absorber
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ab·sorb
(əb-zôrb′, -sôrb′)tr.v. ab·sorbed, ab·sorb·ing, ab·sorbs
1. To take (something) in through or as through pores or interstices.
2.
a. To occupy the attention, interest, or time of; engross: The problem completely absorbed her. See Synonyms at engross.
b. To take up or occupy (one's time or interest, for example).
3. To retain (radiation or sound, for example) wholly, without reflection or transmission.
4. To take in; assimilate: immigrants who were absorbed into the social mainstream.
5. To learn; acquire: "Matisse absorbed the lesson and added to it a new language of color" (Peter Plagen).
6. To receive (an impulse) without echo or recoil: a fabric that absorbs sound; a bumper that absorbs impact.
7. To assume or pay for (a cost or costs).
8. To endure; accommodate: couldn't absorb the additional hardships.
9. To use up; consume: The project has absorbed all of our department's resources.
[Middle English, to swallow up, from Old French absorber, from Latin absorbēre : ab-, away; see ab-1 + sorbēre, to suck.]
ab·sorb′a·bil′i·ty n.
ab·sorb′a·ble adj.
ab·sorb′ed·ly adv.
ab·sorb′er n.
ab·sorb′ing·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
absorber
(əbˈsɔːbə; -ˈzɔː-)n
1. a person or thing that absorbs
2. (General Physics) physics a material that absorbs radiation or causes it to lose energy
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
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| Noun | 1. | absorber - (physics) material in a nuclear reactor that absorbs radiation natural philosophy, physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics" absorbent, absorbent material - a material having capacity or tendency to absorb another substance |
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