sponger

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a workman employed to collect sponges
noun a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage

From sponge + -er.

THE BOY CHUMS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO; or, A Dangerous Cruise with the Greek Spongers. — The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery; Or, The Christmas Adventure at Carver House, Hildegard G. Frey
The worst class of people which I have met with, since I left Tripoli, are some of these Arabs, who are the most dogged brazen-faced beggars and spongers, banditti in the open day. — Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846, James Richardson
A third rifle shot, almost as quick as a flash, and a gunner went down, a fourth and a man at a wheel fell, a fifth and the unerring bullet claimed a sponger, a sixth and a Mexican just springing to cover was wounded in the shoulder. — The Texan Scouts: A Story of the Alamo and Goliad, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler

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