▪ I. suck, n.1
(sʌk)
Also 4–5 souke, 6 Sc. sowk, sulk, 6–7 sucke, 8–9 dial. souk, sook.
[f. suck v. Cf. sock n.3]
1. a. The action or an act of sucking milk from the breast; the milk or other fluid sucked at one time. at suck, engaged in sucking.
| 13.. S. Gregory (Vernon MS.) 191 Whon heo hedde iȝiue þe child a souke. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxv. 24 My new spanit howffing fra the sowk. 1535 Coverdale Isa. xxviii. 9 The children, which are weened from suck or taken from the brestes. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 412 O mother of mine, what a deathfull sucke haue you giuen me? 1851 Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. i. 1193 Who loved Rome's wolf, with demi-gods at suck, Or ere we loved truth's own divinity. 1912 D. Crawford Thinking Black i. vii. 117 He wants everything, even a literal suck of your blood. |
b. The application of suction by the mouth either to an external object (e.g. a wound, a pipe) or internally.
| 1760 Sterne in Traill Sterne v. (1882) 53, I saw the cut, gave it [sc. my finger] a suck, wrapt it up, and thought no more about it. 1849 Cupples Green Hand iii, A rough voice..was chanting the sea-song..in a curious sleepy kind of drone, interrupted every now and then by the suck of his pipe. 1864 W. D. Latto Tam. Bodkin ii. 12 Toastin' his taes at a roarin' peat-fire, an' takin' a quiet sook o' his rusty cutty. 1896 Hardy Jude i. vi, She gave..an adroit little suck to the interior of each of her cheeks. |
c. An act of fellatio. coarse slang.
| 1941 G. W. Henry Sex Variants II. 1177 A real suck seems to be one in which orgasm and ejaculation are induced. 1972 Screw 12 June 21/2 They start their separate ways through a variety of fucks and sucks and lesbian encounters. |
2. A small draught of liquid; a drink, a sup.
| 1625 Massinger New Way i. i, Wellborn. No bouse, nor no tobacco? Tapwell. Not a suck, sir, Nor the remainder of a single can. 1792 Burns Weary Pund o' Tow, There sat a bottle in a bole... And ay she took the tither souk, To drouk the stourie tow. 1861 Reade Cloister & H. I. 27 'Tis a soupe-au-vin... Have a suck. |
† 3. a. Milk sucked (or to be sucked) from the breast; mother's milk. Obs.
| 1584 Cogan Haven Health ccxvii. (1636) 244 To old men, wine is as sucke to young children. 1591 Child-Marriages 144 If the said John Richardson..doe cause the said Bastard Childe to be sufficiently nursed..and kept, with apparell, Suck, attendinge, and all other necessaries nedfull or belonging to such a childe. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 638/2 Yong children..drawe unto themselves, togither with theyr sucke, even the nature and disposition of theyr nurses. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 111 Their dam hath no suck for them, til she hath bene six or seauen houres with the male. 1655 Culpepper, etc. Riverius vi. v. 136 Therefore when Children have it from their Suck, let the Nurse be changed. |
† b. fig. Sustenance. Obs.
| 1584 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 214, I had rather be without sucke, than that any man, through his intemperate feeding, should have cause to fee mee or feed me. |
† 4. Strong drink; tipple. slang. Obs.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Suck, Wine or strong Drink. This is rum Suck, it is excellent Tipple. |
5. The drawing of air by suction; occas. a draught or current of air; spec. in Coal-mining, the backward suction of air following an explosion of fire-damp.
| 1667 Boyle in Phil. Trans. II. 582 About the seventh suck, it [sc. phosphorescent rotten wood] seemed to grow a little more dim. 1848 Kingsley Yeast i, A cold suck of wind just proved its existence by tooth-aches on the north side of all faces. 1880 Leeds Mercury 13 Sept. 8 The pit took a ‘suck’ again and the air current, such as it was, came right. |
6. The sucking action of eddying or swirling water; the sound caused by this; locally, the place at which a body of water moves in such a way as to suck objects into its vortex.
suck of the ground: see quot. 1893.
| c 1220 Bestiary 578 Ðe sipes sinken mitte suk, ne cumen he nummor up. |
| 1778 T. Hutchins Descr. Virginia 32 About 200 miles above these shoals, is, what is called, the Whirl, or Suck, occasioned, I imagine, by the high mountain, which there confines the River. 1849 Cupples Green Hand xviii, By this time we were already in the suck of the channel. 1863 W. Lancaster Praeterita 41 Its hissing suck of waves. 1878 T. L. Cuyler Pointed Papers 112 When the pilot..finds that she will not obey the helm, he knows that he is within the suck of the whirlpool of Charybdis. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 227 The suck of the water was very strong, and I could feel it pull me back like a strong current. 1893 Leisure Hour 679 A ship is always faster in deep water than in shallow, owing to what seamen call the suck of the ground, which is only a way of saying that the bulk a ship displaces must be in small proportion to the depth beneath her keel if it is to spread itself readily around her. 1904 W. Churchill Crossing ii. x. 364 The mighty current..lashed itself into a hundred sucks and whirls. |
7. slang. A deception; a disappointing event or result. Also suck-in.
| 1856 Dow Serm. II. 316 (Bartlett) A monstrous humbug—a grand suck in. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 639 Suck in, as a noun and as a verb, is a graphic Western phrase to express deception. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Suck, Suck-in, an imposition, a disappointment. |
8. pl. Sweetmeats. Also collect. sing. colloq.
| 1858 Hughes Scour. White Horse vi. 110 Nuts and apples, and ginger-bread, and all sorts of sucks and food. 1865 Good Words 125 They sometimes get a ‘knob o' suck’ (a piece of sweetstuff) on Saturday. |
† 9. A breast-pocket. Criminals' slang. Obs.
| 1821 D. Haggart Life 26 He returned the screaves to his lil, and placed it in his suck. 1923 Chambers's Jrnl. 6 Oct. 716/1, I..pulled the dub of the outer jigger from his suck. |
10. slang. A sycophant; esp. a schoolboy who curries favour with teachers. Cf. suck v. 26 e; sucker-up s.v. sucker n. 14.
| 1900 Farmer Public School Word-Bk. 197 Suck, subs. (University), a parasite, a toady. 1907 B. M. Croker Company's Servant xx. 213 He was just a suck—that's all. 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist (1969) i. 11 We all know why you speak. You are McGlade's suck. 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions ii. ii. 373 The shade of the boy whom he had not seen since they were boys together (Martin was Father Joseph's ‘suck’) lived on the air as though they had parted only minutes before. |
11. pl. as int. Used as an expression of contempt, chiefly by children. Also in phr. sucks to you and varr. slang.
