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Imbibe

 - 3 dictionary results

im⋅bibe

  [im-bahyb] verb, -bibed, -bib⋅ing.
Use Imbibe in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to consume (liquids) by drinking; drink: He imbibed great quantities of iced tea.
2. to absorb or soak up, as water, light, or heat: Plants imbibe moisture from the soil.
3. to take or receive into the mind, as knowledge, ideas, or the like: to imbibe a sermon; to imbibe beautiful scenery.
–verb (used without object)
4. to drink, esp. alcoholic beverages: Just a soft drink for me—I don't imbibe.
5. to absorb liquid or moisture.
6. Archaic. to soak or saturate; imbue.
Origin:
1350–1400; < L imbibere to drink in, equiv. to im- im- 1 + bibere to drink; r. ME enbiben < MF embiber < L, as above

Related forms:
im⋅bib⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. swallow. See drink.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Imbibe
im·bibe   (ĭm-bīb')   
v.   im·bibed, im·bib·ing, im·bibes

v.   tr.

  1. To drink.

  2. To absorb or take in as if by drinking: "The whole body . . . imbibes delight through every pore" (Henry David Thoreau).

  3. To receive and absorb into the mind: "Gladstone had . . . imbibed a strong prejudice against Americans" (Philip Magnus).

  4. Obsolete To permeate; saturate.

v.   intr.
To drink alcoholic beverages.

[Middle English embiben, to soak up, saturate, from Latin imbibere, to drink in, imbibe : in-, in; see in-2 + bibere, to drink; see pō(i)- in Indo-European roots.]
im·bib'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

imbibe 
c.1386, from O.Fr. embiber "to soak into," from L. imbibere "absorb, drink in, inhale," from in- "in" + bibere "to drink," related to potare "to drink," from PIE *pi-/*po(i)- "to drink (cf. Skt. pati "drinks," panam "beverage;" Gk. pinein "to drink," potos "a drinking;" O.C.S. piti "to drink"). Figurative sense of "mentally drink in" (knowledge, ideas, etc.) was the main one in classical L., first attested in Eng. 1555.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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