ab-sorbĕo, bui, rarely psi, ptum (absorbui, Plin. 9, 35, 58, 121 (ob- PHI): absorpsi, Luc. 4, 100; cf. Vel. Long. 2233 P.), 2, v. a., to swallow down any thing, to devour.
I Lit.: unda legiones, Naev. B. Pun. 4, 16: oceanus vix videtur tot res tam cito absorbere potuisse, Cic. Phil. 2, 27, 67: placentas, Hor. S. 2, 8, 24; so id. ib. 2, 3, 240 K. and H. (al. ob sorbere and ex sorbere): unionem, Plin. l. l. (Sill. ob- ): res ad victum, to devour , Cic. Rep. 2, 5.—
II Trop., to engross , absorb : hunc absorbuit aestus gloriae, Cic. Brut. 81; so id. Leg. 2, 4, 9: ipse ad sese jamdudum vocat, et quodam modo absorbet orationem meam, and , as it were , eats up my discourse (i. e. wishes it to treat of him only ), id. Sest. 6, 13: ea (meretrix) acerrume aestuosa absorbet, devours (i. e. squanders one's property , the figure taken from the sea), Plaut. Bacch. 3, 3, 67.