Etymology Borrowed from Latin immersus, from immergō, from in + mergō.
1
To place within a fluid (generally a liquid, but also a gas).
Archimedes determined the volume of objects by immersing them in water.
... the two plates of platinum immersed in oxygen and hydrogen gases1883, The Electrical Journal, page 501:
2 more examples
Even after the process of germination has taken place, if the young plant be immersed in an atmosphere of either of those gases [hydrogen and nitrogen], vegetation and life will immediately cease.1841, William Rhind, A history of the vegetable kingdom, page 110:
The buoyant force of the atmospheric air on solids and liquids immersed in it is for most purposes negligible compared to the weight of solid or liquid, ...1955, George Shortley, Dudley Williams, Elements of Physics for Students of Science and Engineering:
2
To involve or engage deeply.
The sculptor immersed himself in anatomic studies.
Thus, in mathematical terms a Klein bottle cannot be "embedded" but only "immersed" in three dimensions as an embedding has no self-intersections but an immersion may have them.2002, Kari Jormakka, Flying Dutchmen: Motion in Architecture, page 40:
After a long enquiry of things immerse in matter, I interpose some object which is immateriate, or less materiate; such as this of sounds.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC: