From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abstract \Ab*stract"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Abstracted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Abstracting}.] [See {Abstract}, adjective]
1. To withdraw; to separate; to take away.
He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices. --Sir W. Scott.
2. To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects.
The young stranger had been abstracted and silent. --Blackw. Mag.
3. To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute. --Whately.
4. To epitomize; to abridge. --Franklin.
5. To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till.
Von Rosen had quietly abstracted the bearing-reins from the harness. --W. Black.
6. (Chem.) To separate, as the more volatile or soluble parts of a substance, by distillation or other chemical processes. In this sense extract is now more generally used.
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