Adjacent Words

Engrossed definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ENGRO'SSED, pp. Made thick; taken in the whole; purchased in large quantities for sale; written in large fair characters.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: giving or marked by complete attention to; "that engrossed look or rapt delight"; "then wrapped in dreams"; "so intent on this fantastic...narrative that she hardly stirred"- Walter de la Mare; "rapt with wonder"; "wrapped in thought" [syn: captive, absorbed, engrossed, enwrapped, intent, wrapped]
2: written formally in a large clear script, as a deed or other legal document

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Engross En*gross", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Engrossed; p. pr. & vb. n. Engrossing.] [F., fr. pref. en- (L. in) + gros gross, grosse, n., an engrossed document: cf. OF. engrossir, engroissier, to make thick, large, or gross. See Gross.] 1. To make gross, thick, or large; to thicken; to increase in bulk or quantity. [Obs.] Waves . . . engrossed with mud. --Spenser. Not sleeping, to engross his idle body. --Shak. 2. To amass. [Obs.] To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf. --Shak. 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. --Hawthorne. Laws that may be engrossed on a finger nail. --De Quincey. 4. To seize in the gross; to take the whole of; to occupy wholly; 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. Syn: To absorb; swallow up; imbibe; consume; exhaust; occupy; forestall; monopolize. See Absorb.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you are engrossed in something, it holds your attention completely. Tony didn't notice because he was too engrossed in his work. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, usu ADJ in n

Moby Thesaurus

absent, absentminded, absorbed, absorbed in, abstracted, assiduous, autograph, autographic, bemused, buried in, buried in thought, busy, calligraphic, castle-building, caught up in, chirographic, consumed, contemplating, contemplative, cursive, daydreaming, daydreamy, deep, devoted, devoted to, diligent, dreaming, dreamy, drowsing, ecstatic, elsewhere, engaged, engaged in thought, engrossed in, engrossed in thought, faraway, flowing, graphic, graphoanalytic, graphologic, graphometric, half-awake, holograph, holographic, immersed, immersed in, immersed in thought, in a reverie, in longhand, in shorthand, in the clouds, in writing, industrious, inscribed, intent, intent on, introspective, involved, italic, italicized, longhand, lost, lost in, lost in thought, manuscript, meditating, meditative, monomaniacal, monopolized, mooning, moonraking, museful, musing, napping, nodding, oblivious, obsessed, occupied, on paper, penciled, penned, pensive, pipe-dreaming, preoccupied, printed, rapt, running, scriptorial, scriptural, sedulous, shorthand, single-minded, somewhere else, stargazing, studious, studying, stylographic, submerged, submerged in, swept up, taken up, taken up with, totally absorbed, transported, unconscious, woolgathering, wrapped, wrapped in, wrapped in thought, wrapped up, wrapped up in, written