Webster's English Dictionary

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absorb

ab.sorb \*b-'so.(*)rb, -'zo.(*)rb\ \*b-.so.r-b*-'bil-*t-e-, -.zo.r-\ 
   \*b-'so.r-b*-b*l, -'zo.r-\ vt [MF absorber, fr. L absorbe-re, fr. ab- + 
   sorbe-reX to suck up; akin to Gk rhophein to suck up 1: ASSIMILATE, 
   INCORPORATE  2: to suck or take up or in {a sponge ~s water}  3: to engage 
   or engross wholly {~ed in thought}  4: to receive without recoil, echo, or 
   other effect {a sound-absorbXing surface} 5: to take over (a cost) in so as 
   to become imbued with it. ABSORB may connote a loss of identity in what is 
   taken in or an enrichment of what takes in; IMBIBE implies a drinking in 
   with noticeable or profound effect; ASSIMILATE stresses an incorporation 
   into the substance of the body or mind - ab.sorb.abil.i.ty n SYN syn 
   ABSORB, IMBIBE, ASSIMILATE mean to take something