| 1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister Street I. i. vii. 98 This kid's in our army, so sucks! 1922 F. Hamilton P.J.: Secret Service Boy iv. 178 ‘S’, he announced, ‘u,c,k,s,t,o,y,o,u.’ 1935 N. Mitchison We have been Warned i. 28 Brian is a baby. Oh sucks, oh sucks on Brian. 1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited ii. v. 287 It's great sucks to Bridey. 1952 ‘C. Brand’ London Particular xv. 191 A most regretable air of sucks to you. 1968 Melody Maker 30 Nov. 24/5 This is a rotten record—yah boo and sucks. 1974 Times 4 Mar. 9/5 Sucks boo, then, with acting like this, to that new National Theatre down the road. 1978 ‘J. Lymington’ Waking of Stone ii. 45 ‘Sucks to you!’ she said..tossing her head so her pigtails swung. 1983 Listener 19 May 11/1 The council treated the urbane Mr Cook to the politician's equivalent of ‘Yah, boo, sucks’. |
12. Canad. slang. A worthless or contemptible person. Cf. suck v. 15 f; suck-hole s.v. suck-.
| 1974 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 8 Mar. 1/6 The teachers are copping out. They're now saying, if we can't have our way, then we're going to be sucks and refuse to work. 1975 Citizen (Ottawa) 28 Oct. 1/1 A neighbor described Rob as ‘a quiet guy who was always getting put down a lot. Lots of people used to call him a suck... He didn't do much socially or in the way of sports.’ |
¶ to give suck: see suck v. 16.
▪ II. suck, n.2 Chiefly n.w. and w.midl.
(sʌk)
Also 6 sucke.
[app. var. of sock n.2 Cf. sough n.3]
A ploughshare.
| 1499 [see sucking n.]. 1570 Levins Manip. 185/1 Ye Sucke of a plow. 1588 Lanc. & Cheshire Wills (Chetham Soc.) II. 149 One sucke and one cultur. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. viii. 333/2 The Sough, or Suck, is that as Plows into the ground. 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v. Earth B bb/1 The Plowman..will not..be able to point the Suck where he would. 1798 Trans. Soc. Arts XVI. 166 For hoeing, I have shares or sucks, in the shape of a trowel, which I can fix on the points of the drills. 1800 Rob. Nixon's Chesh. Prophecies Verse (1873) 41 Between the sickle and the suck, All England shall have a pluck. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. 1886 Cheshire Gloss. |
▪ III. † suck, n.3 Obs.
Also sucke.
Variant spelling of suc, prob. influenced by suck v.
| 1560 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. ii. 14 b, The suck or iuice of a radish roote. 1567 Painter Pal. Pleas. II. 146 The sucke & marrow of his bones. 1621 Lodge Summary of Du Bartas i. 270 A liquid and fluent matter, composed of that sucke which furnisheth the Stomacke. 1631 A. B. tr. Lessius' De Prov. Num. 110 The fruit serues for the continuance of the seed,..and therefore they are more full of suck. 1635 Swan Spec. Mundi vi. (1643) 297 Succinum is a Bituminous suck or juice of the earth. |
▪ IV. suck, v.
(sʌk)
Forms: pres. stem. 1 sucan, 2–3 suke(n, 3–4 souken, 4–6 souke, sowke, 4–7 soke, 5–7 sucke, (4 sooke, soukke, socon, sugke, suk, Sc. swk, Kent. zouke, 4, 9 Sc. sook, 6 soucke, sowk, suke, soulk, Sc. soik, sulk, 6, 9 souk, 6–7 souck, 7 Anglo-Irish shoke, 8 dial. seawke), 6– suck. pa. tense. α. strong. 1 *seac, (pl. sucon, -un), 2–3 suke, 3 sæc, soc, 3–4 sec, sok, sek(e, 3–5 soke, 4–5 secke, sak, souk(e, sowk(e, swoke, 5 sook; β. weak. 4 soukid, sowkid, Sc. swkyt, 4–5 souked, 5–6 sowked, 6 sokid, 6–8 suck'd, suckt, 6– sucked. pa. pple. α. strong. 1 -socen, 4 sokun, suken, soke, i-soke, 5 soken, -yn, 7 sucken; β. weak. 4 soukid, Sc. sukit, 5–6 sowked, 6 souked, -it, sowkit, 6–8 suck'd, suckt, 7 suckd, 6– sucked.
[OE. s{uacu}can, corresp. to L. sūgĕre, OIr. sūgim, f. root sūg-. A parallel root sūk- (cf. L. sūcus juice) is represented by OE. s{uacu}gan, MLG., MDu. sûgen (Du. zuigen), OHG. sûgan (MHG. sûgen, G. saugen), ON. s{uacu}ga.
This verb is related by ablaut to soak, with which there is some contact of meaning, see sense 21 below, sucking ppl. a. 5, and soak v. 8 b, c, 10.]
I. 1. a. trans. To draw (liquid, esp. milk from the breast) into the mouth by contracting the muscles of the lips, cheeks, and tongue so as to produce a partial vacuum.
| c 825 Vesp. Hymns vii, Sucun huniᵹ of stane & ele of trumum stane. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Thorpe) viii. 2 Of ðæra cild muðe, þe meolc sucað, þu byst hered. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 488 Ða ongunnon ealle ða næddran to ceowenne heora flæsc and heora blod sucan. a 1225 Ancr. R. 330 He sec þe milc þet hine uedde. a 1300 X Commandm. 39 in E.E.P. (1862) 16 Besech we him..þat sok þe milk of maid-is brest. 13.. K. Alis. 6119 They..Soken heore blod, heore flesch to-gnowe. c 1440 Gesta Rom. ii. 5 (Harl. MS.) So sat þe toode alle þat ȝere, and secke his blod. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §69 The calfe wyll soucke as moche mylke, er it be able to kyll, as it is worthe. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 144 The milke thou suck'st from her did turne to Marble. 1710 W. King Heathen Gods & Heroes xi. (1722) 45 He is said to have gain'd his Immortality by the Milk he suckt from her. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 70 The weasel, where it once fastens, holds, and continuing also to suck the blood at the same time, weakens its antagonist. 180. in Dickson Pract. Agric. (1805) II. 1058 If an ewe gives more milk than its lamb will suck. 1825 Scott Talism. xxi, Suck the poison from his wound, one of you. 1848 Steinmetz Hist. Jesuits I. 212 Ignatius..even applied his mouth to their ulcers, and sucked the purulent discharge. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lxii, The knowing way in which he sipped, or rather sucked, the Johannisberger. |
b. Of flies, etc. drawing blood, bees extracting honey from flowers; also of flowers ‘drinking’ the dew, etc.
