Any substance which absorbs and neutralizes acid fluid in the stomach and bowels, as magnesia, chalk, etc.; also a substance, e.g., iodine, which acts on the absorbent vessels so as to reduce enlarged and indurated parts
a material which extracts one or more substances form a liquid or gaseous medium which it contacts and charges physically or chemically, or both (e g soled absorbent: Calcium chloride, liquid absorbent: solutions of lithium chloride, lithium bromide, and ethylene glycols)
A material that extracts one or more substances from a fluid (gas or liquid) medium on contact, and which changes physically and/or chemically in the process The less volatile of the two working fluids in an absorption cooling device
In paper, the property which causes it to take up liquids or vapors in contact with it In optics, the partial suppression of light through a transparent or translucent material