Word.ws English Dictionary

sponge down

sponge down verb: to clean with a sponge.

sponge down: to clean with a sponge
Image: Norbert Goeneutte, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

sponge down (third-person singular simple present sponges down, present participle sponging down, simple past and past participle sponged down)

  1. To clean with a sponge
    • If your skin is dry and flaky all over, pour a few handfuls of salt in your bath water and sponge down your entire body. When you’re through, slather on the moisturizer.1982, Annette Capone, chapter 6, in Skin Deep: A guide to easy skincare, Scholastic Inc., page 62
    • Painted wallcoverings can be sponged down, of course, but having a wallcovering with a plastic surface makes it more stain-resistant and easier to keep clean.2002, Mike Lawrence, Home Decorating, The Crowood Press, page 12
    Synonyms:
    sponge

Noun

sponge down (plural sponge downs)

  1. A quick clean of something (namely the body) with a sponge.
    • When the pack is removed a cold or tepid sponge down should be given and the patient placed in a warm bed.1929, Eric F. W. Powell, chapter 4, in Water Treatments, C. W. Daniel Company, page 35
    • When high fever is present, a sponge down twice a day will add to the patient’s comfort.1951, Evelyn M. Lovely, chapter 7, in The Nursing of Sick Children, E & S Livingstone, page 56

Synonyms of sponge down

Forms of sponge down

Verb
third-person singular presentsponges down
present participlesponging down
past participlesponged down
pastsponged down
Noun
pluralsponge downs
alternative formsponge-down

Questions about sponge down

What does sponge down mean?
Sponge down means to clean with a sponge.
What part of speech is sponge down?
Sponge down can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of sponge down?
The past tense of sponge down is sponged down.

Words near sponge down in the dictionary

  1. sponge cloth
  2. sponge construction
  3. sponge constructions
  4. sponge crab
  5. sponge crabs
  6. sponge down
  7. sponge downs
  8. sponge finger
  9. sponge fingers
  10. sponge function
  11. sponge functions

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sponge down (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “sponge down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sponge_down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.