To take (something) in through or as through pores or interstices.
To occupy the full attention, interest, or time of; engross. See Synonyms at monopolize.
To retain (radiation or sound, for example) wholly, without reflection or transmission.
To take in; assimilate: immigrants who were absorbed into the social mainstream.
To learn; acquire: "Matisse absorbed the lesson and added to it a new language of color"(Peter Plagen).
To receive (an impulse) without echo or recoil: a fabric that absorbs sound; a bumper that absorbs impact.
To assume or pay for (a cost or costs).
To endure; accommodate: couldn't absorb the additional hardships.
To use up; consume: The project has absorbed all of our department's resources.
[Middle English, to swallow up, from Old French absorber, from Latin absorbēre : ab-, away; see ab-1 + sorbēre, to suck.] ab·sorb'a·bil'i·ty n., ab·sorb'a·ble adj., ab·sorb'ed·ly adv., ab·sorb'er n., ab·sorb'ing·ly adv.
[ab-sawr-ber, -zawr-] 
bər