absorb

Verb

absorb (third-person singular simple present absorbs, present participle absorbing, simple past and past participle absorbed or (archaic) absorpt)

1. (transitive) To include so that it no longer has separate existence; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to incorporate; to assimilate; to take in and use up.
   • Dark oblivion soon absorbs them all.1782, William Cowper, On Observing some Names of Little Note
   • In some countries, the large cities absorb the wealth and fashion of the nation; they are the only fixed abodes of elegant and intelligent society, and the country is inhabited almost entirely by boorish peasantry.1819 July 31, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Rural Life in England”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number II, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […]...

   Synonyms:

   assimilate, engulf, incorporate, swallow up, overwhelm

2. (obsolete, transitive) To engulf, as in water; to swallow up.
   • to be absorpt, or swallowed up, in a lake of fire and brimstone.1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, The Sacred Theory of the Earth
3. (transitive) To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe, like a sponge or as the lacteals of the body; to chemically take in.

   Synonyms:

   draw, drink in, imbibe, soak up, sop up, suck, suck up, steep, take in, take up

4. (intransitive) To be absorbed, or sucked in; to sink in.
   • The drops of water slowly absorbed into the dry sponge.
5. (transitive) To take in energy and convert it.
   • Heat, light, and electricity are absorbed in the substances into which they pass.
   1. (transitive) in receiving a physical impact or vibration without recoil.
   2. (transitive) in receiving sound energy without repercussion or echo.
   3. (transitive) taking in radiant energy and converting it to a different form of energy, like heat.
6. (transitive) To engross or engage wholly; to occupy fully.
   • Geeka was cooking dinner. As the little girl played she prattled continuously to her companion, propped in a sitting position with a couple of twigs. She was totally absorbed in the domestic duties of Geeka – so much so that she did not note the gentle swaying of the branches of the tree above her...1915 December 4 – 1916 January 8, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter VIII, in The Son of Tarzan, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published March 1917, →OCLC, page 103
   • Livonian affairs held him tight, and were to absorb him for many a year.1904, Kazimierz Waliszewski, translated by Lady Mary Loyd, Ivan the Terrible, Part 2 Chapter 3

   Synonyms:

   engage, engross, immerse, monopolize, occupy

7. (transitive) To occupy or consume time.

   Synonyms:

   use up

8. (transitive) To assimilate mentally.
   • If we fail to absorb the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them.
9. (transitive) To assume or pay for as part of a commercial transaction.
   • Among the most debatable is the contention that the profit margins of small employers are insufficient to absorb the costs of health insurance2006, Gunnar Almgren, Health Care Politics, Policy, and Services: A Social Justice Analysis

   Synonyms:

   assume

10. (transitive) To defray the costs.
    • I’ll absorb the charge for the window replacement.

    Synonyms:

    eat

11. (transitive) To accept or purchase in quantity.