soak up

Typically green, plants generally stay rooted, soaking up solar energy and converting it to chemical energy.

It feeds into the notion of the classic, archetypal 'away goal' - soak up pressure, win the ball back and hit the home side on the break.

It typically takes three to six weeks for vegetation like chaparral and coastal sage to soak up moisture from rainfall, Hall said.

While Panama closely co-operates with the US on many issues, Mr Rubio's visit is meant to signal the administration's intolerance of countries soaking up Chinese investment in what the US sees as its own backyard.

Whatever was happening, even when they were soaking up pressure, Arsenal still had the energy to launch dangerous counter-attacks, and they ended up overpowering City.