absorbern.

1696 J. Floyer Preternatural State Animal Humours vi. 74 All Persons naturally desire that Food which is contrary to the present preternatural State of Humours, as watery Liquors, and Acids in Fevers, Ashes, and Terrene Absorbers in the Sowreness of their Stomachs, bitter Drink in Jaundice.

1727 P. Shaw & E. Chambers tr. H. Boerhaave New Method Chem. 133 It is a very great absorber of acids.

1818 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1 49 For the same reason they are perhaps bad absorbers and still worse retainers of heat.

1860 C. Darwin Let. 5 Oct. in Corr. (1993) VIII. 411 I find the glands at end of Hairs are absorbers as well as secreters.

1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets i. 29 Aristotle was the absorber of all previous and contemporary knowledge into one coherent system.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 230/2 This aerial being used as a Hertzian oscillator or radiator, and also as an electric wave absorber.

1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 239 Soft absorbers depend for their action on such things as the friction of air particles in the interstices of the material.

1978 G. C. Hill & J. S. Holman Chem. in Context vi. 75/2 (caption) Technicians loading cadmium absorbers into a small-scale test reactor at Harwell.

2001 D. Weldrake in P. Moore 2002 Yearbk. Astron. ii. 189 This is assuming that the planets radiate as black-bodies—perfect emitters and perfect absorbers of heat.

1789 A. Young Jrnl. 1 Aug. in Trav. France (1792) i. 153 He has a pair of scales made at Paris,..an air pump,..an absorber; a respirator, with vital air in a jar on one side, and lime-water in another.

1886 Nature 13 May 45/2 Instead of the vapour being drawn off by a pump, it was absorbed by cold water or weak liquor in a vessel called an absorber, which was in communication with the refrigerator.

1933 A. W. Barton Text Bk. Heat vi. 127 The mixture of hydrogen and ammonia gas being heavier than the hydrogen sinks to the bottom of the evaporator and flows to the absorber, where it meets a weak solution of ammonia in water.

2006 A. Ameen Refrigeration & Air Conditioning v. 86 Heat balances across the main components, i.e. the condenser, the evaporator, the generator and the absorber are fairly straightforward.

1909 Westm. Gaz. 13 July 5/1 In order to overcome this objection the R.-R. [= Rolls-Royce] absorber only affects the movement of the axle in one direction.

1933 Discovery Aug. 260/1 The wheel and tyre are sprung in conjunction with absorbers.

1981 Pop. Mech. Oct. 130/2 The bumper system is augmented by a second vibration absorber, in the steering wheel trim pad.

2009 D. Thompson Railway Noise & Vibration ii. 14 The German ICE has disc brakes; the wheels are also fitted with ‘absorbers’ (dampers).