extract

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin extractum, neuter perfect passive participle of extrahō, from ex- (out of) + trahō (I drag).

Pronunciation

  • (noun): enPR: ĕks'trăkt, IPA(key): /ˈɛkstɹækt/
    • (file)
  • (verb): enPR: ĭkstrăkt', IPA(key): /ɪksˈtɹækt/, IPA(key): /ɛksˈtɹækt/
    • (file)
    • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

extract (plural extracts)

  1. Something that is extracted or drawn out.
  2. A portion of a book or document, incorporated distinctly in another work; a citation; a quotation.
    I used an extract of Hemingway's book to demonstrate culture shock.
  3. A decoction, solution, or infusion made by drawing out from any substance that which gives it its essential and characteristic virtue
    vanilla extract
    extract of beef
    extract of dandelion
  4. Any substance extracted is such a way, and characteristic of that from which it is obtained
    quinine is the most important extract of Peruvian bark.
  5. A solid preparation obtained by evaporating a solution of a drug, etc., or the fresh juice of a plant (distinguished from an abstract).
  6. (obsolete) A peculiar principle (fundamental essence) once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts.
  7. Ancestry; descent.
  8. A draft or copy of writing; a certified copy of the proceedings in an action and the judgment therein, with an order for execution.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Verb

extract (third-person singular simple present extracts, present participle extracting, simple past extracted, past participle extracted or (archaic) extraught)

  1. (transitive) To draw out; to pull out; to remove forcibly from a fixed position, as by traction or suction, etc.
    to extract a tooth from its socket, a stump from the earth, or a splinter from the finger
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC:
      The bee / Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.
    • 2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
      The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).
  2. (transitive) To withdraw by squeezing, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process. Compare abstract (transitive verb).
    to extract an essential oil from a plant
    • 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:
      Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
  3. (transitive) To choose out; to cite or quote, for example a passage from a text.
    • 1724, Jonathan Swift, “Drapier's Letters”, in 4:
      I have thought it proper to extract out of that pamphlet a few of those notorious falsehoods.
    • 1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 332:
      As his work is probably not easily accessible to many of my readers, I shall perhaps consult their convenience by extracting his description entire.
  4. (transitive) To select parts of a whole
    We need to try to extract the positives from the defeat.
  5. (transitive, arithmetic) To determine (a root of a number).
    Please extract the cube root of 27.
    • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:
      [] Mr. Nackybal was thoroughly examined, both in cubing and extracting, from the table that Louit had provided.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for extract”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch extract, from Latin extractum.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛksˈtrɑkt/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: ex‧tract
  • Rhymes: -ɑkt

Noun

extract n (plural extracten)

  1. extract, decoction
    Synonym: aftreksel
  2. (obsolete) abridgement of a text
    Synonym: uittreksel

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Indonesian: ekstrak

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin extractus.

Noun

extract n (plural extracte)

  1. extract

Declension

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