ENGROSS • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Engross

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/ɪngrˈoʊs/ Listen

verb

Engross v. t. (past & past part. engrossed; pres. part. engrossing)

1.

To make gross, thick, or large; to thicken; to increase in bulk or quantity. (Obs.) "Waves... engrossed with mud." "Not sleeping, to engross his idle body."

2.

To amass. (Obs.) "To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf."

3.

To copy or write in a large hand (en gross, i. e., in large); to write a fair copy of in distinct and legible characters; as, to engross a deed or like instrument on parchment. "Some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials." "Laws that may be engrossed on a finger nail."

4.

To seize in the gross; to take the whole of; to occupy the attention completely; to absorb; as, the subject engrossed all his thoughts.

5.

To purchase either the whole or large quantities of, for the purpose of enhancing the price and making a profit; hence, to take or assume in undue quantity, proportion, or degree; as, to engross commodities in market; to engross power.

Engrossed bill (Legislation), one which has been plainly engrossed on parchment, with all its amendments, preparatory to final action on its passage.

Engrossing hand (Penmanship), a fair, round style of writing suitable for engrossing legal documents, legislative bills, etc.

Synonyms: To absorb; swallow up; imbibe; consume; exhaust; occupy; forestall; monopolize. See Absorb.

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Etymology of 'Engross'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Engross" Quotes from Famous Books

... broken on this aspect of the question, the subject seemed further to engross her, and she spoke on as if daringly inclined to venture where she had never anticipated going, deriving pleasure from the very strangeness of her temerity: 'You mean that in the fitness of things I ought to become a De Stancy to strengthen ...

— A Laodicean • Thomas Hardy

... deal impartially too, and add one principle as a characteristic of the Tories, which has much discouraged some princes from making use of them in affairs. Give the Whigs but power enough to insult their sovereign, engross his favours to themselves, and to oppress and plunder their fellow-subjects; they presently grow into good humour and good language towards the crown; profess they will stand by it with their lives and fortunes; and whatever rudenesses they ...

— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., Volume IX; • Jonathan Swift

... and, perceiving that he wished to drop the subject, I said no more. He had many engagements in London always, and I must not attempt to engross his time. However, he would not for a moment hear of leaving me any where but with Betsy, for perhaps he saw how strange I was. And, being alone at last with her, I could keep up ...

— Erema - My Father's Sin • R. D. Blackmore

... and northern New England to attack and exterminate the settlers of New England. The conquest of Canada by the English was therefore an object of the greatest political importance, and necessary for the peace and safety of the colonies, and their future growth, and it continued to engross the efforts and exhaust the means of the colonists, until their purpose was finally accomplished ...

— The Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of the Town of New Milford, Conn. June 17th, 1907 • Daniel Davenport

... party soon knew not where to go; for the old man had lost the energy with which he had escorted them to London, and seemed to have sunk back into the semi-helpless mixture of shrewdness and credulity which he appeared when Hugo and Humphrey had first met him. One thing, and one only, seemed to engross most of his attention, and that was Humphrey's mole. And he was ever prating of the fortune it ...

— A Boy's Ride • Gulielma Zollinger

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