sucker
part of speech
noun (a sucker, suckers); verb phrase (sucker someone into — informal)
meaning for a pupil
1) A sucker is a part of an animal that can stick to things by suction, like the round pads on an octopus's arms. tree →
2) A sucker is also a rubber cup that sticks to smooth surfaces when you press it. tree →
3) (informal) A sucker is a person who is easily tricked: «Ha, sucker!» tree →
4) (informal) To be a sucker for something is to like it so much you cannot resist it: I'm a sucker for chocolate. tree →
5) A sucker is also a new shoot growing from the root of a plant, and (US) a lollipop. tree →
6) A sapsucker is a woodpecker that drills holes in tree bark to drink the sap. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons, octopuses and squid use suckers to grip and taste; leeches use suckers to feed; some plants spread by suckers. In design and technology, suction cups (suckers) hold things to windows. In everyday and playground talk, calling someone a «sucker» is teasing or mocking. Phrases: «octopus suckers», «a sucker for», «suckered into», «sucker punch» (a sneaky hit).
examples
- An octopus has two rows of suckers on each arm. tree →
- The sucker holds the toy to the window. tree →
- (informal) I'm a sucker for funny cat videos. tree →
- (informal) He was suckered into paying for everyone's chips. tree →
- (informal) "Made you look, sucker!" tree →
- Cut off the suckers so the tomato plant grows strong. tree →
- (US) The dentist gave me a sugar-free sucker. tree →
note
Plural «suckers». Calling someone «sucker» is rude teasing. In science, «suction cup» is the more formal name for the rubber kind.
In the corpora
- Sperm whales dive deep to hunt giant squid, and many sperm whales carry round scars left by the squid's suckers.
- An octopus has eight arms with suckers all along them, and scientists call them arms, not tentacles.
- A squid or cuttlefish has eight arms plus two longer tentacles with suckers only on their wide tips, ten limbs in all.
- Remoras stick to sharks and rays with a sucker on their heads, and that sucker is really a changed fin.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «sucker» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.