ETYM Latin sorbus the tree, sorbum the fruit; cf. French sorbe. Related to Service tree.
Acid gritty-textured fruit; SYN. sorb apple.
Member of a western Slavonic people in Germany, numbering about 40,000–45,000. They live mainly in Saxony and have been in the region since the 6th century AD, though numbers have dwindled with assimilation. When East Germany was a separate state, the Sorb language had official status. There is a small separatist movement for an independent Sorb state of Lusatia. This was the name of Sorb-inhabited territory prior to 1835, when it was divided between Saxony and Prussia.
There are two distinct variants of the language, Upper Sorbian.

1. Wend
2. Wendish

To take up a liquid or a gas either by adsorption or by absorption; in chemistry; SYN. take up.