different between absorb vs fill

English

Etymology

From Middle French absorber, from Old French assorbir, from Latin absorbe? (“swallow up”), from ab- (“from”) +? sorbe? (“suck in, swallow”). Compare French absorber.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?z??b/, /?b?s??b/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /æb?s??b/, /æb?z??b/, /?b?s??b/, /?b?z??b/
• Rhymes: -??(r)b
• Hyphenation: ab?sorb

Verb

absorb (third-person singular simple present absorbs, present participle absorbing, simple past and past participle absorbed or (archaic) absorpt)

1. (transitive) To include so that it no longer has separate existence; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to incorporate; to assimilate; to take in and use up. [first attested c. 1350 to 1470.]
   • 1782, William Cowper, On Observing some Names of Little Note

     Dark oblivion soon absorbs them all.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To engulf, as in water; to swallow up. [Attested from the late 15th century until the late 18th century.]
3. (transitive) To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe, like a sponge or as the lacteals of the body; to chemically take in. [first attested in the early 17th century.]
4. (transitive, physics, chemistry) To take in energy and convert it, as[first attested in the early 18th century.]
   1. (transitive, physics) in receiving a physical impact or vibration without recoil.
   2. (transitive, physics) in receiving sound energy without repercussion or echo.
   3. (transitive, physics) taking in radiant energy and converting it to a different form of energy, like heat.

5. (transitive) To engross or engage wholly; to occupy fully. [first attested in the late 18th century.]
   • 1904, Kazimierz Waliszewski, translated by Lady Mary Loyd, Ivan the Terrible Part 2 Chapter 3

     Livonian affairs held him tight, and were to absorb him for many a year.

6. (transitive) To occupy or consume time. [first attested in the mid 19th century.]
7. (transitive) Assimilate mentally. [first attested in the late 19th century.]
8. (transitive, business) To assume or pay for as part of a commercial transaction.
9. (transitive) To defray the costs.
10. (transitive) To accept or purchase in quantity.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to include so that it no longer has separate existence): assimilate, engulf, incorporate, swallow up, overwhelm
• (to suck up or drink in): draw, drink in, imbibe, soak up, sop up, suck, suck up, steep, take in, take up
• (to consume completely): use up
• (to occupy fully): engage, engross, immerse, monopolize, occupy
• (finance: to assume or pay for): assume, bear, pay for, take in

Antonyms

• (physics: to take up by chemical or physical action): emit

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• adsorb

Further reading

• Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002) , “absorb”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, ?ISBN, page 9

Anagrams

• Brabos, bobars, robabs

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ab?sorb]

Verb

absorb

1. first-person singular present indicative of absorbi
2. third-person plural present indicative of absorbi
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of absorbi

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: f?l, IPA^(key): /f?l/, [f??]
• Rhymes: -?l
• Homophone: Phil

Etymology 1

From Middle English fillen, fullen, from Old English fyllan (“to fill, fill up, replenish, satisfy; complete, fulfill”), from Proto-Germanic *fullijan? (“to make full, fill”), from *fullaz (“full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl?h?nós (“full”). Cognate with Scots fill (“to fill”), West Frisian folje (“to fill”), Low German füllen (“to fill”), Dutch vullen (“to fill”), German füllen (“to fill”), Danish fylde (“to fill”), Swedish fylla (“to fill”), Norwegian fylle (“to fill”), Icelandic fylla (“to fill”) and Latin plenus (“full”)

Verb

fill (third-person singular simple present fills, present participle filling, simple past and past participle filled)

1. (transitive) To occupy fully, to take up all of.
   • c. 1761, Tobias Smollett, translator, Don Quixote, part 2, book 5, chapter 4:

     […] the drums began to thunder, the sound of trumpets filled the air, the earth trembled beneath their feet, and the hearts of the gazing multitude throbbed with suspense and expectation […]

   • c. 1860, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, chapter 38:

     And now that I have given the one chapter to the theme that so filled my heart, and so often made it ache and ache again, I pass on, unhindered, to the event that had impended over me longer yet […] .

2. (transitive) To add contents to (a container, cavity, or the like) so that it is full.
   • 1950, Arthur W. Upfield, The Bachelors of Broken Hill, chapter 11:

     She continued to frown as she filled Bony's cup and added brandy to her own.

   • 2005, Wendy Coakley-Thompson, What You Won't Do for Love, 2006 edition, ?ISBN, page 10 [1]:

     She forgave him the pain as he filled the cavity in her back molar. Three weeks later, she let him fill a more intimate cavity.

   • 2006, Gilbert Morris, Sante Fe Woman, B&H, page 95 [2]:

     Grat Herendeen was the first man, a huge man with his bull whip coiled and over his shoulder seeming almost a part of him. He grinned at her as she filled his plate with the eggs and motioned toward the bacon. "Help yourself, Grat."

3. To enter (something), making it full.
   • 1910 May 13, John C. Sherwin, opinion, Delashmutt et al. v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. et al., reprinted in volume 126, North Western Reporter, page 359, at 360:

     In the evening of the 14th of July, there was a rainfall of 3 or 3½ inches in that locality. The water filled the ditch so full that it overflowed the levees on both sides in many places […] .

