absorb

First attested around 1425. From Middle French absorber, from Old French assorbir, from Latin absorbeō (“swallow up”), from ab (“from”) + sorbeō (“suck in, swallow”). Compare French absorber.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əbˈzɔːb/, /əbˈsɔːb/
• (US) IPA^(key): /æbˈsɔɹb/, /æbˈzɔɹb/, /əbˈsɔɹb/, /əbˈzɔɹb/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)b

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. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Cowper:

     Dark oblivion soon absorbs them all.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Washington Irving:

     The large cities absorb the wealth and fashion.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To engulf, as in water; to swallow up. [Attested from the late 15^th century until the late 18^th century.][1]
   • 1879, Thomas Burnet, The Sacred Theory of the Earth:

     to be absorpt, or swallowed up, in a lake of fire and brimstone.

3. (transitive) To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe, like a sponge or as the lacteals of the body; to chemically take in. [First attested in the early 17^th century.][1]
4. (transitive, physics, chemistry) To take in energy and convert it, as[First attested in the early 18^th century.][1]
   1. (transitive, physics) in receiving a physical impact or vibration without recoil.
   2. (transitive, physics) in receiving sound energy without repercussion or echo.
   3. (transitive, physics) taking in radiant energy and converting it to a different form of energy, like heat.

   Heat, light, and electricity are absorbed in the substances into which they pass.

5. (transitive) To engross or engage wholly; to occupy fully[First attested in the late 18^th century.][1]
   • 1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter VIII, in The Son of Tarzan:

     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 as they bent to the body of the creature that had entered them stealthily from the jungle.

   • 1904, Kazimierz Waliszewski, translated by Lady Mary Loyd, Ivan the Terrible Part 2 Chapter 3

     Livonian affairs held him tight, and were to absorb him for many a year.

6. (transitive) To occupy or consume time. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.][1]
7. (transitive) Assimilate mentally. [First attested in the late 19^th century.][1]
8. (transitive, business) To assume or pay for as part of a commercial transaction.
9. (transitive) To defray the costs.
10. (transitive) To accept or purchase in quantity.

• (to include so that it no longer has separate existence): assimilate, engulf, incorporate, swallow up, overwhelm
• (to suck up or drink in): draw, drink in, imbibe, soak up, sop up, suck, suck up, steep, take in, take up
• (to consume completely): use up
• (to occupy fully): engage, engross, immerse, monopolize, occupy
• (finance: to assume or pay for): assume, bear, pay for

to take in

• (physics: to take up by chemical or physical action): emit

• adsorb

• bobars, robabs