transferred and figurative in general; cf. also 3 4.

transitive. To ‘drink in’, absorb, or assimilate (knowledge, ideas, etc.); to take into one's mind or moral system.

To absorb, assimilate the ideas of (a writer).

Of persons. To take in greedily and with eagerness the sense of (a book, discourse, or the like).

figurative.

To imbibe (qualities, etc.) with one's mother's milk, with a draught.

transitive. To take in to one's consciousness; to assimilate (external events or information) into one's own experience or knowledge. Also…