engross

engross, v.
  (ɛnˈgrəʊs)
  Forms: α. 4 engrosy, 5–7 engrose, 6–7 engrosse, 5 engroce, 5– engross. β. 5–8 ingrosse, 5–7 ingrose, (5 ingroos), 5–6 ingroce.
  [Three distinct formations, from elements ultimately identical. (1) In senses 1–2 a. AF. engrosse-r (med.L. ingrossāre) to write in large letters, f. grosse = med.L. grossa large writing, a transcript in large letters (fem. of grossus large, thick: see gross a.). (2) In senses 3–7 f. phrase in gross, Fr. en gros = ‘in the lump, by wholesale’. AF. engrosser and Anglo-Lat. ingrossare in sense 3 are found in the Statutes. (3) In senses 8–11 a. Fr. engrosser to make big, thick, or gross, corresp. to Pr. engrossar, Sp. engrosar, It. ingrossare:—late L. ingrossāre, f. in- (see in-) + gross-us stout, thick, gross.]
  I. To write in large.
  1. trans. To write in large letters; chiefly, and now almost exclusively, to write in a peculiar character appropriate to legal documents; hence, to write out or express in legal form. Also absol.

α [1304 Year-bks. 32–33 Edw. I, 315 Quant une fin est engrossé em ne resortira james a bref ne a note chalanger.] c 1430 Lydg. Story Thebes 2098 Engrosed vp..And enrolled only for witnesse In ȝoure regestres. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 379 The actes of the yelde..shullen be enacted and engrossed in a quayer of parchemyn. 1557 Ord. Hospitalls F vij, The whole accompt..yow shall engrosse and write faire into a Booke. 1591 Wills & Inv. N.C. (1860) II. 199 For engrossing his will, twice unto paipar, after unto parchment. 1595 Spenser Col. Clout 636 Her name..I will..in the ground..engrosse, And fill with stones. 1632 Star Chamb. Cases (1886) 164 Bampton and his wife brought their answere readie drawen to him and desired him to engrosse it. 1664–5 Pepys Diary II. 337 The story of the several Archbishops of Canterbury, engrossed in vellum. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 18 A clerc..Who pens a Stanza when he should engross. 1818 Cruise Digest v. 79 The fine being engrossed and completed as a fine of Michaelmas term. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxiv, The Clerk of Court, proceeded to engross in the record the yet unknown verdict. 1860 Forster Gr. Remonstr. 213 That the Declaration should be duly engrossed, and again brought in..the next day.

β 1564 W. Bullein Dial. agst. Feuer Pest (1888) 21 Wee haue drawen and ingrossed his bookes. 1587 Harrison England ii. viii. (1877) i. 176 They will haue the bille ingrossed, that is to saie, put in parchment. 1600 Holland Livy iv. 147 This was openly ingrossed in publicke Tables. 1640–4 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 350 The Charge ingrossed against Inigo Jones upon the Complaint of the Parishioners of St. Gregories. 1660 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. vi. 25 The Bill, upon reading the amendments, was ordered to be ingrossed. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §314 Instructions..fairly ingrossed.

  † b. Hence, to put into regular shape; to arrange (a matter). Obs.

1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. xxxiv, To call his lordes..And his lyeges to assemble yfere Fynally to engroce this mattere. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 2467 Yet, let us se thys matter thorowly ingrosed.

  † c. To name in a formal document, to write the name of; hence, to include in a list. Obs.

1589 Nashe in Greene Menaphon (Arb.) Introd. 6 Mongst this kinde of men..I can but ingrosse some deepe read Grammarians. 1605 Answ. Supposed Discov. Romish Doctr. 2 Engrossing him in the Catalogue of censured, excommunicate and denounced Hereticks. 1621 Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 36 T'ingross their names within his Register. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 2 They stand aloof from the knowledge of most of the particulars therein to be ingrost.

  † 2. transf. To portray in large. Obs. rare^—1.

