imbuō

Meaning

1. to wet, moisten, dip
   Amastri Pontica et Cytōre buxifer, tibi haec fuisse et esse cognitissima ait phasēlus; ultimā ex orīgine tuō stetisse dīcit in cacūmine, tuō imbuisse palmulās in aequore, et inde tot per impotentia freta erum tulisse, laeva sīve dextera vocāret aura, sīve utrumque Iuppiter simul secundus incidisset in pedem.to you to have been and to be most acquainted claims the phaselus; from the first origin to have stood on your mountaintop, in your water to have dipped the shears, and thence over so many powerless waves to have taken the master, whether a left- or right-hand breeze called, or whichever sheet Jupiter came astern at the same time on.c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 4.13–21
   Prōtinus Eumenidēs lāvēre palūstribus undīs, quā cava dē Stygiīs flūxerat unda vadīs, pectoraque ūnxērunt Ērebeae felle colubrae terque cruentātās increpuēre manūs, gutturaque inbuērunt īnfantia lacte canīnō:Immediately the Furies washed him in the marshy waters, where the hollow wave flowed from the ford of the Styx and anointed his chest with the venom of a serpent from Erebus and thrice clapped their bloodied hands and moistened the infant throat with dog milk: this food came first into the child's mouth.9 CE, Ovidius, Ibis 223–228
2. to fill, tinge, stain, taint, infect, imbue
   Inbuere cōnsuētūdō indūcere extimat, cum sit propriē maculāre vel polluere vel īnficere. Accius Armōrum Iūdiciō: 'Inter quōs saepe et multō imbūtōs sanguine'. Īdem Melanippō: 'Crēditĭs mē amīcī morte inbūtūrum manūs?'To imbue is usually taken to mean specifically to stain or soil or tinge. Accius in The Trial of Weapons: 'Amongst them oft too tainted with much blood'. The same in Melanippus: 'You think I'm going to stain my hands with the blood of a friend?'CE 4th C., Nonius Marcellus (author), W. M. Lindsay (editor), Dē compendiōsā doctrīnā (1903), page 838
3. to accustom or impress early, inspire, imbue
   Aegyptiōrum mōrem quis ignōrat? quōrum inbūtae mentēs prāvitātis errōribus quamvīs carnificīnam prius subierint quam ībim aut aspidem aut faelem aut canem aut corcodillum violent, quōrum etiamsī inprūdentēs quippiam fēcerint, poenam nūllam recūsent.Who doesn't know the custom of the Egyptians? whose minds accustomed to delusions of wrongness would rather undergo as much torture as you want than desecrate the ibis or the asp or the cat or the crocodile, and to whom, even if one inadvertently did something to, he would not refuse any punishment.c. 45 BCE, Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes 5.78
4. to do something for the first time, set the example
   Imbuis exemplum prīmae tū, Rōmule, palmae huius, et exuviō plēnus ab hoste redīs, tempore quō portās Caenīnum Acrōna petentemYou set the example, Romulus, of the first prize, and return loaded with spoils from the enemy, at the time when the Caenine Acron going for the gates you kill with a spear upon his fallen horse.30 BCE – 16 BCE, Propertius, Elegiae 4.10.5–8
5. to instruct, initiate, train to a degree; familiarise
   Flōre, bonō clārōque fidēlis amīce Nerōnī, sī quis forte velit puerum tibi vēndere nātum Tībure vel Gabiīs, et tēcum sīc agat: 'Hīc et candidus et tālōs ā vertice pulcher ad īmōs fīet eritque tuus nummōrum mīlibus octō, verna ministeriīs ad nūtūs aptus erīlīs, litterulīs Graecīs imbutūs, idōneus artī cuilibet; argillā quidvīs imitāberis ūdā; quīn etiam canet indoctum sed dulce bibentī.[…]'Florus, faithful friend to the good and famous Tiberius Claudius Nero, if someone by chance wanted to sell you a slave born at Tibur or Gabii, and dealt with you thus: 'This one will become white and beautiful from top to the lowest ankles and will be yours for eight thousand sesterces, a home-born slave apt for tasks at the master's nod, somewhat initiated in Greek learning, fitting for any trade; you'll model whatever you will in wet clay; moreover, he'll also sing, artlessly but sweetly, to you when you drink. […]20 BCE – 14 BCE, Horatius, Epistulae 2.2.1–9
   […]vix in cortīnā quisquam adsistat quīn elementīs studiōrum, etsī nōn instrūctus, at certē imbūtus sit[…][…] hardly does anyone stand in the circle of hearers who isn't, if not instructed, but surely familiarised with the elements of study […]c. 102 CE, Tacitus, Dialogus de oratoribus 19.5

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Conjugation conjugation 3

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

opinionibus falsis imbui

to be imbibing false opinions.

superstitione imbutum esse

to be tinged with superstition.

primis litterarum elementis imbui

to receive the first elements of a liberal education.

dialecticis ne imbutum quidem esse

to be ignorant of even the elements of logic.

litteris leviter imbutum or tinctum esse

to have received a superficial education.

imbuere (vid. sect. VII. 7, note imbuere...) pectora religione

to inspire with religious feeling, with the fear of God.

multarum rerum cognitione imbutum esse (opp. litterarum or eruditionis expertem esse or \[rerum\] rudem esse)

to be well-informed, erudite.

Origins

Back-formation from the past participle imbūtus, itself from Proto-Italic *enðūtos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁en-dʰh₁-u-h₁-tós, an instrumental-based participial derivative of *h₁en (“in”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to do, place”) + *-us + *-tós.