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Added 9 October 2026

engross

/ɪnˈɡɹəʊs/ verb

Latin root: ingrossō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about engross at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To write (a document) in large, aesthetic, and legible lettering; to make a finalized copy of.
To buy up wholesale, especially to buy the whole supply of (a commodity etc.).
To monopolize; to concentrate (something) in the single possession of someone, especially unfairly.

Origin

From Middle English engrossen, from Anglo-Norman engrosser (“to gather in large quantities, draft something in final form”); partly from the phrase en gros (“in bulk, in quantity, at wholesale”), from en- + gros; and partly from Medieval Latin ingrossō (“thicken, write something large and in bold lettering”, v.), from in- + grossus (“great, big, thick”), from Old High German grōz (“big, thick, coarse”), from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“large, great, thick, coarse grained, unrefined”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrewə- (“to fell, put down, fall in”). More at in-, gross. By surface analysis, en- + gross.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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