suck
/sʌk/ noun, verb
Forms sucks sucking sucked
- noun An instance of drawing something into one's lungs by inhaling or into one's mouth by suction.
- noun (uncountable) Milk drawn from the breast.
- noun An indrawing of gas or liquid caused by suction.
- noun (uncountable) The ability to suck; suction.
- noun A part of a river towards which strong currents converge making navigation difficult.
- noun (Canada) A weak, self-pitying person; a person who refuses to go along with others, especially out of spite; a crybaby or sore loser.
- noun A sycophant, especially a child.
- noun (slang, dated) A short drink, especially a dram of spirits.
- verb (transitive) To use the mouth and lips to pull in (a liquid, especially milk from the breast). “The baby sucked (milk) on her bottle.”
- verb (intransitive) To perform such an action; to feed from a breast or teat.
- verb (transitive) To put the mouth or lips to (a breast, a parent etc.) to draw in milk.
- verb (transitive) To extract, draw in (a substance) from or out of something.
- verb (transitive, archaic) To inhale (air), to draw (breath).
- verb (transitive) To work the lips and tongue on (an object) to extract moisture or nourishment; to absorb (something) in the mouth.
- verb (transitive) To pull (something) in a given direction, especially without direct contact.
- verb (transitive, slang, vulgar) To perform fellatio.
Synonyms
sook sooky baby aspirate give brain give dome give hat give head give neck give noddy go down on sucking suction suck in fellate blow absorb imbibe soak up sop up suck up draw take in take up breastfeed suckle nurse wet-nurse lactate give suck
Etymology
From Middle English souken, suken, from Old English sūcan (“to suck”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūkan, from Proto-Germanic *sūkaną (“to suck, suckle”), from Proto-Indo-European *sewg-, *sewk- (“to suck”). Cognate with Scots souke (“to suck”), obsolete Dutch zuiken (“to suck”), Limburgish zuken, zoeken (“to suck”). Akin also to Old English sūgan (“to suck”), West Frisian sûge, sûge (“to suck”), Dutch zuigen (“to suck”), German saugen (“to suck”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål suge (“to suck”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish suga (“to suck”), Icelandic sjúga (“to suck”), Latin sūgō (“suck”), Welsh sugno (“suck”). Related to soak.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To draw, as a liquid, by the action of the mouth and tongue, which tends to produce a vacuum, and causes the liquid to rush in by atmospheric pressure; to draw, or apply force to, by exhausting the air.
- verb To draw liquid from by the action of the mouth; as, to suck an orange; specifically, to draw milk from (the mother, the breast, etc.) with the mouth; as, the young of an animal sucks the mother, or dam; an infant sucks the breast.
- verb To draw, or attempt to draw, something by suction, as with the mouth, or through a tube.
- verb To draw milk from the breast or udder; as, a child, or the young of an animal, is first nourished by sucking.
Etymology [OE. suken, souken, AS. s, s; akin to D. zuigen, G. saugen, OHG. s, Icel. s, sj, Sw. suga, Dan. suge, L. sugere. Cf. Honeysuckle, Soak, Succulent, Suction.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “suck”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details