| 1340 Ayenb. 136 Þe smale uleȝe þet..of þe floures zoucþ þane deau huerof hi makeþ þet hony. 1422 Yonge tr. Secr. Secr. 180 The flyes thyke lay on hym that his blode soke. 1474 Caxton Chesse ii. v. (1883) 66 Many flyes satte vpon the soores and souked his blood. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. i. 109 Drones sucke not Eagles blood, but rob Bee-hiues. 1637 Milton Lycidas 140 Throw hither all your quaint enameld eyes, That on the green terf suck the honied showres. c 1645 Howell Lett. iii. iv. (1892) 517 The Bee and the Spider suck honey and poison out of one Flower. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iii. iii. 102 Night-folded flowers Shall suck unwithering hues in their repose. 1833 Wordsw. Warning 33 Like the bee That sucks from mountain-heath her honey fee. |
c. to suck the blood of (fig.): to exhaust the resources of, drain the life out of. (Cf. blood-suck v.)
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 7 He meaneth to sucke thy bloud. 1584 Greene Mirr. Modestie Wks. (Grosart) III. 17 These two cursed caitifes..concluded when they might finde hir alone, to sucke the bloude of this innocent lambe. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 49 The Lieutenant, cruelly to suck their bloud, and the Procuratour as greedy to preie upon that substance. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe vii, The wealth he had acquired by sucking the blood of his miserable victims, had but swelled him like a bloated spider. |
d. to suck one's fill: see fill n.1 1.
| c 1475 Songs & Carols xlvi. (Percy Soc.) 50 He toke hyr lovely by the pape,..And sok hys fyll of the lycowr. 1798 Wordsw. ‘Her Eyes are Wild’ 84 My little babe! thy lips are still, And thou hast almost sucked thy fill. 1805 Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 981 Young calves when permitted to suck their fill are often seized with a looseness. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxix, I wad wuss ye, if Gowans, the brockit cow, has a quey, that she suld suck her fill of milk. |
e. transf. and fig. or in fig. context.
| 13.. Bonaventura's Medit. 277 Þys sermoun at crystys brest slepyng he soke. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xiii. 55 Crist..bad hem souken of hus brest sauete for synne. 1580 J. Stewart Poems (S.T.S.) II. 103/5 Thocht source I souck not on the sacred hill. a 1586 Sidney Astr. & Stella Sonn. lxxiii, Because a sugared kiss In sport I suckt. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. iii. 92 Death that hath suckt the honey of thy breath. 1592 ― Ven. & Ad. 572 Had she then gaue ouer, Such nectar from his lips she had not suckt. 1600 Cath. Tract. 245 Ye may sie what venemous poyson thay souk out of the Ministers breists. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. ii. 87 From you great Rome shall sucke Reuiuing blood. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. i, Studious contemplation sucks the juyce From wisards cheekes. 1604 Earl Stirling Crœsus i. i, Faire Citie, where mine eyes first suck't the light. 1842 Tennyson Will Waterproof 213 Thou shalt from all things suck Marrow of mirth and laughter. |
f. (See quot. 1960.) With person or part as obj. Cf. sense 24 below. coarse slang.
| 1928 in A. W. Read Lexical Evidence from Folk Epigraphy Western N. Amer. (1935) 78, I suck cocks for fun. 1960 Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 527/2 Suck v.i., v.t. 1 [taboo] to perform cunnilingus or, esp., fellatio. 1972 Screw 12 June 21/2 Characters fuck and suck each other like real people do. 1973 E. Bullins Theme is Blackness 79 You heard what I said, bitch..take me to dinner and suck mah dick and et cetera fa dessert. |
2. To imbibe (qualities, etc.) with the mother's milk. (Cf. 5.)
| 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 166 As if we had sucked iniquitie togither with our nurses milke. 1588 Kyd Househ. Philos. Wks. (1901) 259 That first and tender age of infancie..oftentimes with the milke sucketh the conditions of the Nursse. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. ii. 129 Thy Valiantnesse was mine, thou suck'st it from me. 1639 Massinger Unnat. Comb. i. i, I think they suck this knowledge in their milk. |
3. To extract or draw (moisture, goodness, etc.) from or out of a thing; to absorb into itself.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxvi. (1495) 686 The pyth of the russhe is good to drawe water of out of the erthe for it soukyth it kyndly. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 14 Fra tyme that onis thy sell [Phœbus] The vapouris softlie sowkis with smyling cheare. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iv. 38 The noysome Weedes, that..sucke The Soyles fertilitie from wholesome flowers. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees 71 Great and large Trees do suck and draw the fertility of the ground exceedingly. 1697 Dryden Virg., Georg. i. 438 Oft whole sheets descend of slucy Rain, Suck'd by the spongy Clouds from off the Main. Ibid. iii. 222 Let 'em [sc. Mares] suck the Seed with greedy Force; And close involve the Vigour of the Horse. 1847 Tennyson Princ. vii. 24 She..sees a great black cloud..suck the blinding splendour from the sand. 1880 Scribner's Mag. Mar. 756 Treat all suckers as weeds, cutting them down..before they have sucked half the life out of the bearing hill. |
† 4. To draw or extract (money, wealth) from a source. Also in early use intr. with partitive of. Obs.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 187 Þes prelatis..cunnen summone þe Chirche..from oo place to anoþer, to sooke of her moneye. c 1386 Chaucer Cook's T. 52 To sowke Of that he brybe kan or borwe may. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iv. 9 Sellynge, þat sowkid siluer rith ffaste. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 756 Having first cunningly suckt a great masse of money from the credulous king. |
