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. 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. (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. (informal) A lollipop; a piece of candy which is sucked.
13. (slang) A hard drinker.
14. (obsolete) An inhabitant of Illinois.
15. (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. (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. (obsolete,slang) The penis.

Verb

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

Synonyms

fool

dupe

chump

lollipop

🍭

infant

gull

baby

👶

patsy

suckler

mug

soft touch

nestling

simpleton

fall guy

peewee

piston

all-day sucker

mark

turkey

pushover

candy

🍬

dimwit

goon

simp

shithead

proboscis

gudgeon

gullible

half-witted

ignoramus

imbecile

jackass

jerk

licker

light-headed

lolly

lummox

moron

mutt

nibbler

nincompoop

noodle

novice

nudnik

oaf

pigeon

plunger

🪠

rook

root

sap

seed

shoot

silly

sitting duck

slob

softy

stupid

suckers

suckling

suction tube

sweet

taproot

tiller

tomfool

trick

twat

undershoot

yobbo

zany

goofball

inexperienced person

lollypop

suction cup

vine shoot

young tree

suction pad

weak person

suckling child

haptor

sobole

whipster

fish

🐟

sea snail

unweaned

remove suckers

buffalofish

catostomid

gaumless

nudnick

seasnail

snailfish

root sucker

side shoot

dick-head

airhead

root sprout

asshole

beginner

🔰

booby

bozo

buy

🛍️

changeling

coot

crank

credulous

cutting

daft

dickhead

dolt

dope

duffer

easy mark

feebleminded

foolish

gander

goof

goose

🪿

goosey

goosy

gormless

greenhorn

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”).