ab·sorbed

[ab-sawrbd, -zawrbd]

Origin:
1755–65; absorb + -ed2

ab·sorb·ed·ly [ab-sawr-bid-lee, -zawr-] , adverb
ab·sorb·ed·ness, noun
un·ab·sorbed, adjective
well-ab·sorbed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged

ab·sorb

[ab-sawrb, -zawrb]
verb (used with object)
1.
to suck up or drink in (a liquid); soak up: A sponge absorbs water.
2.
to swallow up the identity or individuality of; incorporate: The empire absorbed many small nations.
3.
to involve the full attention of; to engross or engage wholly: so absorbed in a book that he did not hear the bell.
4.
to occupy or fill: This job absorbs all of my time.
5.
to take up or receive by chemical or molecular action: Carbonic acid is formed when water absorbs carbon dioxide.
6.
to take in without echo, recoil, or reflection: to absorb sound and light; to absorb shock.
7.
to take in and utilize: The market absorbed all the computers we could build. Can your brain absorb all this information?
8.
to pay for (costs, taxes, etc.): The company will absorb all the research costs.
9.
Archaic. to swallow up.

Origin:
1480–90; < Latin absorbēre, equivalent to ab- ab- + sorbēre to suck in, swallow

ab·sorb·a·ble, adjective
ab·sorb·a·bil·i·ty, noun
non·ab·sorb·a·bil·i·ty, noun
non·ab·sorb·a·ble, adjective
o·ver·ab·sorb, verb (used with object)
pre·ab·sorb, verb
re·ab·sorb, verb (used with object)
un·ab·sorb·a·ble, adjective

absorb, adsorb.


2. assimilate, consume, devour, engulf; destroy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To absorbed
00:10
Absorbed is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
Collins
World English Dictionary
absorb (əbˈsɔːb, -ˈzɔːb) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb
1.  to soak or suck up (liquids)
2.  to engage or occupy (the interest, attention, or time) of (someone); engross
3.  to receive or take in (the energy of an impact)
4.  physics to take in (all or part of incident radiated energy) and retain the part that is not reflected or transmitted
5.  to take in or assimilate; incorporate
6.  to accept and find a market for (goods, etc)
7.  to pay for as part of a commercial transaction: the distributor absorbed the cost of transport
8.  chem Compare adsorb to cause to undergo a process in which one substance, usually a liquid or gas, permeates into or is dissolved by a liquid or solid: porous solids absorb water; hydrochloric acid absorbs carbon dioxide
 
[C15: via Old French from Latin absorbēre to suck, swallow, from ab-1 + sorbēre to suck]
 
absorba'bility
 
n
 
ab'sorbable
 
adj

absorbed (əbˈsɔːbd, -ˈzɔːbd) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
engrossed; deeply interested
 
absorbedly
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

absorb
late 15c., from M.Fr. absorber (O.Fr. assorbir), from L. absorbere "to swallow up," from ab- "from" + sorbere "suck in," from PIE base *srebh- "to suck, absorb" (cf. Armenian arbi "I drank," Gk. rhopheo "to sup greedily up, gulp down," Lith. srebiu "to drink greedily"). Figurative meaning "to completely
grip (one's) attention" is from 1753.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

absorb ab·sorb (əb-sôrb', -zôrb')
v. ab·sorbed, ab·sorb·ing, ab·sorbs

  1. To take in by absorption.

  2. To reduce the intensity of transmitted light.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
Pour the hot syrup over baked pudding until it is completely absorbed.
If you choose the color of light and the substance sensibly, you can arrange
  things so that all the light is absorbed.
But higher labour and equipment costs absorbed much of the increase.
Much of the richness of life is absorbed through the ear.
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