Definition of "absorb"

absorb

/əbˈzɔːb/

verb
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.
  Quotations
  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. S. Van Winkle, […], page 124
  Wages absorbed 80% of the total revenue (which was inescapable), and they were rising at almost twice the rate of fares, which were pegged by law.
  2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51
2. (transitive, obsolete) To engulf, as in water; to swallow up.
  Quotations
  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.
4. (intransitive) To be absorbed, or sucked in; to sink in.
5. (transitive, physics, chemistry) To take in energy and convert it.
  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.
6. (transitive) To engross or engage wholly; to occupy fully.
  Quotations
  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.
  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, 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
7. (transitive) To occupy or consume time.
8. (transitive) To assimilate mentally.
9. (transitive, business) To assume or pay for as part of a commercial transaction.
  Quotations
  Among the most debatable is the contention that the profit margins of small employers are insufficient to absorb the costs of health insurance
  2006, Gunnar Almgren, Health Care Politics, Policy, and Services: A Social Justice Analysis
10. (transitive) To defray the costs.
11. (transitive) To accept or purchase in quantity.

Definition of "absorb"

absorb

verb

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