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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Distract \Dis*tract"\, adjective [L. distractus, p. p. of distrahere to draw asunder; dis- + trahere to draw. See {Trace}, and cf. {Distraught}.]
1. Separated; drawn asunder. [Obs.]
2. Insane; mad. [Obs.] --Drayton.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Distract \Dis*tract"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Distracted}, old p. p. {Distraught}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Distracting}.]
1. To draw apart or away; to divide; to disjoin.
A city . . . distracted from itself. --Fuller.
2. To draw (the sight, mind, or attention) in different directions; to perplex; to confuse; as, to distract the eye; to distract the attention.
Mixed metaphors . . . distract the imagination. --Goldsmith.
3. To agitate by conflicting passions, or by a variety of motives or of cares; to confound; to harass.
Horror and doubt distract His troubled thoughts. --Milton.
4. To unsettle the reason of; to render insane; to craze; to madden; -- most frequently used in the participle, distracted.
A poor mad soul; . . . poverty hath distracted her. --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
distract
verb
1: draw someone's attention away from something; "The thief distracted the bystanders"; "He deflected his competitors" [syn: {deflect}]
2: disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed; "She was rather perturbed by the news that her father was seriously ill" [syn: {perturb}, {unhinge}, {disquiet}, {trouble}, {cark}, {disorder}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
80 Moby Thesaurus words for "distract": absorb, addle, agitate, amuse, ball up, befuddle, beguile, bemuse, bewilder, blunt, bother, bug, call away, chill, confound, confuse, convulse, cool, craze, damp, dampen, daze, deflect, delight, dement, derange, deter, detract, detract attention, disaffect, discompose, disconcert, discourage, disincline, disinterest, disturb, divert, divert the mind, drive insane, drive mad, embroil, engross, entertain, fluster, frenzy, fuddle, gratify, indispose, interest, mad, madden, make mad, mix up, mystify, occupy, perplex, perturb, psych, put off, puzzle, quench, rattle, repel, send mad, shatter, sidetrack, spook, throw, throw into confusion, throw off, trouble, turn aside, turn away, turn from, turn off, unbalance, unhinge, unsettle, upset, wean from
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