Meaning of 'extract' (Webster Dictionary)
- That which is extracted or drawn out.
- A portion of a book or document, separately transcribed; a
citation; a quotation.
- 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.
- 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.
- A peculiar principle once erroneously supposed to form the
basis of all vegetable extracts; -- called also the extractive
principle.
- Extraction; descent.
- A draught or copy of writing; certified copy of the
proceedings in an action and the judgement therein, with an order for
execution.
- 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.
- To withdraw by expression, distillation, or other
mechanical or chemical process; as, to extract an essence. Cf.
Abstract, v. t., 6.
- To take by selection; to choose out; to cite or quote,
as a passage from a book.
Meaning of 'extract' (Princeton's WordNet)
Meaning (1):
- a passage selected from a larger work
Example in sentence:- he presented excerpts from William James' philosophical writings
Meaning (2):
- extract by the process of distillation
Example in sentence:- distill the essence of this compound
Meaning (3):
- remove, usually with some force or effort; also used in an abstract sense
Example in sentence:- extract a bad tooth;
- extract information from the telegram;
- pull weeds;
- take out a splinter
Meaning (4):
- get despite difficulties or obstacles
Example in sentence:- I extracted a promise from the Dean for two new positions
Meaning (5):
- obtain from a substance, as by mechanical action
Example in sentence:- Italians express coffee rather than filter it
Meaning (6):
- deduce (a principle) or construe (a meaning)
Example in sentence:- We drew out some interesting linguistic data from the native informant
Definition
[ n.]