absorb

/əb-ˈsȯrb/

borrowed from Middle French assorber, absorber, asorbir, absorbir, going back to Old French, borrowed (with conjugation changes) from Latin absorbēre, from ab- ab-sorbēre "to suck up, draw in, engulf," going back to Indo-European *sṛb{sup}h{/sup}-eii̯̯e-, probably re-formed from *srob{sup}h{/sup}-eii̯̯e-, iterative derivative from the verb base *sreb{sup}h{/sup}- "suck up, drink noisily"; akin to Greek rophéō, ropheîn "to drink in gulps," Armenian arbi "drank," Lithuanian srebiù, srė̃bti "to gulp," Old Russian sereblyu, serebati

verb

  1. to take in (something, such as water) in a natural or gradual way

  2. to take in (knowledge, attitudes, etc.) : acquire, learn

  3. use up, consume

a sponge absorbs water

… convictions absorbed in youth …