Definition of extract

• v. t. - 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.
• v. t. - To withdraw by expression, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process; as, to extract an essence. Cf. Abstract, v. t., 6.
• v. t. - To take by selection; to choose out; to cite or quote, as a passage from a book.
• n. - That which is extracted or drawn out.
• n. - A portion of a book or document, separately transcribed; a citation; a quotation.
• n. - 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.
• n. - 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.
• n. - A peculiar principle once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts; -- called also the extractive principle.
• n. - Extraction; descent.
• n. - A draught or copy of writing; certified copy of the proceedings in an action and the judgement therein, with an order for execution.