- ab|sorb´er
- ab|sorb «ab SRB, -ZRB», transitive verb.1. to take in or suck up (a liquid or gas); soak or blot up: »
The sponge absorbed the spilled milk. Water can absorb ammonia.
2. to take in and make a part of itself; assimilate: »The United States has absorbed millions of immigrants.
3. to take in and hold rather than reflect: »Rugs absorb sounds and make a house quieter. Anything black absorbs most of the light rays that fall on it.
4. Figurative. to take up all the attention of; interest very much: »Building a dam in the brook absorbed the boy so completely that he did not hear us call him to lunch.
SYNONYM(S): engross.6. to take in and endure; sustain: »The boxer absorbed the punches without buckling under the assault. North Vietnam could absorb considerable punishment…without any decisive economic effect (New York Times).
7. to accept and pay (an increased cost, tax, or the like) without adding it to the price of a product or services: »The manufacturer absorbed the increase in overhead and did not raise his prices.
8. Biology. to take (digested food, oxygen, or the like) into the bloodstream by osmosis: »Digested food is absorbed into the bloodstream in the intestines.
╂[< Latin absorbēre swallow up < ab- from + sorbēre suck in]–ab|sorb´er, noun.Synonym Study 2 Absorb, assimilate mean to take something in, both literally and as used figuratively with reference to ideas. Absorb means to swallow up a thing so that it loses its individual character or disappears: »Large companies sometimes absorb smaller ones.
Assimilate adds to absorb the idea of converting what is absorbed into an essential part of what has taken it in: »A person who reads intelligently assimilates what he reads by making it a part of his own thoughts and thinking.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
