1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Extract \Ex*tract"\, verb (used with an object) [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}, verb (used with an object), 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.
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