A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1581-1699
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Spongious(e, Spungious, adj. [Late ME spongious, -youse (both c1400), spungious (1604), L. spongiōsus.] Of the nature of a sponge, spongy. — 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 152/727.
His spongious [v.r. spongiouse] lightes doth vlcerate, and Hims dries cum'd ptisick so 1691 Kirk Secr. Commonw. (1964) 214.
Some have bodies … so spungious, thin and defecate, that they are fed by only sucking into some fine spirituous liquor 16.. Alchem. MSS V.
Reiterat this tuyse or thryse and tak head that everye tyme ȝour calx be weill neiled and cold befoir ȝe mixe it with new [sulphur]. If ȝe have done weill it wilbe of colour reid ȝellow verge fair very spongious small as flour
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"Spongious adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/spongiouse>