   • 2004, Peter Westen, The Logic of Consent, Ashgate, ?ISBN, page 322 [3]:

     As the crowd filled the aisles, S repeated loudly what he had announced upon entering the stadium: 'I don't want anyone to touch me, and I will call the police if anyone does.'

4. (intransitive) To become full.

5. (intransitive) To become pervaded with something.

6. (transitive) To satisfy or obey (an order, request, or requirement).

7. (transitive) To install someone, or be installed, in (a position or office), eliminating a vacancy.
   • 1891 January 23, Allen Morse, opinion, Lawrence v. Hanley, reprinted in volume 47, Northwestern Reporter, page 753, at 755:

     The board of supervisors called a specal^[sic] election to fill the office, and at such special election Henry C. Andrews was elected judge of probate to fill out the said term.

8. (transitive) To treat (a tooth) by adding a dental filling to it.
   • a. 1891, "Intimate Diagnosis of Diseased Teeth", in Items of Interest: A Monthly Magazine of Dental Art, Science and Literature, volume 13, number 11, November 1891, page 657 [4]:

     Be that as it may, had the disturbance continued after our having filled the molar, and presuming that nothing had been done to the bicuspid, we might have been still as far as ever from knowing where the trouble lay.

9. (transitive) To fill or supply fully with food; to feed; to satisfy.

   • Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
10. (transitive, nautical) To trim (a yard) so that the wind blows on the after side of the sails.
11. (transitive, slang, vulgar, of a male) To have sexual intercourse with (a female).

Synonyms

• (occupy fully, take up all of): pervade
• (have sexual intercourse with a female): dick, get up in, knob, swive; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Antonyms

• (add contents to a container or cavity): empty
• (to become full): empty

Hyponyms

• backfill
• polyfill
• refill

Derived terms

• backfill
• filler
• filling
• forthfill
• fulfill, fulfil
• overfill

Related terms

Related terms

• full

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English fille, vülle, fülle, from Old English fyllu, from Proto-Germanic *full?? (“fullness”). Cognate with German Fülle.

Noun

fill (plural fills)

1. (after a possessive) A sufficient or more than sufficient amount.

   Don't feed him any more: he's had his fill.

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

     Then they set somewhat of food before me, whereof I ate my fill, and gave me somewhat of clothes wherewith I clad myself anew and covered my nakedness; after which they took me up into the ship, […]

2. An amount that fills a container.

   The mixer returned to the plant for another fill.

3. The filling of a container or area.

   That machine can do 20 fills a minute.

   This paint program supports lines, circles, and textured fills.

4. Inexpensive material used to occupy empty spaces, especially in construction.

   The ruins of earlier buildings were used as fill for more recent construction.

5. (archaeology) Soil and/or human-created debris discovered within a cavity or cut in the layers and exposed by excavation; fill soil.
6. An embankment, as in railroad construction, to fill a hollow or ravine; also, the place which is to be filled.
7. (music) A short passage, riff, or rhythmic sound that helps to keep the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody.

   bass fill

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

• fill soil
• fill up

Translations

Etymology 3

See thill.

Noun

fill (plural fills)

1. One of the thills or shafts of a carriage.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Mortimer to this entry?)

   • 2008, Martha E. Green, Pioneers in Pith Helmets

     It was a challenge to learn to harness him, guide him slowly back between the fills of the carriage, then to fasten the right buckles and snaps, making the harness and buggy all ready for travel to church or to town.

Albanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi??/

Etymology 1

Borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin filum.

Noun

fill m (plural fije)

1. thread, yarn

Etymology 2

Unclear. Probably from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, stell; fixed, motionless, still, stiff”)

Adverb

fill

1. at once, immediately, alone
2. instant

Derived terms

• filloj
• zanafillë

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan filh, from Latin f?lius, from Latin f?lios (“son”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?eh?y-li-os (“sucker”), a derivation from the verbal root *d?eh?(y)- (“to suck”). Cognate to Occitan filh, French fils.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?fi?/
• Rhymes: -i?

Noun

fill m (plural fills)

1. son

Derived terms

• fill de puta

Related terms

• afillar
• filial
• filla

Further reading

• “fill” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Irish

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /f?i?l?/
• (Galway) IPA^(key): /f?i?l??/
• (Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): /f??l??/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish fillid (“turns back”), from Proto-Celtic *wel-n-, from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“turn”); compare German walzen (“roll”), Latin volv? (“turn”)

Verb

fill (present analytic filleann, future analytic fillfidh, verbal noun filleadh, past participle fillte)

1. turn back
2. return
3. fold
4. (biology, geology, medicine) plicate
5. (medicine, of symptoms) recur

Conjugation

Derived terms

• athfhill (“recur; (of decimals) circulate; refold; reflect”)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

fill

1. genitive singular of feall

Mutation

References

• "fill" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “fillid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish fillid (“turns back”), from Proto-Celtic *wel-n-, from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“turn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi??/

Verb

fill (past dh'fhill, future fillidh, verbal noun filleadh, past participle fillte)

1. fold; plait; twill
2. imply
3. contain, include

Derived terms

• eadar-fhill (“intervolve”)

Mutation

References

• “fill” in Edward Dwelly, Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic–English Dictionary, 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, 1911, ?ISBN.
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “fillid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language