Definition of "extract" in English

noun

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.

verb

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

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

3. (transitive) To choose out; to cite or quote, for example a passage from a text.

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.