5. To derive or extract (information, comfort, profit, etc.) from, † of, or out of. (Cf. 2.)
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxii. 10 There out sucke they no small auauntage. 1539 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 176 Communications at large sucked of hym. 1565 T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 10 He made those notes sucked out of John Bale. c 1600 Chalkhill Thealma & Cl. (1683) 95 ægypt Schools..From whence he suckt this knowledg. 1605 1st Pt. Jeronimo ii. iii. 8 Hast thou worne gownes in the Uniuersity, Tost logick, suckt Philosophy? 1625 Bacon Ess., Travel (Arb.) 523 In Trauailing in one Country he shall sucke the Experience of many. 1715 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) V. 109 Spinosa..suck'd the first Seeds of Atheism from the famous Francis Vanden Ende. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 111 He sucks intelligence in ev'ry clime. 1822 Lamb Elia i. Compl. Decay of Beggars, Much good might be sucked from these Beggars. 1908 M. S. Rawson Easy go Luckies xxi, Had he been a scholar he might have sucked a sort of delicately pungent comfort from an epigram of Tacitus. 1914 Marett in Folk-Lore XXV. 20 The active conditions that enable us to suck strength and increase out of the passive conditions comprised under the term environment. |
† 6. To draw (air, breath) into the mouth; to inhale (air, smoke, etc.). Obs.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 194 They'll sucke our breath, or pinch vs blacke and blew. ? 1614 D. Murray in Drummond of Hawthornden Poems (S.T.S.) I. 95 To them who on their Hills suck'd sacred Breath. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 150 Tobacco suckt through water by long canes or pipes. 1712–14 Pope Rape Lock ii. 83 Some [spirits]..suck the mists in grosser air below. 1717 ― Eloisa 324 See my lips tremble, and my eye-balls roll, Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul! |
7. To draw (water, air, etc.) in some direction, esp. by producing a vacuum. Also intr. for pass. of the wind.
| 1661 Boyle Certain Physiol. Ess. (1669) 216 Having by a certain Artifice out of a large glass..caus'd a certain quantity of air to be suck'd, we [etc.]. 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 768 Old Ocean too, suck'd thro' the porous globe, Had long ere now forsook his horrid bed. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 339 Right and left Suck'd from the dark heart of the long hills roll The torrents. 1849 Cupples Green Hand ii, The [gulf] stream sucks the wind with heat. Ibid. xiii, The air aloft appeared in the mean time to be steadying and sucking. 1857 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. i. 17 Instead of sucking air through the apparatus, heat is to be very cautiously applied to the chlorate. |
8. a. To draw in so as to swallow up or engulf.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §2 The lande is verye toughe, and wolde soke the ploughe into the erthe. c 1590 Sir T. More (Malone Soc.) 1306 As when a whirle-poole sucks the circkled waters. 1697 Dryden æneid iii. 538 Charibdis..in her greedy Whirl-pool sucks the Tides. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam xii. ix, Like the refluence of a mighty wave Sucked into the loud sea. |
b. fig. To draw into a course of action, etc.
| 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 266, I am insensibly sucked into the channel of their manners and customs. 1779 J. Moore View Soc. Fr. (1789) I. i. 9 Small chance will remain of his being sucked into the old system. 1840 De Quincey Essenes Wks. 1862 IX. 287 He is now rapidly approaching to a torrent that will suck him into a new faith. 1899 Ld. Rosebery in Daily News 6 May 4/1 We were sucked into a house dinner. |
II. 9. a. To apply the lips to (a teat, breast, the mother, nurse, or dam) for the purpose of extracting milk; to draw milk from with the mouth.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints Lives viii. 125 Ne sceamode þe to ceorfanne þæt þæt ðu sylf suce? c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xi. 27 Eadiᵹ is se innoð þe þe bær & þa breost þe ðu suce. c 1205 Lay. 5026 Þa tittes þet þu suke [c 1275 soke] mid þine lippes. Ibid. 12981, & Vther his broðer þa ȝæt sæc [c 1275 soc] his moder. c 1275 XI Pains of Hell 135 in O.E. Misc. 151 Neddren heore [sc. the women's] breosten sukeþ. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 546 Hyt shulde a go, and sokun ky. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2702 For þe blissful barnes loue þat hire brestes souked. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 267 Hir moder..schewed hir brestes þat eiþer of hem hadde i-soke. a 1400 Octouian 566 We segh..a wonder happe; A manchyld swoke a lyones pappe. c 1450 Merlin 88 To put youre owne childe to sowken a-nother woman. 1538 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 85 The foll that soukes olde maire. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 178 Ile make you..feed on curds and whay, and sucke the Goate. 1697 J. Lewis Mem. Dk. Gloucester (1789) 6 He ordered her to go to bed to the young prince, who soon sucked her. 1781 Cowper Expost. 473 Thou wast born amid the din of arms, And suck'd a breast that panted with alarms. 1805 Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 986 When the calf is suffered to suck the mother, it should have the first of the milk. |
b. of bees, etc., as in 1 b.
| 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 17560 As an yreyne sowketh the flye, And hyr entroylles draweth oute. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. 67 How busie the Bees are in sucking these [blossoms]. 1812 Kirby in K. & Spence Introd. Entom. (1816) I. 164 note, A small Melitta, upon which some of these creatures were busy sucking the poor animal. 1889 Science-Gossip XXV. 270/2 Union of many flowers on one inflorescence, which is therefore more conspicuous, and more easily sucked by insects, than single flowers. |
c. to suck the hind tit or teat: to be inferior or have no priority. Also intr. with on. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1940 W. V. T. Clark Ox-Bow Incident iv. 244 ‘Well,’ he said, ‘if you like to suck the hind tit.’ 1951 N. Monsarrat Cruel Sea iii. vi. 179 You have n't a hope... As far as radar is concerned, corvettes are sucking on the hind tit. 1963 Time 8 Nov. 47, I don't want these kids around here to suck on a hind tit when it comes to getting a good education. 1975 Weekend Mag. (Montreal) 31 May 20/2 Radio, no matter what you've read about the Radio Revolution, still sucks the hind teat at the CBC. |
10. a. To apply the lips and tongue (or analogous organs) to (an object) for the purpose of obtaining nourishment; to extract the fluid contents of by such action of the mouth; to absorb (a sweetmeat) in the mouth by the action of the tongue and the muscles of the cheeks.
to suck a person's brains: see brain n. 4 b. to teach one's grandmother to suck eggs: see egg n. 4 b. † to suck the eggs of: to extract the ‘goodness’ of, cause to be unproductive. to suck the monkey: see monkey n. 12. suck it and see (see quot. 1951); now used attrib. and absol. (also with hyphens) to denote experimental methods.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 6764 Þai sal for threst þe hevedes souke Of þe nedders þat on þam sal rouke. c 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 28 That sory appyl that we han sokyn To dethe hathe brouth my spouse and me. 1576 Gascoigne Philomene Wks. 1910 II. 179 Such unkinde, as let the cukowe flye, To sucke mine eggs. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 171 The Weazell (Scot) Comes sneaking, and so sucks her Princely Egges. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. ii, This sucks the eggs of my inuention. 1658 Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1067 When he hath his belly full, he laies up the rest of his provant, and hangs them up by a thred to suck them another time. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 81 They may suck their Paws at Home in a whole Skin. 1750 Gray Long Story 48 A wicked Imp..Who prowl'd the country far and near,..And suck'd the eggs, and kill'd the pheasants. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 322 It is a common report, that during this time, they [sc. bears] live by sucking their paws. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 530 If some mere driv'ler suck the sugar'd fib, One that still needs his leading-string and bib. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 204/2 The old ones wants something to suck, and not to chew. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. iii, A grand, languid nobleman in a great cap and flowered morning⁓gown, sucking oranges. 1908 M. S. Rawson Easy go Luckies xviii, The policeman's five children (all sucking sweets). 1951 Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 4) Add. 1189/2 Suck it and see! A derisive c[atch-]p[hrase] retort current in the 1890's. 1968 New Scientist 3 Oct. 10/1 Biologists..prefer to employ the ‘suck it and see’ approach adopted by Harold Wilson to politics rather than the impractical (?) idealism of Michael Foot. 1973 Nature 2 Mar. 16/2 In the best tradition of ‘suck it and see’ Fowlis has attempted to use such a velocimeter to measure the flow of both mercury and the liquid alloy NaK. 1976 New Scientist 16 Dec. 636/1 Types of experiment that could be usefully or uniquely performed in space:..‘suck-it-and-see’ experiments to explore a new environment (such as the plant growth and spider-web-spinning variety). 1979 SLR Camera June 42/3 It's difficult to lay down any hard and fast recommendations for using fill-in lighting; it's really a suck-it-and-see situation. |
b. To apply the tongue and inner sides of the lips to (one's teeth) so as to extract particles of food.
