Blackened lead articles to soak (5)
I believe the answer is:
bathe
'to soak' is the definition.
(I know that bathe is a more specific form of imbue)
'blackened lead articles' is the wordplay.
'lead' indicates taking the first letters.
'articles' becomes 'a the' ('a' and 'the', indefinite and definite articles).
The initial letter of 'blackened' is 'b'.
'b'+'athe'='BATHE'
(Other definitions for bathe that I've seen before include "Go swimming" , "Swim in sea" , "Immerse in liquid for wash" , "plunge" , "Suffuse" .)