Suckerel

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sucker \Suck"er\ (s[u^]k"[~e]r), n.
     1. One who, or that which, sucks; esp., one of the organs by
        which certain animals, as the octopus and remora, adhere
        to other bodies.
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     2. A suckling; a sucking animal. --Beau. & Fl.
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     3. The embolus, or bucket, of a pump; also, the valve of a
        pump basket. --Boyle.
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     4. A pipe through which anything is drawn.
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     5. A small piece of leather, usually round, having a string
        attached to the center, which, when saturated with water
        and pressed upon a stone or other body having a smooth
        surface, adheres, by reason of the atmospheric pressure,
        with such force as to enable a considerable weight to be
        thus lifted by the string; -- used by children as a
        plaything.
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     6. (Bot.) A shoot from the roots or lower part of the stem of
        a plant; -- so called, perhaps, from diverting nourishment
        from the body of the plant.
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     7. (Zool.)
        (a) Any one of numerous species of North American
            fresh-water cyprinoid fishes of the family
            {Catostomidae}; so called because the lips are
            protrusile. The flesh is coarse, and they are of
            little value as food. The most common species of the
            Eastern United States are the northern sucker
            ({Catostomus Commersoni}), the white sucker
            ({Catostomus teres}), the hog sucker ({Catostomus
            nigricans}), and the chub, or sweet sucker ({Erimyzon
            sucetta}). Some of the large Western species are
            called {buffalo fish}, {red horse}, {black horse}, and
            {suckerel}.
        (b) The remora.
        (c) The lumpfish.
        (d) The hagfish, or myxine.
        (e) A California food fish ({Menticirrus undulatus})
            closely allied to the kingfish
        (a); -- called also {bagre}.
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     8. A parasite; a sponger. See def. 6, above.
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              They who constantly converse with men far above
              their estates shall reap shame and loss thereby; if
              thou payest nothing, they will count thee a sucker,
              no branch.                            --Fuller.
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     9. A hard drinker; a soaker. [Slang]
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     10. A greenhorn; someone easily cheated, gulled, or deceived.
         [Slang, U.S.]
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     11. A nickname applied to a native of Illinois. [U. S.]
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     12. A person strongly attracted to something; -- usually used
         with for; as, he's a sucker for tall blondes.
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     11. Any thing or person; -- usually implying annoyance or
         dislike; as, I went to change the blade and cut my finger
         on the sucker. [Slang]
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     {Carp sucker}, {Cherry sucker}, etc. See under {Carp},
        {Cherry}, etc.
  
     {Sucker fish}. See {Sucking fish}, under {Sucking}.
  
     {Sucker rod}, a pump rod. See under {Pump}.
  
     {Sucker tube} (Zool.), one of the external ambulacral tubes
        of an echinoderm, -- usually terminated by a sucker and
        used for locomotion. Called also {sucker foot}. See
        {Spatangoid}.
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