imbue

From Latin imbuō (“wet, moisten”). Compare imbibe.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈbjuː/

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ᵻmˈbju/
• Rhymes: -uː

imbue (third-person singular simple present imbues, present participle imbuing, simple past and past participle imbued)

1. (transitive) To instill or inspire (someone) with a certain quality, feeling, or idea.
   • 1823, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus‎^[1], volume 1, London, pages 35-36:

     The patriarchal lives of my protectors caused these impressions to take a firm hold on my mind; perhaps, if my first introduction to humanity had been made by a young soldier, burning for glory and slaughter, I should have been imbued with different sensations.

2. (transitive) To wet or stain an object completely with some physical quality.

   The shirt was imbued with his scent.

   • 1772, “An Essay about the Origin and Virtue of Gems”, in THE WORKS OF THE HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE., A NEW EDITION edition, volume VOLUME THE THIRD, page 545:

     I might leave the answering of one part of the objection to physicians and chymists, who teach, that the antimonial glass and cup imbue wine and other liquors with a strong emetic quality, without any sensible loss of weight.

3. In general, to act in a way which results in an object becoming completely permeated or impregnated by some quality.

   The entire text is imbued with the sense of melancholy and hopelessness.

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.by/

imbue

1. feminine singular of imbu

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɪm.bu.ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈim.bu.e]

imbue

1. second-person singular present active imperative of imbuō