imbibe
/ɪmˈbaɪb/ verb
Forms imbibes imbibing imbibed
- verb To drink (used frequently of alcoholic beverages).
- verb (figuratively) To take in; absorb. “to imbibe knowledge”
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To steep; to cause to absorb liquid.
Synonyms
absorb suck soak up sop up suck up draw take in take up assimilate drink
Etymology
From Middle English imbiben, from Latin imbibō, from im- + bibō (“to drink”) (whence also beverage), from Proto-Italic *pibō, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₃-, whence also potable, potion.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To drink in; to absorb; to suck or take in; to receive as by drinking; as, a person imbibes drink, or a sponge imbibes moisture.
- verb To receive or absorb into the mind and retain; as, to imbibe principles; to imbibe errors.
Etymology [L. imbibere; pref. im- in + bibere to drink: cf. F. imbiber. Cf. Bib, Imbue, Potable.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “imbibe”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details