| 1595 Shakes. John i. i. 192 When my knightly stomacke is suffis'd Why then I sucke my teeth. 1901 W. R. H. Trowbridge Lett. her Mother to Eliz. xxii. 106 The people at Croixmare couldn't have eaten worse than Mr. Sweetson;..he sucked his teeth when he had finished. |
11. transf. a. To draw the moisture, goodness, etc. from.
| 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. I. 51 Without doubt the Earth would not grow Lank, Meagre, and Hungry, as it does, if the Plants did not Suck it just as Animals do their Dams. 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xvi. 246 'Tis certain that Turneps, when they stand for Seed, suck and impoverish the Ground exceedingly. 1879 E. Arnold Lt. Asia v. 134 In forest glades A fierce sun sucked the pools. |
b. To work (a pump) dry. (Cf. 19.)
| 1753 Scots Mag. Mar. 156/2 About four in the afternoon the pump was sucked. 1857 in Merc. Marine Mag. (1858) V. 8 After sucking the pumps, I had to keep one pump..at work. |
c. To cling closely to.
| 1859 Tennyson Marr. Geraint 324 Monstrous ivy-stems..suck'd the joining of the stones. |
12. To draw money, information, or the like from (a person); to rob (a person or thing) of its resouces or support; to drain, ‘bleed’.
| 1558 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 17 He will..make waiste, sucke the Quene, or pynche the poore or all thre. 1617 Sir T. Roe in Embassy (1899) 419 In hope to gett, no man can escape him [the King]; when hee hath suckd them, hee will not knowe them. 1752 Chesterfield Lett. cclxxii, When you are with des gens de robe, suck them with regard to the constitution and civil government. a 1774 Fergusson Plainstanes & Cawsey Poems (1845) 48 And o' three shillin's Scottish suck him. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Napoleon Wks. (Bohn) I. 374 The land sucked of its nourishment, by a small class of legitimates. 1856 Kingsley in N. Brit. Rev. XXV. 22 Fathers became gradually personages who are to be disobeyed, sucked of their money, [etc.]. 1874 Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. P. 617 Who..suck the commonwealth to feed their ease. |
13. a. With predicative adj.: To render so-and-so by sucking.
| 1530 Palsgr. 742/2 You shall se hym sucke him selfe asleepe. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 313 Dost thou not see my Baby at my breast, That suckes the Nurse asleepe. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 302 In the next morning let them [sc. foals] be admitted to sucke their belly full. 1715 F. Slave Vindic. Sugars 54 This Liquor invited all Sorts of Flies to it,..many of them did suck themselves drunk. 180. in Dickson Pract. Agric. (1805) II. 1058 [The ewes] are..held by the head till the lambs by turns suck them clean. 1879 Burroughs Locusts & Wild Honey 11 Bees will suck themselves tipsy upon varieties like the sops-of-wine. |
b. to suck dry, to extract all the moisture or liquid out of by suction; fig., to exhaust.
| 1592 Arden of Feversham ii. ii. 119 When she is dry suckt of her eager young. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. viii. 55 My Sea shall suck them dry. 1598 Stow Surv. 470 London felt it most tragicall; for then he both seysed their liberties, and sucked themselues dry. 1647 H. More Poems 266 Abhorred dugs by devils sucken dry. a 1719 Addison tr. Virg. Fourth Georg. 195 Wks. 1721 I. 24 Some [bees]..Taste ev'ry bud, and suck each blossom dry. 1771 Ann. Reg. 207/1 After one had sucked the bones quite dry,..I have seen another take them up,..and do the same. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. v, A crew of plunderers, who would suck me dry by driblets. |
14. To produce as by suction. rare.
| 1849 T. Woolner My Beautiful Lady, My Lady in Death xvi, The heavy sinking at her heart Sucked hollows in her cheek. |
III. 15. a. intr. Of the young of a mammal: To perform the action described in sense 1; to draw milk from the teat; to feed from the breast or udder.
