imbibe

To drink (used frequently of alcoholic beverages).

Perhaps in the case of the vodka-drinking peasant it is this weekly parboil which saves his life and postpones the dreadful day when the constant imbibing of unlimited quantities of the deadly liquor must be paid for.

Without its sting, the common yellowjacket would be unable to steal ham from our sandwich or imbibe the sweet juice from our peach.

To take in; absorb.

to imbibe knowledge

“Every minute,” continued M. Krempe with warmth, “every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost. You have burdened your memory with exploded systems, and useless names. Good God! in what desert land have you lived, where no one was kind enough to inform you that these fancies, which you have so greedily imbibed, are a thousand years old, and as musty as they are ancient? I little expected in this enlightened and scientific age to find a disciple of Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus. My dear Sir, you must begin your studies entirely anew.”

To steep; to cause to absorb liquid.