Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To absorb again.
  • intransitive verb Biology To dissolve and assimilate (bone tissue, for example).
  • intransitive verb To undergo resorption.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To absorb or take back, as that which has been given out; reabsorb.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To swallow up.
  • transitive verb (Biol.) to absorb (something which has been secreted or exuded by the same organism).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive to absorb (something) again
  • verb intransitive to undergo resorption
  • verb biology, transitive to dissolve something (as for example bone, sinew, or suture) and assimilate it.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb undergo resorption

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin resorbēre, to suck back : re-, re- + sorbēre, to suck up.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin resorbere, from re- ("again") + sorbere ("to suck in").

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Examples

  • Vitamin D also works in the kidneys to help resorb calcium that otherwise would be excreted.

    Add Vitamin D to Calcium to Reduce Osteoporosis Risk, Says FDA Steve Carper 2008

  • Oxygen free radicals stimulate osteoclasts, the cells that resorb or break down bone.

    Forever Young M.D. Nicholas Perricone 2010

  • Vitamin D also works in the kidneys to help resorb calcium that otherwise would be excreted.

    You Need More Vitamin D with Your Calcium Steve Carper 2007

  • Vitamin D also works in the kidneys to help resorb calcium that otherwise would be excreted.

    Archive 2007-10-01 Steve Carper 2007

  • The primary job of the large intestine is to resorb water from the waste, condensing it down into the thick, pasty glop we all know and love as excrement.

    Evolution of the appendix? - The Panda's Thumb 2009

  • But that should, you know, resorb and resolve and come back.

    CNN Transcript Apr 8, 2008 2008

  • Osteoblasts help form new bone, while osteoclasts resorb old bone.

    You Staying Young MEHMET C. OZ 2007

  • Another characteristic of this species and its relatives is that as they grow they resorb the inner walls of their shells that is, the previous outer walls that became the inner walls after they were covered by subsequent whorls.

    New year, new snail: Theodoxus fluviatilis AYDIN 2007

  • Osteoblasts help form new bone, while osteoclasts resorb old bone.

    You Staying Young MEHMET C. OZ 2007

  • Another characteristic of this species and its relatives is that as they grow they resorb the inner walls of their shells that is, the previous outer walls that became the inner walls after they were covered by subsequent whorls.

    Archive 2007-01-01 AYDIN 2007

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