| c 1000 [see sucking ppl. a. 1]. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 5 He mihte ridan..uppon þa lutthle fole þat ȝet hit wes sukinde. c 1205 Lay. 13194 Vther wes to lutel þa ȝet he moste suken. c 1290 Beket 1460 in S. Eng. Leg. 148 Ne womman þat was with childe, Ne þe children þat soukinde weren. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6022 Com a pore womman..And bare a chylde..Þe pappe yn þe mouþe as hyt had soke. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xvi. (Magdalena) 679 Þai..fand þe child at þe pape, lyand rycht as he sukit had. c 1440 Sir Gowther 113 He sak so sore thei [sc. the nurses] lost here lyfes. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. vi. 74 A grete sow fereit of grysis thretty heid, Liggin on the ground..About hir pappis sowkin. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §39 Let them sucke as longe as the dammes wyll suffre theym. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xvi. (1870) 275 All thynges the whiche dothe sucke, is nutrytyue. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 81 To see my Ewes graze, & my Lambes sucke. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 292 Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man When Hectors Grandsire suckt. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 167 There we saw a great many Women, and little Children, most of them Sucking. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 44 The wet-nurse having presented it the breast, it took it with avidity, but it could suck but little, in consequence of its weak state. 1820 Shelley Œd. Tyr. i. 51, I suck, but no milk will come from the dug. 1858 Churchill Dis. Childr. 30 It is desirable that a child should not be weaned before nine months, nor suck after twelve. |
b. at, † of, † on the breast or the mother.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 8466 Þou souke of hir tat. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 116 He..badde hem souke for synne saufly at his breste [1393 C. xiii. 55 Souken of hus brest]. c 1386 Chaucer Prioress' Prol. 6 Children..on the brest soukynge. a 1400 Octouian 555 A man chyld..Sok of her as of a woman That wher hys dame. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxi. 57 Of my dame sen I sowked had I neuer sich a nyght. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Hunting e iv, A fawne sowkyng on his dam. 1549 N. Country Wills (Surtees 1908) 204 Two mares..and two feles sucking upon theym. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 53 The zoung babe of hir breist sucand. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 15 A thousand yong ones..Sucking vpon her poisonous dugs. 1645 Relation late Witches 19 The said Anne offered to give unto her daughter Sarah Cooper an Impe in the likenes of a gray Kite, to suck on the said Sarah. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 117 Such as are nourished with Milk, presently find their way to the Paps, and suck at them. |
c. of flies drawing blood, etc., as in 1 b.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 88 Where the Bee sucks, there suck I. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 130 How there he plunder'd snug, And suck'd all o'er, like an industrious Bug. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 326 These flesh-flies of the land; Who fasten without mercy on the fair, And suck, and leave a craving maggot there. 1870 Wilson Austral. Songs 99 Honey-birds loitered to suck at the wattle. |
† d. transf. and fig. Obs.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 229 b, Suche other as daily flatered hym for their peculier profites (as he had many in deede that daily sucked at his elbowe). 1571 Digges Pantom. A iv, Such two footed Moules and Todes whom..nature hath ordayned to craule within the earth, and suck upon the muck. a 1626 Bacon Hen. VIII in Misc., Wks. (1629) 165 The Crowne, which had sucked too hard, and now being full,..was like to Draw lesse. |
e. To practise fellatio (or cunnilingus). coarse slang.
| 1928 in A. W. Read Lexical Evidence from Folk Epigraphy Western N. Amer. (1935) 78 My cock is only 10 ins long so if any one would like to suck meet me here 9 pm. 1960 [see sense 1 f above]. 1975 E. Hannon Doors 123 White chicks dig suckin, that's a fact. That's cause suckin's sophisticated. 1977 M. T. Bloom 13th Man (1978) viii. 148 The pimp said: ‘She wouldn't suck so she couldn't make a living. I had to send her back.’ |
f. To be contemptible or disgusting. slang. Cf. suck n.1 12.
| 1971 It 2–16 June 3/2 Polaroid sucks! For some time the Polaroid Corporation has been supplying the South African government with large photo systems..to use for photographing blacks for the passbooks..every black must carry. 1976 G. V. Higgins Judgment of Deke Hunter vi. 59, I had a lousy summer... I thought it sucked, and I bet next summer'll suck too. 1978 M. Gordon Final Payments xi. 193 All the hotels have the same pictures. The last one, the food sucked. |
16. a. to give suck (occas. † to give to suck): to give milk from the breast or udder, to suckle. Const. simple dat. or to. Now arch.
Suck, properly infin. (cf. G. zu saugen geben, Du. te zuigen geven), is now felt as a n.; cf. suck n.1 1 a.
| c 1330 Arth & Merl. 2694 Late..þi wiif it loke Of hir milk & ȝiue it souke. 1340 Ayenb. 60 Þe blonderes byeþ þe dyeules noriches þet his children yeueþ zouke. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 237 To rokken and to yeue the child to sowke. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xx. 65 Eke the to sowken of my brestes yafe I. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 12 Am y not he that ye bare and gaf me souke of your brestes? 1588 Kyd Househ. Phil. Wks. (1901) 237 Mothers ought to giue their owne Children sucke. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lxiv. 257 If a mother hath a child which she cannot give suck unto for some valuable consideration. 1786 J. Hunter Treat. Ven. Dis. vii. i. 388 She gave suck to this second child. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 504 A poor woman, who gave suck to a child about a year old. 1858 Churchill Dis. Childr. 30 The mother may give the child suck during the night or day only. |
b. without personal obj. Now arch.
| 1382 Wyclif Luke xxiii. 29 Wombis that han not gendrid, and the teetis whiche han not ȝouun souke. 1526 Tindale Matt. xxiv. 19 To them that are with chylde, and to them that geve sucke [Wyclif noryschinge]. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 54, I haue giuen Sucke, and know How tender 'tis to loue the Babe that milkes me. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 131 Those [does] that have young ones never are housed, but give suck without. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 107 Seeing it would be for many reasons inconvenient for Birds to give Suck. |
17. to suck at: (a) to take a draught of; to inhale: (b) to take a pull at (a pipe, drinking vessel).
| 1584 Cogan Haven Health ccxxi. (1636) 256 Mervaile it is to see how the Welchmen will lye sucking at this drinke [sc. Metheglin]. 1607 Dekker Knt.'s Conjur. (1842) 49 Snakes euer sucking at thy breath. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 124 Drawing out the air with the mouth by sucking at the orifice c. 1855 Browning Grammarian's Funeral 96 Back to his studies..He..Sucked at the flagon. 1872 E. Yates Castaway i. ix, He sat quietly sucking away at his long pipe. |
18. Of inanimate objects: To draw by suction.
| c 1220 Bestiary 568 Ðer ðe water sukeð [MS. sinkeð], sipes ge sinkeð. [Cf. suk in l. 578.] 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 47 Weede and the water so soketh and sucks, that goodnes from either it vtterly plucks. 1871 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Eng. I. 53 If the stamps are left..standing in the pulp, between blows, the material settles around them and they ‘suck’ when the lift commences. |
19. Of a pump: To draw air instead of water, as a result of the exhaustion of the water or a defective valve.
| 1627 Capt. J. Smith Sea. Gram. ii. 9 The Pumpe sucks, is when the water being out, it drawes vp nothing but froth and winde. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Pompe, The pump sucks, or is dry. 1831 J. Porter Sir. E. Seaward's Narr. I. 61 It [sc. the pump] sucked, that is no more water remained within reach. 1899 F. T. Bullen Log Sea-waif 170 Of course she leaked..but still in fine weather the pumps would ‘suck’ in ten minutes at four-hour intervals. |
| fig. 1854 Lowell Jrnl. in Italy iii. Prose Wks. 1890 I. 129 Even Byron's pump sucks sometimes, and gives an unpleasant dry wheeze. 1854 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Resources Wks. (Bohn) III. 197 This pump [sc. our globe] never sucks; these screws are never loose. |
| transf. 1710 C. Shadwell Fair Quaker Deal ii. 27 The Bowl sucks; Empty is the Word. |
† IV. 20. trans. To give suck to, suckle. Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 671 So is this beast enabled by nature to beare twice in the yeare, and yet to sucke her young ones two monthes together. 1612 [see opossum 1]. 1680 R. L'Estrange Erasm. Colloq. ii. 29 He had the Happiness to taste the Milk of the same Breast that suck'd our Saviour. |
† V. 21. In trans. senses of soak v.: a. To cause to sink in, instil. b. to suck one's face, to drink. Obs.