1538 Leland Itin. VI. 3 An High Tumbe of Marble, but no Image engrossid on it.

  II. To deal with ‘in the gross’.
  † 3. To buy up wholesale; esp. to buy up the whole stock, or as much as possible, of (a commodity) for the purpose of ‘regrating’ or retailing it at a monopoly price. Obs. exc. Hist.

a 1400 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 353 No regratour ne go owt of town for to engrosy þe chaffare. 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (1857) 9 Their nobilitie..use to engrosse it. 1622 E. Misselden Free Trade 71 Some one or few..doe ioine together to engrosse and buy in a Commodity. a 1640 Day Parl. Bees (1881) 73 Fucus, you That engrost our Hony deaw, Bought wax and honey up by th' great. 1647 May Hist. Parl. i. ii. 17 Disarming the people by engrossing of Gunpowder..and setting so high a rate upon it. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. viii. 35 One man was fined and set in the pillory for engrossing corn. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 379 Edicts..against engrossing the market.

β 1548 Cranmer Catech. 77 Forstallyng, regratyng..ingrossing of marchaundise. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 123 Salt..they by authoritie did ingrosse for the king. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 262 You have so ingrossed and bought up all the ammunition of Railing.

  † b. with reference to land. Obs.

1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade 172 The false..notion..induces them to Engross great Tracts of Land. 1728 Swift Answ. Memorial, Grasiers..were ready to ingross great quantities of land. 1767 A. Young Farm. Lett. to People 53 Complaints are every where made of engrossing farms.

  4. transf. and fig. † a. To get together, collect from all quarters; also to engross up (obs.). b. To gain or keep exclusive possession of; to concentrate (property, trade, privileges, functions) in one's own possession (often with the notion of unfairness or injury to others); to ‘monopolize’.

α 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 148 Percy is but my Factor..To engrosse vp glorious Deedes on my behalfe. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. iv. ii. 16 An' you engrosse 'hem all for your owne use. 1628 Ford Lover's Mel. ii. i, You, Aretus, and I engross..The affairs of government. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §5 (1656) With my friend I desire not to share or participate, but to engrosse his sorrowes. 1694 Dr. Slare in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 218 He..engrossed all the Pyrites or Copperas-stone to himself. a 1740 Tickell To Addison on Cato (R.), Too long hath love engross'd Britannia's stage. 1781 J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. iii. 34 The men being allowed to engross as many women as they can maintain. 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. vi. 243 In most actual societies the sovereign powers are engrossed by a single member of the whole. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. iv. 212 Seeing a single person engross the conversation.

β 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 203, I haue..ingross'd opportunities to meete her. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. iii. vii. 37 Your Marriners are Militers, Reapers, people Ingrost by swift Impresse. 1641 Wilkins Math. Magick i. xi. (1648) 75 Abundance of wealth..was then ingrossed in the possession of some few particular persons. 1645 Milton Tetrach. (1851) 153 Som..would ingrosse to themselves the whole trade of interpreting. 1691–8 Norris Pract. Disc. IV. 310 Alms-giving..is so eminent a part of Charity that it has in a Manner ingross'd the Name of it. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 457 Our rulers ought not to allow..the Mushohge to ingross this vast forest. 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. 309 Grasping at an opportunity to ingross this trade to themselves.

  † c. nonce-use. To attribute exclusively to.

1641 Vind. Smectymnuus §7. 95 A power of remitting sinnes, which we hope he will not ingrosse to Bishops excluding Presbyters.

  5. Of things: To require the entire use of, take altogether to itself; to occupy entirely, absorb.

1602 Warner Alb. Eng. xii. lxxiii. (1612) 304 Skarlet Hats, Stoles, and Coules too much ingrost the sport. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vii. i. §21 Norfolke Rebellion, as nearer London, engrossed all warlike provisions. 1768 Beattie Minstr. ii. (R.) Pondering on former days by guilt engross'd. 1804 Colebrooke Husb. & Comm. Bengal (1806) 154 From this country [India]..Europe was antiently supplied with it [indigo] until the produce of America engrossed the market. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 527 Potatoes engross the whole manure of the little farmers. 1874 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxxx. 8 The old trees, which long had engrossed the soil.

  b. Of an object of thought or feeling: To draw entirely to itself, occupy exclusively, absorb (the affections, attention, mind, time, etc.).

α 1665 Glanvill Sceps. Sci. viii. 46 Philosophy would not have engrossed our pen. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 119 If man alone engross not Heaven's high care. 1746–7 Collins Poems (1796) 112 They, whose sight such dreary dreams engross. 1769 Junius Lett. xi. 44 A measure so singularly daring that it..engrosses all our resentment. 1781 Cowper Let. 2 Apr., My morning is engrossed by the garden. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 4 Letting the generation we live in engross nearly all our admiration. 1868 E. Edwards Raleigh I. iii. 45 The captain obtained his audience, and engrossed the watchfulness of the retainers.

