sucker

[ suhk-er ]

noun

1. a person or thing that sucks.
2. Informal. a person easily cheated, deceived, or imposed upon.
3. an infant or a young animal that is suckled, especially a suckling pig.
4. a part or organ of an animal adapted for sucking sucking nourishment, or for adhering to an object as by suction.
5. any of several freshwater, mostly North American food fishes of the family Catostomidae, having thick lips: some are now rare.
6. Informal. a lollipop.
7. the piston of a pump that works by suction, or the valve of such a piston.
8. a pipe or tube through which something is drawn or sucked.
9. Botany. a shoot rising from a subterranean stem or root.
10. Informal. a person attracted to something as indicated:

    He's a sucker for new clothes.

11. 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)

1. Slang. to make a sucker of; fool; hoodwink:

   another person suckered by a con artist.

verb (used without object)

1. to send out suckers or shoots, as a plant.

sucker

/ ˈsʌkə /

noun

1. a person or thing that sucks
2. slang.
   a person who is easily deceived or swindled
3. slang.
   a person who cannot resist the attractions of a particular type of person or thing

   he's a sucker for blondes

4. a young animal that is not yet weaned, esp a suckling pig
5. zoology an organ that is specialized for sucking or adhering
6. a cup-shaped device, generally made of rubber, that may be attached to articles allowing them to adhere to a surface by suction
7. botany
   1. a strong shoot that arises in a mature plant from a root, rhizome, or the base of the main stem
   2. a short branch of a parasitic plant that absorbs nutrients from the host
8. a pipe or tube through which a fluid is drawn by suction
9. any small mainly North American cyprinoid fish of the family Catostomidae, having toothless jaws and a large sucking mouth
10. any of certain fishes that have sucking discs, esp the clingfish or sea snail
11. a piston in a suction pump or the valve in such a piston

verb

1. tr to strip off the suckers from (a plant)
2. intr (of a plant) to produce suckers

sucker

/ sŭk′ər /

1. A part by which an animal sucks blood from or uses suction to cling to another animal. Leeches and remoras have suckers.
2. 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.

Other Words From

• sucker·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sucker¹

1350–1400; 1835–45 sucker fordef 2; Middle English; suck, -er ¹

Example Sentences

Climate change could turn some dog ticks into suckers for humans instead of canines.

From Science News

Embedded in the suckers, these cells enable the arms to do double duty of touch and taste by detecting chemicals produced by many aquatic creatures.

From Science News

Detailed imaging identified what appeared to be sensory cells, some with fine branched endings, at the surface of suckers.

From Science News

The regulatory action was a sucker punch to Citi, but Wilmarth argues that, in a way, it actually bolsters Fraser’s position.

From Fortune

After all, I was a hungry kid, and one of those suckers wasn’t going to satisfy my bottomless pit of an adolescent stomach.

From Eater

Sucker," the young man taunted, "I should be fighting Patterson, not you.

From The Daily Beast

Château Sucker Benjamin Wallace, New York Rare-wine collectors are savvy, competitive guys with a taste for impossible finds.

From The Daily Beast

Indeed, Madame Sucker thought it quite vulgar in the tortoise to be so eager after the cakes and wine.

From Project Gutenberg

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.

From Project Gutenberg

Fish Hawk said, “I will take that fellow, Sucker, lying in the water there.”

From Project Gutenberg

Nothing doing in the way of buying booms around Sucker Brook.

From Project Gutenberg

When he reached the place where Wind Sucker lived, he looked into his mouth and saw there many dead people.

From Project Gutenberg