Verb

(en verb)

(label) To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it.

* Bible, (w) xxiv. 7

Their land shall be soaked with blood.

(label) To immerse in liquid to the point of saturation or thorough permeation.

(label) To penetrate or permeate by saturation.

* Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)

The rivulet beneath soaked its way obscurely through wreaths of snow.

(label) To allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed; to take in, receive. (usually + up )

* {{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny

, chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.}}

To drink intemperately or gluttonously.

(label) To heat a metal before shaping it.

To hold a kiln at a particular temperature for a given period of time.

(label) To absorb; to drain.

Verb

(en verb)

To keep in possession or use.

* Milton

Be obedient, and retain / Unalterably firm his love entire.

* 1856 : (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling

A strange thing was that Bovary, while continually thinking of Emma, was forgetting her. He grew desperate as he felt this image fading from his memory in spite of all efforts to retain it. Yet every night he dreamt of her; it was always the same dream. He drew near her, but when he was about to clasp her she fell into decay in his arms.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.}}

To keep in one's pay or service.

* Addison

A Benedictine convent has now retained the most learned father of their order to write in its defence.

To employ by paying a retainer.

To hold secure.

(obsolete) To restrain; to prevent.

(obsolete) To belong; to pertain.

* Boyle

A somewhat languid relish, retaining to bitterness.