absorb

1. (transitive) To include so that it no longer has separate existence; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to incorporate; to assimilate; to take in and use up.Examples: "Dark oblivion soon absorbs them all."; "In some countries, the large cities absorb the wealth and fashion of the nation; they are the only fixed abodes of elegant and intelligent society, and the country is inhabited almost entirely by boorish peasantry."; "As a microbullet impacts the graphene, the diameter of the cone it creates – determined by later examination of the petals – provides a way to measure how much energy the graphene absorbs before breaking."Synonyms: assimilate, engulf, incorporate, swallow up, overwhelmtransitive

2. (transitive, obsolete) To engulf, as in water; to swallow up.Examples: "to be absorpt, or swallowed up, in a lake of fire and brimstone."obsoletetransitive

3. (transitive) To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe, like a sponge or as the lacteals of the body; to chemically take in.Synonyms: draw, drink in, imbibe, soak up, sop up, suck, suck up, steeptransitive

4. (intransitive) To be absorbed, or sucked in; to sink in.Examples: "The drops of water slowly absorbed into the dry sponge."intransitive

5. (transitive, physics, chemistry) To take in energy and convert it.Examples: "Heat, light, and electricity are absorbed in the substances into which they pass."transitive

6. (transitive, physics, chemistry) To take in energy and convert it.transitive