imbibe, v.
(ɪmˈbaɪb)
Also 4 enbibe, 5 embybe, 6 enbybe, embibe.
[Partly a. F. imbiber to soak or penetrate with moisture, refl. to be soaked or penetrated with moisture, to soak into, later (esp. in pa. pple.) to imbue, in 18th c. to drink in, imbibe; partly ad. L. imbibĕre in cl. L., to conceive or imbibe (opinions, etc.), later in lit. sense, to drink in, inhale, f. im- (im-1) + bibĕre to drink.
The F. imbiber was app. formed from L. as an active verb to correspond to the pa. pple. imbu (prob. ad. L. imbūtus), and as such took to itself the meanings of L. imbuĕre, which the Eng. verb adopted together with those of L. imbibĕre. The early forms in Eng. suggest a French origin, though imbiber is not recorded before 16th c.]
I. † 1. trans. To cause to absorb moisture or liquid; to soak, imbue, or saturate with moisture; to steep. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 261 And oure matires enbibyng [Corpus enbykynge, Petw. enbykinge] And eek of oure matires encorporyng And of oure siluer citrinacion. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. iv. 96 Towe of flaxe that wel embybed were with oyle. a 1529 Skelton Agst. the Scottes 79 Unto your Grace for grace now I call To gyde my pen, and my pen to enbybe. 1558 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. i. i. (1580) 2 b, When it is almoste waxen drie, embibe or water it again. 1686 W. Harris tr. Lemery's Chym. (ed. 3) 31 That portion of the water wherewith the earth was imbibed. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 426 Imbibe that powder with strong white vinegar. 1804 Captive of Valence I. 144 Could a minister..have the wickedness to imbibe with slow poison that bread which, at his voice, was to become the body of his Divine master? |
† b. fig. To imbue. Cf. F. imbiber (see etymol.).
| 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 163 This question is friuolous..and breedeth but contention to imbibe Merchants braines with them. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 263 In regard to Fruits..we may imbibe them..with a Medicinal, Purgative Power. |
† c. With inverted construction: To instil into.
| 1746 W. Horsley Fool xxvii. ¶4 Until such villainous Principles are thoroughly imbibed into us by the Enemies of our Peace. 1812 J. J. Henry Camp. agst. Quebec 6 He wished to imbibe into the minds of his children a taste for mechanics. |
II. 2. trans. To ‘drink in’, absorb, or assimilate (knowledge, ideas, etc.); to take into one's mind or moral system.
| 1555 Eden Decades To Rdr. (Arb.) 57 They may also herewith imbibe trewe religion. 1652 Evelyn State France (R.), After the facile and more smooth languages are once thoroughly imbibed. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xiii. (1695) 90 Those confused Notions are Prejudices it [the Mind] has imbibed from Custom, Inadvertency, and Common Conversation. 1746 Hervey Medit. (1818) 65 Imbibe the precious truths. 1858 Holland Titcomb's Lett. vi. 139 Young women are apt to imbibe another bad habit, namely, the use of slang. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §5. 507 Charles..had imbibed his father's hatred of the Presbyterian system. |
3. Of a person or animal: To drink in, drink (liquid); to inhale (the air, tobacco smoke).
| 1621 Venner Tobacco in Baths of Bathe (1650) 402 They that..for every light occasion imbibe or take down this fume. a 1791 Blacklock Ps. i. (R.), The wild horse..Imbibes the silver surge, with heat opprest, To cool the fever of his glowing breast. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xvi, Oliver..raised it to his head with a trembling hand, imbibed the contents with lips which quivered with emotion. 1859 Lang Wand. India 397 The mess-room, where more cheroots were smoked, and more weak brandy-and-water imbibed. 1874 Helps Soc. Press. ii. 16 The population imbibe fresh air. |
4. Of a thing: To suck up, drink in, absorb (moisture). Also absol.
| 1641 French Distill. i. (1651) 33 Let this Salt imbibe as much of the Oil..as it can. 1667 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. (ed. 2) 339 A Plant that grows by some petrifying Spring by Imbibing that water is at length turn'd into a Stone. 1781 Cowper Friendship 184 So barren sands imbibe the shower. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 239 The roots imbibe fluids from the soil by capillary attraction. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xxxi. 412 Water..will be partly imbibed by the adjacent porous ice. |
5. To take up, absorb, or assimilate (a gas, rays of heat or light, etc.); to take (solid substances) into solution or suspension.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §290 The Aire doth willingly imbibe the Sound as gratefull, but cannot maintaine it. 1631 E. Jorden Nat. Bathes ii. 8 Earth may be confused with water, but not imbibed, and will sink to the bottom again. 1725 Pope Odyss. vi. 111 While the robes imbibe the solar ray. 1744 Berkeley Siris §122 Such salts are readily imbibed by water. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 434 When volatile oils are exposed to the open air..they imbibe oxygen with rapidity. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 142 Having incorporated the mixture well, add of Frankfort black as much as it will imbibe. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xv. (1849) 132 The heat of the sun's rays which the earth imbibes. |
† 6. transf. and fig. To absorb, swallow up. Obs.
| 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 261 So as it may appear that the one does wholly imbibe the other. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. 771 No One Magnitude, can be Imbibed or Swallowed up into another. 1712 Swift Poems, Midas 77 The torrent merciless imbibes Commissions, perquisites, and bribes. |
Hence imˈbibed ppl. a., † absorbed; imˈbibing vbl. n., † steeping, saturation. † imˈbibement Obs. rare, imbibing, imbibition. imˈbiber, one who or that which imbibes or drinks; † an absorber.
| 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xiv. i. (1886) 294 Termes of art; as (for a tast) their subliming, amalgaming, engluting, imbibing, incorporating. 1592 Lyly Galathea ii. iii, Our [alchemists'] instruments..decensores, Violes, manuall and murall, for enbibing and conbibing. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 60 The imbibing or steeping of Corn, or any other Seeds in rich Wines. 1684 Boyle Porousn. Anim. & Solid Bod. vi. 96 Evaporation of the imbibed Particles of water. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5) s.v., The Imbibement of Principles, the sucking or drinking in of Principles in our Infancy. a 1735 Arbuthnot (J.), Salts are strong imbibers of sulphureous streams. 1870 Even. Standard 17 Sept., The imbiber of absinthe. |