Library / English Dictionary

SUCK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of sucking

Synonyms:

suck; sucking; suction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("suck" is a kind of...):

consumption; ingestion; intake; uptake (the process of taking food into the body through the mouth (as by eating))

Derivation:

suck (draw into the mouth by creating a practical vacuum in the mouth)

suck (give suck to)

suck (take in, also metaphorically)

suck (draw something in by or as if by a vacuum)

suck (attract by using an inexorable force, inducement, etc.)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Draw into the mouth by creating a practical vacuum in the mouth

Example:

the baby sucked on the mother's breast

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "suck" is one way to...):

drink; imbibe (take in liquids)

Verb group:

breastfeed; give suck; lactate; nurse; suck; suckle; wet-nurse (give suck to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Also:

suck in (take up as if with a sponge)

Derivation:

suction; sucking (the act of sucking)

sucker (a drinker who sucks (as at a nipple or through a straw))

suck (the act of sucking)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give suck to

Example:

You cannot nurse your baby in public in some places

Synonyms:

breastfeed; give suck; lactate; nurse; suck; suckle; wet-nurse

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "suck" is one way to...):

feed; give (give food to)

Verb group:

suck (draw into the mouth by creating a practical vacuum in the mouth)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

suck (the act of sucking)

sucker (an organ specialized for sucking nourishment or for adhering to objects by suction)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take in, also metaphorically

Example:

She drew strength from the minister's words

Synonyms:

absorb; draw; imbibe; soak up; sop up; suck; suck up; take in; take up

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suck"):

mop; mop up; wipe up (to wash or wipe with or as if with a mop)

blot (dry (ink) with blotting paper)

sponge up (absorb as if with a sponge)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Also:

suck in (draw in as if by suction)

Derivation:

suck (the act of sucking)

sucker (a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Draw something in by or as if by a vacuum

Example:

Mud was sucking at her feet

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "suck" is one way to...):

draw; take out (take liquid out of a container or well)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

suck; suction (the act of sucking)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Provide sexual gratification through oral stimulation

Synonyms:

blow; fellate; go down on; suck

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "suck" is one way to...):

excite; stimulate; stir (stir feelings in)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 6

Meaning:

Be inadequate or objectionable

Example:

this blows!

Synonyms:

blow; suck

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "suck" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 7

Meaning:

Attract by using an inexorable force, inducement, etc.

Example:

The current boom in the economy sucked many workers in from abroad

Synonyms:

suck; suck in

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Hypernyms (to "suck" is one way to...):

absorb; take in (suck or take up or in)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

suck; suction (the act of sucking)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He entered the ring, sucking a lemon, with Jim Belcher and Caleb Baldwin, the coster, at his heels.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"She sucked the blood: she said she'd drain my heart," said Mason.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If she's mad with her, she eats one before her face, and doesn't offer even a suck.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The suck of the water as it took the beginning of the last steep pitch was frightful, and Thornton knew that the shore was impossible.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It seemed likely enough that the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked away into the river.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dubbed Sagittarius A* (Sgr A* for short), the gravity- and light-sucking monster weighs as much as four million Suns.

(Astronomers Piece Together First Image of Black Hole, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The disease is transmitted by triatomine bugs ‒ blood-sucking insects known by several different names in Latin America (chinche, chirimacha and barbero, among others).

(Açaí fruit can transmit Chagas disease, SciDev.Net)

Well, they ought to be, but they’ve had a lawsuit for some years which has sucked the blood out of both of them, I fancy.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Faster and faster it revolved, until its vortex sucked him in and he was flung whirling through black chaos.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"Henry . . . " He sucked meditatively at his pipe for some time before he went on.

(White Fang, by Jack London)