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engross

verb
/ɪnˈɡɹəʊs/UK/ɪnˈɡɹəʊs/US

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-, gross. By surface analysis, en- + gross.

  1. derived from *ghrewə-✻
  2. derived from *grautaz✻
  3. derived from *graut✻
  4. derived from grōz
  5. derived from ingrossō
  6. derived from engrosser
  7. inherited from engrossen

Definitions

  1. To write (a document) in large, aesthetic, and legible lettering

    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.
    • laws that may be engrossed upon a finger nail

  2. To buy up wholesale, especially to buy the whole supply of (a commodity etc.).

  3. To monopolize

    To monopolize; to concentrate (something) in the single possession of someone, especially unfairly.

    • Octavian then engrosses for himself proconsular powers for ten years in all the provinces where more than one legion was stationed, giving him effective control of the army
  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. To completely engage the attention of

      To completely engage the attention of; to involve.

      • She seems to be completely engrossed in that book.
      • Having made a few vain attempts at engrossing my attention in my book, I was obliged to let myself be carried away by the impetuous torrent of the squire's eloquence.

    2. To thicken

      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, […]

    3. To make gross, thick, or large

      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.
      • Not ſleeping to ingroſſe his idle body, / But praying to inrich his watchfull ſoule.

    4. To amass.

      • Percy is but my factor, good my Lord, / To engroſſe vp glorious deeds on my behalfe.

The neighborhood

Derived

engrossing, engrossment

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for engross. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA