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of absorbing or sucking in anything, or of being absorbed and made to disappear; as, the absorption of bodies in a whirlpool, the absorption of a smaller tribe into a larger.

The act or process of rearbsorbing.

The vessels by which the processes of absorption are carried on, as the lymphatics in animals, the extremities of the roots in plants.

Absorption. [Obs.]

Absence or absorption of mind; inattention to present objects.

utriment into the fluid or solid substance of the body, by the processes of digestion and absorption, whether in plants or animals. Not conversing the body, not repairing it by assimilation, but preserving it by ventilation. Sir T. Browne.

In a bibulous manner; with profuse imbibition or absorption. De Quincey.

ning to the skin; existing on, or affecting, the skin; as, a cutaneous disease; cutaneous absorption; cutaneous respiration.

d so as to prevent conduction of heat, and sometimes having the glass silvered to prevent absorption of radiant heat; -- called also, according to the particular shape, Dewar bulb, Dewar tube, etc.

nimal membranes, as in the distribution of poisons, gases, etc., through the body. Unlike absorption, diffusion may go on after death, that is, after the blood ceases to circulate.

Designating, or pert. to, a reaction which occurs with absorption of heat; formed by such a reaction; as, an endothermic substance; -- opposed to exothermic.

readily soluble in the digestive juices; not easily convertible into products fitted for absorption.

An absorption of one estate, or one contract, in another, or of a minor offense in a greater.

ently a beatific enfrachisement from the evils of wordly existence, as by annihilation or absorption into the divine. See Buddhism.

Softening and absorption of bone. -- Os`te*o*lyt"ic (#), a.

An absorption of bone so that the tissue becomes unusually porous.

The production or absorption of heat at the junction of two metals on the passage of a current. Heat generated by the passage of the current in one direction will be absorbed if the current is reversed.

A diseased condition, produced by the absorption of lead, common among workers in this metal or in its compounds, as among painters, typesetters, etc. It is characterized by various symptoms, as lead colic, lead line, and wrist drop. See under Colic, Lead, and Wrist.

One of the minute orifices in an animal or vegetable membrane, for transpiration, absorption, etc.

A form of blood poisoning produced by the absorption into the blood of morbid matters usually originating in a wound or local inflammation. It is characterized by the development of multiple abscesses throughout the body, and is attended with irregularly recurring chills, fever, profuse sweating, and exhaustion.…