β 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iii. i. (1675) 147 Without leaving behind them any thing that can..entertain our Sight in the very place, where before they Ingross'd it. 1742 Richardson Pamela IV. 148 This will so ingross the dear Lady's Pen. 1777 Watson Philip II (1793) I. ix. ii. 368 The attention of the French king was ingrossed.

  6. To absorb or engage the whole attention or all the faculties of.

1709 Steele Tatler No. 50. ¶1 Orlando believed himself..not to be engross'd by any particular Affection. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. (1874) II. 135 The degree in which self-love engrosses us. 1814 Jane Austen Lady Susan xx. (1879) 247 The folly of the young man and the confusion of Frederica entirely engrossed him. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxii. 219 Marsumah and Meteh had been engrossed with their bird-catching. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton viii. 118 He was entirely engrossed in attending to her wants.

  ¶ 7. In certain strained fig. uses, app. derived from 3: † a. To include altogether (obs. rare^—1; suggested by the rime). † b. In 17th c.: To get hold of (an idea); to conceive (a sentiment) (obs.).

c 1460 Towneley Myst. 170 Almyghty God in persons thre, Alle in oone substance ay ingroost. 1632 Heywood Iron Age ii. v. Wks. 1874 III. 429 Proiects..for which I haue ingrost a mortall enuy here. 1633 Ford Broken H. iii. iii, Thou hast there engross'd Some rarity of wit to grace the nuptials Of thy fair sister. a 1643 W. Cartwright To King on Return fr. Scotl. (R.), Your prolong'd delay..made our jealousy engross New feares.

  III. To render gross, dense, or bulky.
  † 8. To render (fluids) gross or dense; to condense (vapours). Also intr. for refl. Obs.

1561 Eden Art. Nauig. ii. xix. 51 Rayne is made or engendred of moyste vapours which..are ingroced. 1582 J. Hester Secr. Phiorav. i. xl. 49 The liuer..not beyng able to disgest them [crude humours]..they ingrose and become maligne. 1586 Cogan Haven Health cxli. (1636) 271 Vapours and fumes..being ingrossed by coldnesse of the braine, distil to the lower parts. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 46 The waves thereof..were Engrost with mud.

  9. † a. To make (the body) gross or fat; to fatten (obs.). b. To make (the mind) gross or dull (arch.); formerly also intr. for refl.

1587 Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 142 They [the Scotch]..so ingrosse their bodies. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 76. 1626 T. H. Caussin's Holy Crt. 120 It happeneth to soules, which are great louers of sensuall pleasures, to engrosse, thicken themselues. a 1628 F. Greville Humane Learn. liii, Poems (1633) 33 Engrosse the minde. 1826 E. Irving Babylon II. vi. 89 They were in the last stage of the heart's ossification, their faculties engrossed and imbruted.

  † 10. trans. To make thick or bulky; to increase in size. Obs.

c 1611 Chapman Iliad xviii. 640 Fire, invading city roofs, is suddenly engrost And made a wondrous mighty flame. 1624 Wotton Archit. (1672) 27 Though Pillars by channelling, be seemingly ingrossed to our Sight. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 47 Materials of weight, as Sauder, wherewith an unconscionable Plummer can ingrosse his Bill.

  † 11. Mil. [Cf. It. ingrossare in same senses.] To increase the numerical strength of (an army); also, to draw up (a battalion) in a compact body.

1526 St. Papers, Hen. VIII, VI. 376 Our armye was ingrocyd by the newe comyng of thies lanceknightes. 1581 Styward Mart. Discip. i. 26 The companies being thus doubled & the battailes ingrosed..euerie ensigne maie seeke out his owne band. Ibid. i. 27 Then doubling y⊇ ranks of these hargubuseirs..they must bee ingrossed. 1650 Howell Giraffi's Rev. Naples 53 They went on in ingrossing the militia. 1654 Earl of Monmouth tr. Bentivoglio's Warrs Flanders 202 His Camp was not then very great, but he hoped to have it speedily ingrost by some Germans.

Oxford English Dictionary