ENGROSS

To print a final copy of a document. In archaiccriminal law, engrossment was the process of forcing higher the price of a good by buying it up and creating amonopoly.

Engrossment was used in ancient law where the method of drawing up a written deed or contract involved working out a rough draft and then having the final terms of the instrument copied legibly onto parchment paper. Today the term denotes modern forms of copying, including engraving or any other such form of printing that will provide a legible final copy.

Engrossment is also used to describe a step in the enactment of statutes. During the legislative process, a bill may be debated, read, altered, or amended until it is ultimately passed in a final form. The process of engrossing is the printing of an act in its final form and its enrollment.

en·gross / enˈgrōs/ • v. [tr.] 1. absorb all the attention or interest of: the notes totally engrossed him.2. Law produce (a legal document) in its final or definitive form.

en·gross·ing / enˈgrōsing/ • adj. absorbing all one's attention or interest: the most engrossing parts of the book.DERIVATIVES: en·gross·ing·ly adv.

engross
A. †buy up wholesale XIV; †get together XVI; gain or keep exclusive possession of, occupy exclusively XVII;

B. write in large letters, as in legal documents XV. — AN. engrosser and AL. ingrossāre, in sense A f. phrs. en gros and in grossō in the lump, by wholesale, in sense B f. en in + OF. grosse, medL. grossa large writing; see GROSS2.