Definition of: immerse

(i·mûrs′) v.t. ·mersed, ·mers·ing
1. To plunge or dip entirely in water or other fluid.
2. To involve deeply; engross: He immersed himself in study.
3. To baptize by immersion. [<L immersus, pp. of immergere dip] Synonyms: bury, dip, douse, duck, immerge, plunge, sink, submerge. Dip is a native word, while immerse is a Latin borrowing; dip is accordingly the more popular and commonplace, immerse the more elegant and dignified expression in many cases. To speak of baptism by immersion as dipping now seems rude, but was entirely proper and usual in early English. Baptists now universally use the word immerse. To dip and to immerse alike signify to bury or submerge some object in a liquid; but dip implies that the object dipped is at once removed from the liquid. Immerse suggests more absolute completeness of the action; one may dip his sleeve or dip a sponge in a liquid, if he but touches the edge; if he immerses it, he completely sinks it under, and covers it with the liquid. Submerge implies that the object cannot readily be removed, if at all; as, a submerged wreck. To plunge is to immerse suddenly and violently, for which douse and duck are colloquial terms. Dip is used, also, unlike the other words, to denote the putting of a hollow vessel into a liquid in order to remove a portion of it; in this sense we say dip up, dip out. Compare synonyms for BURY¹.