ABSORB • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Absorb

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/əbzˈɔrb/ Listen

verb

Absorb v. t. (past & past part. absorbed; pres. part. absorbing)

1.

To swallow up; to engulf; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to use up; to include. "Dark oblivion soon absorbs them all." "The large cities absorb the wealth and fashion."

2.

To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe; as a sponge or as the lacteals of the body.

3.

To engross or engage wholly; to occupy fully; as, absorbed in study or the pursuit of wealth.

4.

To take up by cohesive, chemical, or any molecular action, as when charcoal absorbs gases. So heat, light, and electricity are absorbed or taken up in the substances into which they pass.

Synonyms: To Absorb, Engross, Swallow up, Engulf. These words agree in one general idea, that of completely taking up. They are chiefly used in a figurative sense and may be distinguished by a reference to their etymology. We speak of a person as absorbed (lit., drawn in, swallowed up) in study or some other employment of the highest interest. We speak of a person as ebgrossed (lit., seized upon in the gross, or wholly) by something which occupies his whole time and thoughts, as the acquisition of wealth, or the attainment of honor. We speak of a person (under a stronger image) as swallowed up and lost in that which completely occupies his thoughts and feelings, as in grief at the death of a friend, or in the multiplied cares of life. We speak of a person as engulfed in that which (like a gulf) takes in all his hopes and interests; as, engulfed in misery, ruin, etc. "That grave question which had begun to absorb the Christian mind the marriage of the clergy." "Too long hath love engrossed Britannia's stage, And sunk to softness all our tragic rage." "Should not the sad occasion swallow up My other cares?" "And in destruction's river Engulf and swallow those."

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Etymology of 'Absorb'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Absorb" Quotes from Famous Books

... might forever be denied, when once they beheld her the head and ornament of their house, her elegance and accomplishments joined to the splendour of her fortune, would speedily make them forget the plans which now wholly absorb them. Their sense of honour is in nothing inferior to their sense of high birth; your condescension, therefore, would be felt by them in its fullest force, and though, during their first surprize, they might be irritated ...

— Cecilia vol. 2 - Memoirs of an Heiress • Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)

... civilization rather than ours? The study of any one civilization is so complex, it demands so many preliminary and subordinate studies—linguistic, institutional, economic, psychological—that it is likely to absorb all one's energies. The greatest historians have generally confined themselves to the study of a single civilization, and the great Greek historians—Herodotus, Thucydides, and Polybius—concentrated on their ...

— The Legacy of Greece • Various

... It has become almost a new town during the past three years. Formerly a headquarters of pleasure, a fishing centre and a principal port of call for Anglo-Continental travel, it has been transformed into an important military base. It is now wholly of the war; the armies absorb everything that it transfers from sea to railway, from human fuel for war's blast-furnace to the fish caught outside the harbour. The multitude of visitors from across the Channel is larger than ever; but instead of Paris, ...

— Cavalry of the Clouds • Alan Bott

... Miss Cynthia, but she certainly hadn't expected to meet the pretty, pink-cheeked old lady to whom Mrs. Marshall presented her. She was the smallest, most delicate of creatures, with snowy hair and bright blue eyes, which in darting glances seemed to absorb in minutest detail the person to ...

— Glenloch Girls • Grace M. Remick

... body of the eye, but protection to the interior and more delicate parts. The choroid coat seems to be chiefly composed of a tissue of nerves and minute blood-vessels; the latter give nourishment to the different parts of the eye. One of the uses of this coat is, to absorb the rays of light immediately after they have passed through the retina. This is effected by the black pigment that lines its inner surface. Were it not for this provision, light would be too intense, ...

— A Treatise on Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene (Revised Edition) • Calvin Cutter

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