Ex*tract" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Extracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Extracting.] [L. extractus, p. p. of extrahere to extract; ex out + trahere to draw. See Trace, and cf. Estreat.] 1. To draw out or forth; to pull out; to remove forcibly from a fixed position, as by traction or suction, etc.; as, to extract a tooth from its socket, a stump from the earth, a splinter from the finger.
The bee
Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.
Milton.
2. To withdraw by expression, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process; as, to extract an essence. Cf. Abstract, v. t., 6.
Sunbeams may be extracted from cucumbers, but the process is tedious.
3. To take by selection; to choose out; to cite or quote, as a passage from a book.
I have extracted out of that pamphlet a few notorious falsehoods.
Swift.
To extract the root Math., to ascertain the root of a number or quantity.
© Webster 1913.
Ex"tract` (?), n. 1. That which is extracted or drawn out.
2. A portion of a book or document, separately transcribed; a citation; a quotation.
3. A decoction, solution, or infusion made by drawing out from any substance that which gives it its essential and characteristic virtue; essence; as, extract of beef; extract of dandelion; also, any substance so extracted, and characteristic of that from which it is obtained; as, quinine is the most important extract of Peruvian bark.
4. Med. A solid preparation obtained by evaporating a solution of a drug, etc., or the fresh juice of a plant; -- distinguished from an abstract. See Abstract, n., 4.
5. Old Chem. A peculiar principle once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts; -- called also the extractive principle. [Obs.]
6. Extraction; descent. [Obs.]
South.
7. ScotsLaw A draught or copy of writing; certified copy of the proceedings in an action and the judgement therein, with an order for execution.
Tomlins.
Fluid extract Med., a concentrated liquid preparation, containing a definite proportion of the active principles of a medicinal substance. At present a fluid gram of extract should represent a gram of the crude drug.
© Webster 1913. | 
