Engross

Pronunciation

UK IPA: /É›nËˆÉ¡rÉ™ÊŠs/, /É›Å‹ËˆÉ¡rÉ™ÊŠs/
US IPA: /É›nËˆÉ¡roÊŠs/, /É›Å‹ËˆÉ¡roÊŠs/
Rhymes: -É™ÊŠs

Origin

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 ingrossÅ ("thicken, write something large and in bold lettering", v..), from in- + grossus ("great, big, thick"), from Old High German grÅz ("big, thick, coarse"), from Proto-Germanic *grautaz ("large, great, thick, coarse grained, unrefined"), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrewÉ™- ("to fell, put down, fall in"). More at in-, gross.

Full definition of engross

Verb

(finalize)(transitive, now legal) To write (a document) in large, aesthetic, and legible lettering; to make a finalized copy of.

Nathaniel Hawthornesome period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials
De Quinceylaws that may be engrossed on a finger nail

(transitive, business, obsolete) To buy up wholesale, especially to buy the whole supply of (a commodity etc.).
(transitive) To monopolize; to concentrate (something) in the single possession of someone, especially unfairly.

1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica: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 fancied not ...
2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin 2009, pp. 125-6: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.

(transitive) To completely engage the attention of.She seems to be completely engrossed in that book.
(transitive, obsolete) To thicken; to condense.

1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:As, when a foggy mist hath overcast
The face of heven, and the cleare ayre engroste,
The world in darkenes dwels ...

To make gross, thick, or large; to thicken; to increase in bulk or quantity.

Spenserwaves ... engrossed with mud
Shakespearenot sleeping, to engross his idle body

(obsolete) To amass.

Shakespeareto engross up glorious deeds on my behalf

Synonyms

(to buy up the whole supply of) corner the market

Related terms

gross

Coordinate terms

(to write out in large characters) longhand