Verb for "study hard"

Question

How can the process of studying something intensively be described in one word?

The closest I can think of is cramming, but that has connotations of not actually caring about the subject in question, trying to do the least sufficient amount of work. Even though most people indeed tend to study hard in this fashion, it is also possible to be deeply interested in the subject, striving to understand and internalize all the details.

Example:

The amount of knowledge that had become available to him was astounding, and he spent almost all of his free time [studying hard] in the university library.

Answer 1

A term that common for learning a new language, but could be used for any field of study, is immerse:

he immersed himself in [or into] his studies

or

he immersed himself in the library books

---

Oxford Dictionaries:

("immerse oneself" or "be immersed") Involve oneself deeply in a particular activity or interest.
‘she immersed herself in her work’
‘she was still immersed in her thoughts’

American Heritage Dictionary:

To engage wholly or deeply; absorb: scholars who immerse themselves in their subjects.

Collins English Dictionary:

• If you immerse yourself in something that you are doing, you become completely involved in it.
  Since then I've lived alone and immersed myself in my career.
  He's really becoming immersed in his work.
• to involve deeply; engross
  to immerse oneself in a problem

Macmillan Dictionary – immerse yourself in something:

to spend most of your time doing something or thinking about it
Sandra immersed herself in work to try and forget her problems at home.

Answer 2

You can use research to indicate deep study of a topic.

1 :careful or diligent search
2 :studious inquiry or examination; ...
3 :the collecting of information about a particular subject
_{Merriam-Webster}

So in your sentence:

The amount of knowledge that had become available to him was astounding, and he spent almost all of his free time researching in the university library.

Answer 3

There is a British word "swot" that means "to study hard" as a verb, but I believe that it is considered slang in Britain and is definitely an uncommon Briticism in the U.S.

"She pored over her text" means she studied her text hard, but it is not one word and requires an object. He "hit the books" has a similar meaning and similar limitation.

"Lucubrate" does not literally mean "to study hard" but may be used metaphorically to mean "to think or study hard."

Answer 4

Lucubrate: to work, write, or study laboriously, especially at night.

Excogitate: to study intently and carefully in order to grasp or comprehend fully.

Answer 5

You can use mug up means to study intensively.

• The amount of knowledge that had become available to him was astounding, and he spent almost all of his free time mugging up in the university library

• Source https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mug%20up

Answer 6

you can use:
laborious (adjective)
nerd (noun/adjective)

Answer 7

The word you are looking for is slog.

For the sake of completion, I googled it and the meaning is, work hard over a period of time. Example: They were slogging to meet the deadline.

In your case,

...he spent almost all of his free time slogging in the university library.