• (British) IPA: /ˈsʌk.ə/
• (America) IPA: /ˈsʌk.ɚ/

From Middle English souker, sokere, sukkere, soukere, equivalent to suck + -er.

sucker (plural suckers)

1. A person or animal that sucks, especially a breast or udder; especially a suckling animal, young mammal before it is weaned. [from late 14th century]
2. (horticulture) 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. [from 1570s]
3. (by extension) A parasite; a sponger.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:scrounger

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. (ichthyology) 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. [from 1750s]
12. (US, informal) A lollipop; a piece of candy which is sucked. [from 1820s]
13. (slang, archaic) A hard drinker.

    Synonyms: soaker, suck-pint, Thesaurus:drunkard

14. (American, obsolete) An inhabitant of Illinois.

    Synonyms: Illinoisian

15. (American, 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. (American, slang) A person who is easily deceived, tricked or persuaded to do something; a naive or gullible person. [from 1830s]

    Synonyms: chump, fall guy, fish, fool, gull, mark, mug, patsy, rube, schlemiel, soft touch, Thesaurus:dupe

    One poor sucker had actually given her his life’s savings.

    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

      Then he burst into a stream of horrible profanity. "What's the game?" he cried, glaring round him. "Do you think I am easy and that you can play me for a sucker? Is it a frame-up, or what?

17. (informal) A person irresistibly attracted by something specified.

    I'm a sucker for ghost stories.

    He must be a sucker for punishment to try to climb that mountain barefoot.

    • 2015, Clutch, Sucker for the Witch

      Oh, I begged and I pleaded like a fiend for a fix / I must unburden my guilty conscience / I admit it, I'm a sucker for the witch

18. (obsolete, vulgar, British slang) The penis.

    Synonyms: Thesaurus:penis

• French: suceur, suceuse
• German: Sauger, Saugerin
• Italian: aspiratore, succhiatore
• Portuguese: sugador, chupador
• Russian: сосу́н

• French: ventouse
• German: Sauger
• Italian: pompa, ventosa
• Portuguese: ventosa
• Russian: присо́ска
• Spanish: ventosa

• Italian: polpo, sanguisuga, remora
• Russian: сосу́н

• French: rejeton, rejet
• German: Wurzelschössling, Wurzelbrut, Wurzelspross, Wurzeltrieb

• German: Saugrohr, Absaugrohr

• German: Blutsauger, Saftsauger

• German: Säufer

• French: pigeon
• German: Volltrottel, Naivling, Depp, Blödmann, Dummkopf
• Italian: allocco, capocchio
• Portuguese: otário
• Russian: лох
• Spanish: otario, pringado

sucker (suckers, present participle suckering; simple past and past participle suckered)

1. (horticulture, transitive) To strip the suckers or shoots from; to deprive of suckers.

   to sucker maize

2. (horticulture, intransitive) To produce suckers; to throw up additional stems or shoots.
3. (intransitive) To move or attach oneself by means of suckers.
   • 2017, Elizabeth Hand, Bradford Morrow, Other Aliens:

     He paused at the octopus tank. Clyde, our resident giant Pacific octopus, was suckering his way across the front panel.

   • 2018, TW Neal, Freckled: A Memoir of Growing up Wild in Hawaii:

     I hold the octopus around the middle, suckering and so heavy, trying to crawl down my belly and legs to get away. I run to shore, trying to keep the tentacles off me, but it's too big and strong.

4. (transitive, informal) To fool someone; to take advantage of someone.

   The salesman suckered him into signing an expensive maintenance contract.

5. (transitive, informal, usually, with into) To lure someone.

• French: pigeonner
• Russian: дури́ть

Possibly from German Sache.

sucker (plural suckers)

1. (slang, emphatic) Any thing or object.
   • 1975, Frank Zappa, San Ber'dino:

     She's in love with a boy from the rodeo who pulls the rope on the chute when they let those suckers go.

   • 1984, Runaway (film): scene in a helicopter, around 5 min 20 sec

     RAMSAY: Dave, can you land this sucker?

   See if you can get that sucker working again.
2. (slang, derogatory) A person.

• (thing or object) thing, object

sucker (plural suckers)

1. (US, slang, dated, archaic) A native or denizen of Illinois.