suck

Etymology

From Middle English souken, suken, from Old English sūcan (“to suck”), from Proto-Germanic *sūkaną, *sūganą (“to suck, suckle”), from Proto-Indo-European *seug-, *sug-, *suk-. Cognate with Scots souke (“to suck”), obsolete Dutch zuiken (“to suck”). Akin also to Old English sūgan (“to suck”), West Frisian sûge, sûgje (“to suck”), Dutch zuigen (“to suck”), German saugen (“to suck”), Swedish suga (“to suck”), Icelandic sjúga (“to suck”), Latin sugō (“suck”), Welsh sugno (“suck”). Related to soak.

Pronunciation

• (US), (UK) enPR: sŭk, IPA^(key): /sʌk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌk
• (some Northern English accents) enPR: so͝ok, IPA^(key): /sʊk/
• Rhymes: -ʊk
• Hyphenation: suck

Noun

suck (plural sucks)

1. An instance of drawing something into one's mouth by inhaling.
   • 2001, D. Martin Doney, Prayer Capsule: A Book of Honesty, page 261

     Bammer agreed “Probably a good idea,” he agreed with a quick suck on his straw, “won't stop you from picking up any of these chicks, though.”

2. (vulgar) Fellatio of a penis.
   • 2012, Alex Carreras, Cruising with Destiny, page 12

     Nate exhaled a long, slow breath. What the hell was he thinking? He couldn't cruise the steam room looking for married men looking for a quick suck. He needed to shoot his load, but was he really that desperate?

3. (Canada) A weak, self-pitying person; a person who won't go along, especially out of spite; a crybaby or sore loser.
   • 1999, Hiromi Goto, “Drift”, in Ms., v 9, n 3, p 82–6:

     “Why're you bothering to take her anywhere? I can't stand traveling with her. You're such a suck,” her sister said. Waved her smoke. “No fucking way I'm going.”

   • 2008, Beth Hitchcock, “Parenting Pair”, in Today's Parent, v 25, n 5, p 64:

     I used to think she was such a suck! She'd cry when I took to the ice, whether I skated well or badly. She'd cry when I left the house.

4. A sycophant, especially a child.
   • 1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Macmillan Press, p 23:

     You are McGlade's suck.

Verb

suck (third-person singular simple present sucks, present participle sucking, simple past and past participle sucked)

1. (transitive) To use the mouth and lips to pull in (a liquid, especially milk from the breast). [from 9th c.]
2. (intransitive) To perform such an action; to feed from a breast or teat. [from 11th c.]
3. (transitive) To put the mouth or lips to (a breast, a mother etc.) to draw in milk. [from 11th c.]
4. (transitive) To extract, draw in (a substance) from or out of something. [from 14th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.i:

     That she may sucke their life, and drinke their blood, / With which she from her childhood had bene fed.

5. (transitive) To work the lips and tongue on (an object) to extract moisture or nourishment; to absorb (something) in the mouth. [from 14th c.]
6. (transitive) To pull (something) in a given direction, especially without direct contact. [from 17th c.]
7. (transitive, slang, vulgar) To perform fellatio. [from 20th c.]
8. (chiefly US, intransitive, slang) To be inferior or objectionable: a general term of disparagement, sometimes used with at to indicate a particular area of deficiency. [from 20th c.]
   • 1970, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in America, Simon and Schuster, p. 251:

     . . . and it has a few very high points . . . but as a novel, it sucks

Anagrams

• cusk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɵk/
• Hyphenation: suck

Noun

suck c

1. sigh; a deep and prolonged audible inspiration or respiration