get by imposition; to scrounge.
  • * , chapter=13
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.}}
    (Jonathan Swift)
  • To deprive (somebody) of something by imposition.
  • * South
    • How came such multitudes of our nation to be sponged of their plate and their money?
  • To clean, soak up, or dab with a sponge.
  • To suck in, or imbibe, like a sponge.
  • To wipe out with a sponge, as letters or writing; to efface; to destroy all trace of.
    • (Hooker)
  • To be converted, as dough, into a light, spongy mass by the agency of yeast or leaven.

    • Synonyms

    * blag