| a. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Tim. 16 Not bryngynge the sentence with the, that fauoure or malyce or dyspleasure or any other affeccion hath secretlye sowked into thee, but of the thing selfe in dede knowen. |
| b. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v., We'll go and Suck our Faces,..let's go to Drink... He loves to Suck his Face, he delights in Drinking. |
VI. Specialized uses with advs.
22. a. trans. With various advs.: To draw by suction in some direction.
| 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xxiv. 80 That bludy Bouchour ever deit of thrist, Soukand the soules furth of the Sanctis of God. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. ii. 17 Your faire shew shall suck away their Soules, Leauing them but the shales and huskes of men. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 3 Two contrary Eddies.., which making Vessels turn round for some time, suck them down to the bottom without remedy. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 103 The fixt and rooted earth, Tormented into billows,..with..hideous whirl Sucks down its prey. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (ed. 3) ii. x, One shoe suddenly sucked off by the boggy clay. 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere ii. 7 A head would pop up to suck some insect down. 1879 Browning Ivan Ivanovitch 26 The monstrous wild a-hungered to resume Its ancient sway, suck back the world into its womb. |
b. suck (a)round. intr. To go about behaving sycophantically. Occas. ellipt. Cf. sense 26 e. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
| 1931 Princeton Alumni Weekly 22 May 798/1 If ‘drag’ or ‘hot dope’ is necessary one usually ‘sucks around’ for it. 1934 G. Ade Let. 27 June (1973) 186 As for the Landis party on July 10th I have had no invitation but maybe I could suck around and get one. 1940 M. Marples Public School Slang 169 Thus a boy is said to suck round, if he tries to ingratiate himself. 1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xi. 209 The tycoon who spends the first part of his life sucking and crushing, and the last part giving away dimes. 1979 ‘A. Hailey’ Overload iii. xiv. 273 Logically, she should go to the city editor. She might have done it, too, if the son-of-a-bitch hadn't handed her that coach-and-team crap earlier today. Now it would look as if she was sucking around him because of it. |
23. suck in. a. trans. To draw into the mouth by suction; to inhale (air, etc.); occas. to draw in (one's breath), etc.
| c 1220 Bestiary 514 Ðis cete ðanne hise chaueles lukeð, ðise fisses alle in sukeð. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) 205 Whan thei schulle eten or drynken, thei taken thorghe a Pipe..and sowken it in. c 1460 Promp. Parv. (Winch.) 461 Sokyn in diuers þyngis, or drynkyn yn, imbibo. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 341 There they suck in the fresh Air. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. 85 He sucks in Smoak like a Virginia-Planter. 1845 Disraeli Sybil (1863) 282, I have breathed this air for a matter of half a century. I sucked it in when it tasted of primroses. 1885 E. Greey Bakin's Captive of Love iv. (1904) 28 Sucking in his breath as he bowed respectfully. |
b. To imbibe (qualities, etc.) with one's mother's milk, with a draught.
| 1622 Fletcher Beggar's Bush ii. iii, I suck'd not in this patience with my milk. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. i. v, The notions you first sucked in with your milk. 1781 Cowper Hope 518 The wretch, who once..suck'd in dizzy madness with his draught. 1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. II. 201 That fatal diversity which these different races had sucked in with their mother's milk. |
c. gen. To draw or take in (lit. and fig.); to absorb.
| 1597 Donne Lett. Sev. Pers., Storme 62 Pumping hath tir'd our men, and what's the gaine? Seas into seas throwne, we suck in againe. 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus i. ii, Those deeds breath honor, that do suck in gaine. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. ii. 12 There is no Lady..More spungie, to sucke in the sense of Feare. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. (1900) 56 These infirmities possessed me in thy Country, for there I suckt them in. 1728 Pope Dunc. iii. 58 As..whirligigs twirl'd round by skilful swain, Suck the thread in, then yield it out again. a 1774 Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) I. 64 Sometimes electric bodies suck in the electric fire, and sometimes they throw it out. |
d. To take in by means of the perceptive faculties.
| c 1600 Chalkhill Thealma & Cl. (1683) 10 With desire Her ears suck'd in her speech. 1667 Pepys Diary 17 Aug., I have sucked in so much of the sad story of Queen Elizabeth,..that I was ready to weep for her. 1669 Gale Crt. Gentiles i. ii. viii. 116 This Persian Idolatrie, which the Israelites had suckt in. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 240 They could not shake off the Prejudices they had sucked in. 1780 F. Burney Lett. 27 April, The portion you allowed me of your..Journal, I sucked in with much pleasure and avidity. 1793 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. II. 112 He [sc. Jonson] would sit silent in learned company, and suck in (besides wine) their several humours into his observation. |
e. To draw in, as into a whirlpool or vortex.
| 1616 J. Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. ix. 273 Which..bothe sokes and bringes men in, Wheare none, at last, shall either save or winn. 1663 S. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxxvii. (1687) 486 The waters began to suck him in. 1728 Pope Dunc. ii. 332 Sinking to the chin, Smit with his mien the Mud-nymphs suck'd him in. 1807 Wordsw. Blind Highland Boy 155 The tide retreated from the shore, And sucked, and sucked him in. 1849 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. (1850) II. 168 He had seen the water rush through the opening at the rate of ten miles an hour, sucking in several flat boats. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 75 The poor-rate was sucking in the solvent classes. |
f. dial. and slang. To take in, cheat, deceive.
| 1842 ‘ Mrs. Clavers’ Forest Life I. xiii. 135, I a'n't bound to drive nobody in the middle of the night,..so don't you try to suck me in there. c 1850 ‘Dow, Jr.’ in Jerdan Yankee Hum. (1853) 113 The British got pretty nicely sucked in, when our Dutch grandaddies went to smoking on the Battery, and concealed it beneath a cloud of tobacco fume. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 15 May 2/3 You've tried to run a ship on the cheap and been sucked in. |
g. intr. To curry favour with. Sc.
| 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy 239 He tells tales on the rest of the scholars, to sook-in wi' the maister. |
24. suck off. trans. To cause (someone) to experience an orgasm by fellatio or cunnilingus. coarse slang. Cf. sense 1 f above.
