sucker

Meaning

Noun

1. A person or animal that sucks, especially a breast or udder; especially a suckling animal, young mammal before it is weaned.
2. An undesired stem growing out of the roots or lower trunk of a shrub or tree, especially from the rootstock of a grafted plant or tree.
3. (broadly) A parasite; a sponger.
4. An organ or body part that does the sucking; especially a round structure on the bodies of some insects, frogs, and octopuses that allows them to stick to surfaces.
5. A thing that works by sucking something.
6. The embolus, or bucket, of a pump; also, the valve of a pump basket.
7. A pipe through which anything is drawn.
8. A small piece of leather, usually round, having a string attached to the center, which, when saturated with water and pressed upon a stone or other body having a smooth surface, adheres, by reason of the atmospheric pressure, with such force as to enable a considerable weight to be thus lifted by the string; formerly used by children as a plaything.
9. (British, colloquial) A suction cup.
10. An animal such as the octopus and remora, which adhere to other bodies with such organs.
11. Any fish in the family Catostomidae of North America and eastern Asia, which have mouths modified into downward-pointing, suckerlike structures for feeding in bottom sediments.
12. (US, informal) A lollipop; a piece of candy which is sucked.
13. (archaic, slang) A hard drinker.
14. (US, obsolete) An inhabitant of Illinois.
15. (US, obsolete) A migrant lead miner working in the Driftless Area of northwest Illinois, southwest Wisconsin, and northeast Iowa, working in summer and leaving for winter, so named because of the similarity to the migratory patterns of the North American Catostomidae.
16. (US, slang) A person who is easily deceived, tricked or persuaded to do something; a naive or gullible person.
17. (informal) A person irresistibly attracted by something specified.
18. (British, obsolete, slang, vulgar) The penis.

Verb

1. (transitive) To strip the suckers or shoots from; to deprive of suckers.
2. (intransitive) To produce suckers; to throw up additional stems or shoots.
3. (intransitive) To move or attach oneself by means of suckers.
4. (informal, transitive) To fool someone; to take advantage of someone.
5. (informal, transitive, usually) To lure someone.

Synonyms

fool

chump

dupe

lollipop

🍭

suckler

baby

👶

patsy

gull

infant

mug

peewee

simpleton

fall guy

all-day sucker

mark

soft touch

nestling

piston

goon

proboscis

simp

shithead

pushover

turkey

dimwit

candy

🍬

goose

🪿

daft

goof

goosey

cutting

buy

🛍️

gander

foolish

credulous

moron

lummox

feebleminded

crank

bozo

lolly

light-headed

licker

easy mark

coot

jerk

jackass

imbecile

duffer

booby

Translations

pigeonner

pigeon

otário

Saugnapf

κορόιδο

sucette

🍭

ventosa

primo

ventosa

mamón

Wurzelschössling

gonzo

allocco

ventosa

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsʌk.ə/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: souker

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: Suuger

Cognate with Western Frisian: sûker

Cognate with Dutch: zuiger

Cognate with German: Sauger

In summary

From Middle English souker, sokere, sukkere, soukere, equivalent to suck (verb) + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Suuger, West Frisian sûker (“sucker”), Dutch zuiger (“sucker”), German Sauger (“dummy; vacuum”).