absorp

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

   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.

See all 14 meanings of absorb