v.
1.take up as if with a sponge
2.attract by using an inexorable force, inducement, etc.
3.draw in as if by suction
4.remove as if by suction
Idiom of the Day
learn (something) the hard way
to learn something that is difficult or unpleasant by one's own experience
The young man learned things the hard way when he went to jail for stealing the computer.