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Remaining beyond the period when parts of the same kind sometimes fall off or are absorbed; permanent; as, persistent teeth or gills; a persistent calyx; -- opposed to deciduous, and caducous.

divided metallic platinum obtained by reduction and precipitation from its solutions. It absorbs oxygen to a high degree, and is employed as an oxidizer. -- Platinum lamp (Elec.), a kind of incandescent lamp of which the luminous medium is platinum. See under Incandescent. -- Platinum metals (Chem.), the group of me…

tent of lint, laid over a wound, ulcer, or the like, to exclude air, retain dressings, or absorb the matter discharged.

To look or gaze steadily in reading or studying; to fix the attention; to be absorbed; -- often with on or upon, and now usually with over."Painfully to pore upon a book." Shak. The eye grows weary with poring perpetually on the same thing. Dryden.

ibotium, chiefly C. Menziesii; -- used for stuffing mattresses, cushions, etc., and as an absorbent.

h love, admiration, delight, etc.; enraptured. "The rapt musician." Longfellow. 3. Wholly absorbed or engrossed, as in work or meditation. "Rapt in secret studies." Shak.

Having the quality of receiving; able or inclined to take in, absorb, hold, or contain; receiving or containing; as, a receptive mind. Imaginary space is receptive of all bodies. Glanvill.

A substance secreted from the blood and again absorbed by it.

The act of resorbing; also, the act of absorbing again; reabsorption.

t, U.S.] Bartlett. Adhesive slate (Min.), a kind of slate of a greenish gray color, which absorbs water rapidly, and adheres to the tongue; whence the name. -- Aluminous slate, or Alum slate (Min.), a kind of slate containing sulphate of alumina, -- used in the manufacture of alum. -- Bituminous slate (Min.), a soft…

Fig.: To absorb; to drain. [Obs.] Sir H. Wotton.

The act or process by which a body (whether solid, liquid, or gaseous) is absorbed into a liquid, and, remaining or becoming fluid, is diffused throughout the solvent; also, the product reulting from such absorption.

An absorbent. [R.]

. Absorption spectrum, the spectrum of light which has passed through a medium capable of absorbing a portion of the rays. It is characterized by dark spaces, bands, or lines. -- Chemical spectrum, a spectrum of rays considered solely with reference to their chemical effects, as in photography. These, in the usual pho…

A supposed spongelike expansion of the tip of a rootlet for absorbing water; -- called also spongelet.

Mental occupation; absorbed or thoughtful attention; meditation; contemplation. Just men they seemed, and all their study bent To worship God aright, and know his works. Milton.

To draw in, or imbibe, by any process resembles sucking; to inhale; to absorb; as, to suck in air; the roots of plants suck water from the ground.

m (Zoöl.), the system of tubes and canals in sponges by means of which food and water are absorbed. See Illust. of Spongiæ.

To draw into an abyss or gulf; to ingulf; to absorb -- usually followed by up. Milton. The earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses. Num. xvi. 32.

ce of the heat is to be found in the potential energy of the food and the oxygen which is absorbed from the air during respiration. See Homoiothermal. -- Temperature sense (Physiol.), the faculty of perceiving cold and warmth, and so of perceiving differences of temperature in external objects. H. N. Martin.…