extract

plural extracts

1. Something that is extracted or drawn out.

   Synonyms: extraction

2. A portion of a book, document, recording etc. incorporated distinctly in another work (for written or spoken words, synonymous to 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

   2 more examples

   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. obsoleteA peculiar principle (fundamental essence) once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts.

   Synonyms: extractive principle

7. Ancestry; descent.

   Synonyms: origin, extraction

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.

present singular third person extracts · participle present extracting · past extracted · participle past extracted · archaic participle past extraught

1. transitiveTo 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

   3 more examples

   The bee / Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.

   1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   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).

   2013 August 3, “Yesterday's fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847

   There is, in fact, growing recognition in the Department that giving free rein to the open access operators will extract revenue from Great British Railways.

   2025 March 5, Christian Wolmar, “GBR: just how clear are the government's objectives?”, in RAIL, number 1030, page 41

   Synonyms: outdraw

2. transitiveTo withdraw by squeezing, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process. Compare abstract (transitive verb).

   to extract an essential oil from a plant

   2 more examples

   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.

   2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3

   The company — which operates four locations in the Bay Area — sources black tea and several varieties of oolong from Taiwan, and brews each cup individually using proprietary machines designed to extract tea at precise temperatures and pressures.

   2026 August 15, Irene Adeline Milanez, “We tasted boba from some of the Bay Area’s most popular chains. Here’s our No. 1”, in San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2026

3. transitiveTo pick out; to cite or reproduce a snippet of

   extract a line from a song.

   5 more examples

   extract a passage from a text.

   extract a clip from a video

   extract the drum parts from an mp3.

   I have thought it proper to extract out of that pamphlet a few of those notorious falsehoods.

   1724, Jonathan Swift, “Drapier's Letters”, in 4

   As his work is probably not easily accessible to many of my readers, I shall perhaps consult their convenience by extracting his description entire.

   1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 332

4. transitiveTo select parts of a whole

   We need to try to extract the positives from the defeat.

   Synonyms: sunder out

5. transitivearithmeticTo determine (a root of a number).

   Please extract the cube root of 27.

   1 more example

   […] Mr. Nackybal was thoroughly examined, both in cubing and extracting, from the table that Louit had provided.

   1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC