engross
C1Meanings
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1
verb
To write (a document) in large, aesthetic, and legible lettering; to make a finalized copy of.
This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present.
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2
verb
To monopolize; to concentrate (something) in the single possession of someone, especially unfairly.
After which time the Popes of Rome, engroſſing what they pleas'd of Politicall rule into their owne hands, extended their dominion over mens eyes, as they had before over their judgements, burning and prohibiting to be read, what they fanſied not; […]
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3
verb
To completely engage the attention of; to involve.
She seems to be completely engrossed in that book.
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4
verb
To thicken; to condense.
As, when a foggy miſt hath ouercaſt / The face of heuen, and the cleare ayre engroſte, / The world in darkenes dwels, […]
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5
verb
To make gross, thick, or large; to thicken; to increase in bulk or quantity.
The waues thereof ſo ſlow and ſluggiſh were, / Engroſt with mud, which did them fowle agriſe, / That euery weighty thing they did vpbeare, / Ne ought mote euer ſinck downe to the bottom there.
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6
verb
To amass.
Percy is but my factor, good my Lord, / To engroſſe vp glorious deeds on my behalfe.
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7
verb
consume all of one's attention or time
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8
verb
devote (oneself) fully to
Etymology
From Middle English engrossen, from Anglo-Norman engrosser (“to gather in large quantities, draft something in final form”); partly from the phrase en gros (“in bulk, in quantity, at wholesale”), from en- + gros; and partly from Medieval Latin ingrossō (“thicken, write something large and in bold lettering”, v.), from in- + grossus (“great, big, thick”), from Old High German grōz (“big, thick, coarse”), from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“large, great, thick, coarse grained, unrefined”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrewə- (“to fell, put down, fall in”). More at in-,…