| 1928 in A. W. Read Lexical Evidence from Folk Epigraphy Western N. Amer. (1935) 79 When will you meet me to suck me off? 1941 G. W. Henry Sex Variants II. 1176 The object of suck can be either the organ or the person; but the object of suck off is usually the person, who is mentioned within the idiom, e.g. ‘to suck him off’. 1959 W. Burroughs Naked Lunch 76 Equilibrists suck each other off deftly. 1969 Fabian & Byrne Groupie (1970) vii. 50 He listened superciliously..and, spreading his legs, asked me to ‘suck him off’ to make him less uptight. 1971 Guardian 27 Sept. 14/5 One American GI is forcing a Vietnamese woman to suck him off. 1976 J. Crosby Snake (1977) xxxv. 222 Elf has had a busy night... Sucking me off till all hours. |
25. suck out. a. trans. To draw out or extract by or as by suction. Also in fig. context.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xi. (Symon & Judas) 321 Þa..bad þe edris suk owt faste al þe venyme. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. vii. (1495) 90 Flyes and wormes that sytt on flesshe and sucke out the blode. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 16 Sowe hit not, hit sowkith out the swete Of euery lond. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxiv. 8 As for the dregges therof, all y⊇ vngodly of the earth shal drynke them, & sucke them out. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. i. ii. 2 It [a medicine] sucketh oute superfluous moysture in dropsyes. 1611 Bible Ezek. xxiii. 34 Thou shalt euen drinke it and sucke it out. 1618–19 Fletcher, etc. Q. Corinth ii. iv, They look like potch'd Eggs with the souls suckt out Empty and full of wind. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 24 Aug. 1678, The flannell sucking out the moisture. 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Sucking, The tip [of the tongue] is again employed to the sucking out more milk. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. iv. 78 Every fresh Jew sticking on him like a fresh horseleech, sucking his and our life out. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. xiii. 363 They pretend to cure the sick by sucking out stones through their skin. |
† b. To extract (information or profit). Obs.
| 1546 St. Papers Hen. VIII, XI. 14 His Majestes pleasure is, that sucking out as moche as ye may to what other condicions they will descende, you shall [etc.]. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies To Rdr., Every one may sucke out some profit for himselfe. |
† c. To drain. Obs.
| 1687 Miège Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., He suckt out (or suckt up) the Bottle. |
26. suck up. a. trans. To draw up into the mouth by suction. Also, † to drain the contents of.
| a 1450 Myrc (1902) 1811 Ȝef a drope of blod..Falle vp-on þe corporas, Sowke hyt vp a-non-ryȝt. 1560 Bible (Geneva) Job xxxix. 33 His yong ones also sucke vp blood. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 188 The Toade bloweth them, and sucketh them [sc. bees] vp at their owne doores. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 262 Is it Physicall to walke vnbraced, and sucke vp the humours Of the danke Morning? 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. ix. §2. 236 Sucking up the breath. 1687 [see 25 c.]. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 264 The elephant dips the end of its trunk into the water, and sucks up just as much as fills that great fleshy tube. 1840 Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 207 The Sun-birds..subsist on the nectar of flowers, which they suck up. |
b. To draw up as by suction or the creation of a vacuum; to absorb (liquid); to draw up (moisture) by heat; also, to draw up moisture from.
| 1530 Palsgr. 742/2 As the yerthe, or a sponge sucketh up water. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 89 The Windes..haue suck'd vp from the sea Contagious fogges. 1604 Jas. I. Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.) 104 The smoakie vapours sucked vp by the Sunne. 1630 Drayton Muses Eliz., Noah's Flood 106 By this the Sunne had suckt vp the vaste deepe. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxiv. ¶19 He rubs it [sc. the sponge] over..the Tympan, to Suck up the Water. 1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 102 To prevent the formation of a vacuum in the rising bucket, or what is called by the miller ‘sucking up the tail-water’. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. (1874) 55 The burning sun on the fells had sucked him up; but the damp heat of the woody crag sucked him up still more. 1877 Huxley Physiogr. 71 The thread constantly sucks up the liquid. |
† c. To absorb by a mental process; to drink in.
| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. v. vi, May his stile..have gentle presence, and the sceans suckt up By calme attention of choyce audience. c 1610 Women Saints 89 The holie virgin..sucked vp and exhaled her maisters..praises of her celestiall Loues excellencie. |
d. To swallow up.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. i. 22 Roaring Waters, With Sands that will not beare your Enemies Boates, But sucke them vp to' th' Top-mast. 1650 Contemp Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) II. 101 This good service they haue don to his Majestie after shokinge up the sweete and substance of his Catholicke subjects of Monster. 1795 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) III. 52 Britain will suck up that commerce which formerly flowed to Amsterdam. 1869 Lowell Dara v, Wise Dara's province, year by year, Like a great sponge, sucked wealth and plenty up. |
e. intr. to suck up to, to curry favour with; to toady to. (Also without to.) slang (orig. Schoolboys'). Cf. sucker-up s.v. sucker n. 14.
| 1860 Hotten's Slang Dict. (ed. 2) 231 Suck up, ‘to suck up to a person’, to insinuate oneself into his good graces. 1876 A. Thomas Blotted out xvi, I can't suck up to snobs because they happen to be in power and to have patronage. 1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy 203 Fowle sucked up to him..and buttered him at all times. 1905 H. A. Vachell Hill vi, ‘Afterwards’, John continued, ‘I tried to suck-up. I asked you to come and have some food.’ 1936 M. Mitchell Gone with Wind xl. 719 We hear how you suck up to the Yankees..to get money out of them. 1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited ii. iv. 261, I imagine she's been used to bossing things rather in naval circles, with flag-lieutenants trotting round and young officers on-the-make sucking up to her. 1957 R. K. Merton Social Theory (rev. ed.) viii. 270 Data in The American Soldier on what was variously called brown-nosing, bucking for promotion, and sucking up. 1963 D. Ogilvy Confess. Advert. Man (1964) i. 15, I despise toadies who suck up to their bosses; they are generally the same people who bully their subordinates. 1966 [see crawl v.1 3 c]. 1979 J. Cooper Class (1980) vi. 131 Harry Stow-Crat also has to suck up to neighbouring farmers in case he should want to hunt over their land. |
▸ trans. colloq. (chiefly N. Amer.). to suck it up: to work up one's courage or resolve in order to persevere through discomfort or adversity.
| 1967 News (Frederick, Maryland) 3 Mar. 10/2 ‘I'm sick,’ he said, ‘I gotta go out.’ Then another voice said, ‘Naw stick in here Glenn. Suck it up.’ 1992 Gaz. (Montreal) (Nexis) 14 Aug. d8 Whatever happened to sucking it up and playing with pain? 2000 A. Bourdain Kitchen Confid. (2001) 86 With steely resolve, a pro, in the face of adversity, will suck it up and redouble his efforts to make the restaurant what he wanted and planned it to be all along. |