Engrosse

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To fully absorb the attention or interest of someone or something so completely that all focus is captured and held without distraction ; to cause someone to become deeply involved mentally or emotionally, often to the exclusion of other matters ; to occupy the mind or senses thoroughly with fascination or engagement
2. To captivate or enthrall someone's consciousness so much that nothing else seems to matter ; to engage or involve entirely in a single activity or thought process ; to command full mental or emotional attention, making other concerns fade into the background
3. To draw and hold the complete attention of an individual, engrossing them in a particular subject or activity ; to immerse or absorb entirely, often leading to losing awareness of surrounding events ; to focus someone's mental faculties so intensely that all other considerations are suspended

Etymology: The verb "engrosse" is an obsolete spelling of "engross," and its story starts with trade rather than with absorption. Anglo-Norman "engrosser" meant to gather goods in large quantities, or to draft a document in its final form. Both senses lean on the idea of bulk: the Anglo-Norman phrase "en gros" meant "in bulk" or "at wholesale," and the verb grew out of that commercial sense. The word had a second root, which pulled it toward writing. Medieval Latin "ingrossare" meant to thicken or to write something in large, bold letters, and it came from "grossus," meaning great, thick, or coarse. That Latin word traces back to Old High German "grōz," meaning big or thick. English ended up with both streams, so the verb carried the idea of accumulating in quantity and the idea of making something heavy and substantial on the page. The sense of holding someone's attention grew from the notion of filling or absorbing something completely, as when a mind is taken up entirely by one thing.

Synonyms: absorb, capture, engage, immerse, occupy

Antonyms: distract, ignore, release, repel, disengage