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

The spongin that binds the skeleton-spicules together takes the form of a colourless or yellowish transparent membrane, which is often practically invisible.

From Project Gutenberg

In some sponges it also forms a basal membrane in contact with the object to which the sponge is attached, and in some such cases the spongin of the radiating fibres is in direct continuity with that of the basal membrane.

From Project Gutenberg