Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Absorb

Absorb ({not transcribed}) , transitive verb

[Latin absorbere; ab + sorbere to suck in, akin to Greek {not transcribed}: compare French absorber.]

1.
To swallow up; to engulf; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to use up; to include.
Dark oblivion soon absorbs them all. — Cowper
The large cities absorb the wealth and fashion. — W. Irving
2.
To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe; as a sponge or as the lacteals of the body. — Bacon
3.
To engross or engage wholly; to occupy fully; as, absorbed in study or the pursuit of wealth.
4.
To take up by cohesive, chemical, or any molecular action, as when charcoal absorbs gases. So heat, light, and electricity are absorbed or taken up in the substances into which they pass. — Nichol
That grave question which had begun to absorb the Christian mind -- the marriage of the clergy. — Milman
Too long hath love engrossed Britannia's stage, And sunk to softness all our tragic rage. — Tickell
Should not the sad occasion swallow up My other cares? — Addison
And in destruction's river Engulf and swallow those. — Sir P. Sidney