imbibition

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The Word of the Day for May 12 is:

imbibition   \im-buh-BIH-shun\   noun
     *1 : the act or action of drinking
      2 : the act or action of taking in or up : absorption 

Example sentence:
     The sign at the entrance to the building stated that the 
imbibition of alcoholic beverages on the premises was prohibited.

Did you know?
     Joseph Thomas James Hewlett was a 19th-century English 
curate and schoolmaster who supplemented his insufficient income 
by writing novels. In _Parsons and Widows_, in which the author 
disguises himself as "the Curate of Mosbury," Hewlett provided 
us with the first known use of "imbibition" to refer to a 
person's drinking, in the phrase "imbibition of a little strong 
beer." Until then, "imbibition" had been used scientifically to 
refer to various processes of soaking and absorption, or 
figuratively, to the taking in of knowledge. (The word is still 
used scientifically today to refer to the taking up of fluid.) 
All senses of "imbibition" are based on Latin "imbibere," a verb 
whose meaning "to drink in" includes absorption of liquids, 
consuming drink, and appropriating ideas. 

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.