See Also: suck(medicine)
suck(2)(dictionary)
Suck - Poker(gambling)
Suck Out - Poker(gambling)
suck 1, verb(dictionary)
suck 2, noun(dictionary)
drip-suck irrigation(medicine)

suck(2) (iou)



suck verb.
[Old English sucan strong verb (cf. SOAK verb), becoming weak in Middle English, corresp. to Latin sugere, Old & mod. Irish suigim, from Indo-European base of imit. origin, of which a parallel base is repr. in Old English, Old Saxon sugan, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch sugen (Dutch zuigen), Old High German sugan (German saugen), Old Norse suga.]
I. verb trans.
Draw (liquid, esp. milk from the breast, or another substance) into the mouth by contracting the muscles of the lips etc. to make a partial vacuum. OE.
G. Greene They were sucking orangeade through straws. Mollie Harris From..summer flowers we would suck honey. G. Swift A tiny baby sucking his mother's milk.
Draw liquid or some other substance from (a fruit, an egg, etc.) by means of such action; spec. (of a baby or young animal) draw milk from (the breast, a teat, its mother). Also (long obsolete exc. Scot.), suckle (a baby or young animal). OE.
Thackeray A..languid nobleman..sucking oranges. R. Frame She..sucked a twist of barley sugar.
b. Apply the lips and mouth to and perform such action on (an object). E18.
W. Lewis They sat..sucking their old pipes. A. Macrae Willowdene..placidly sucked her thumb.
c. Perform cunnilingus or esp. fellatio on. coarse slang. L19.
a. Draw or drain (moisture, goodness, etc.) from or out of a thing. Formerly also (foll. by from, of), draw or use up (money or wealth) from a source. ME.
Tennyson She..sees a great black cloud..suck the blinding splendour from the sand.
b. Draw the moisture, goodness, etc., from; extract information, money, etc., from; drain of. LME.
R. W. Emerson The land sucked of its nourishment, by a small class of legitimates.
c. Derive (knowledge, comfort, etc.) (usu. foll. by from or out of). Also, take in or in along with. M16.
R. R. Marett Conditions that enable us to suck strength..out of the..environment.
Draw in so as to engulf or drown (usu. foll. by down, in); esp. (fig.) draw into a course of action etc. E16.
Times Half a dozen MPs have..been sucked into this inquiry. P. Farmer She cannot forget the sadness.., no matter how she lets herself be sucked in by other things.
Bring into a specified condition by sucking. M16.
Shakespeare Anthony & Cleopatra Dost thou not see the baby at my breast That sucks the nurse asleep?
Inhale (air, smoke, etc.). L16-E18.
Pope Some [spirits]..suck the mist in grosser air below.
Draw in some direction, esp. by producing a vacuum. Usu. foll. by adverb or preposition. L16.
E. Blishen I caught sight of machinery; paper was being sucked through it. R. Silverberg Ferguson sucked his breath in deep and hard. fig.: Times Exports are starting to fall off, while more imports are being sucked in.
Work (a pump) dry. Cf. sense 11 below. rare. M18.
II. verb intrans.
Of a baby or young animal: draw milk from the breast or teat. Freq. foll. by at, of, on. OE.
F. Churchill A child should not be weaned before nine months, nor suck after twelve. H. S. Strean A baby sucking at his mother's breast.
Apply the lips and mouth to and perform a sucking action on an object, esp. to draw out liquid; gen. draw by suction, make a sucking action or sound. Freq. foll. by at. ME.
R. Jarrell She was walking on a lonely shore. Sand sucked at her bare feet. J. C. Oates Sucking at her cigarette out of stubbornness. Today Employees gasping for a drag or sucking miserably on a Biro.
b. Perform cunnilingus or esp. fellatio. coarse slang. E20.
Of a pump: draw air instead of water, as a result of a fault or of exhausting the water. E17.
Be disgraceful or repellent. slang (chiefly N. Amer.). L20.
A. Lurie In their opinion modern London sucks.
Phrases etc.: give suck arch. [suck is now usu. regarded as a noun] give milk from the breast or teat, suckle. suck an orange: see ORANGE noun. suck dry extract all the liquid out of; fig. exhaust of all resources. suck-it-and-see adjective (colloq.) (of a method etc.) experimental. suck the blood of fig. exhaust the financial, emotional, etc., resources of. suck the hind teat, suck the hind tit slang (chiefly US) be inferior, have no priority. suck the monkey: see MONKEY noun. teach one's GRANDMOTHER to suck eggs.
With adverbs in specialized senses: suck around slang (chiefly US) go about behaving sycophantically. suck in (a) absorb; (b) arch. slang cheat, deceive; (see also senses 3c, 4 above). suck off coarse slang cause (a person) to experience an orgasm by cunnilingus or esp. fellatio. suck up (a) absorb; (b) colloq. behave obsequiously (to), esp. for one's own advantage.
Comb.: suck-bottle (a) a baby's feeding-bottle; (b) arch. slang a tippler; suck-egg noun & adjective (a) noun an animal reputed to suck eggs, as a weasel or cuckoo; fig. an avaricious person; (b) adjective that sucks eggs; US dial. mean, contemptible; suck-fish = SUCKER noun 10; suck-hole noun & verb (a) noun (US dial.) a whirlpool, a pond; (b) verb intrans. & noun (Canad. & Austral. coarse slang) (behave like) a sycophant; suck-teeth W. Indies an act of sucking the teeth audibly to indicate annoyance, scorn, etc.; suck-up N. Amer. colloq. a person who behaves obsequiously, esp. for their own advantage.
suckable adjective (rare) (esp. of a food) that can be sucked M19.