Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Extract?

\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.
\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. (Scots Law) 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.