a. Also 6 spoungeous, 6–7 spungeous. [ad. L. spongeōs-us, f. spongea SPONGE sb.1 Cf. SPONGIOUS a.]
1. Of the nature or character of a sponge; porous, spongy.
α. 1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIV. xxxii. (Tollem. MS.). Thouȝe cragges be neuer so harde and rouȝe and scharpe withoute, ȝit within þey ben sumdel spongeous.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg., E iv. Fro the vaynes and arteres and the spongeous flesshe.
1548–77. Vicary, Anat., v. (1888), 43. The Uuila is a member made of a spongeous fleshe.
1610. W. Folkingham, Art of Survey, I. viii. 19. A Wood-like rottennesse, viz. drie, spongeous, full of holes.
1698. A. Brand, Emb. Muscovy to China, 21. The Agarius Tree, whose spongeous substance is … carried to Archangel.
1758. J. S., trans. Le Dran’s Observ. Surg. (1771), 227. I … found a Caries … penetrating into their spongeous Texture.
1847. Ansted, Anc. World, x. 233. In the sand associated with the chalk … spongeous bodies … are also met with in a perfect state.
1888. Zénaïde A. Ragozin, Media, Babylon & Persia, 35. Many are the rivulets that ooze their way through hidden underground passages, that dribble and trickle through spongeous stone and rocky rifts.
β. 1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 514. It is spungeous and brittle, apt to break or resolue into flakes.
1658. Franck, North. Mem. (1821), 350. A marly spungeous clay.
1683. K. Digby, Chym. Secr., 96. To render it more Spungeous.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Disease, Spungeous Membranes of the Head.
b. Soft and yielding as a sponge. rare–1.
1607. Brewer, Lingua, IV. iv. I lay my head between two spungeous pillowes.
2. Characterized by porousness or sponginess.
c. 1600. T. Pont, Topogr. Acc. Cunningham (Maitl. Club), 6. The surface of the soyle … being of it selve of a spongeous nature, sucking the humiditie.
1822. J. Parkinson, Outl. Oryctol., 22. That spongeous state which accompanies bituminization.
