Posted by Liz M on 6/24/2005, 3:54 pm, in reply to "History lesson, please" From Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Captain Grose et al. 1811: SPUNGE. A thirsty fellow, a great drinker. To spunge; to eat and drink at another's cost. Spunging-house: a bailiff's lock-up-house, or repository, to which persons arrested are taken, till they find bail, or have spent all their money: a house where every species of fraud and extortion is practised under the protection of the law. (LL, did your spellchecker changing "spunging" to "sponging"? I thought something seemed a bit odd, but I didn't recall that I had seen the word spelled differently until I did this dictionary search.)
4.229.237.1
The online dictionaries you can find these days...!
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