n A portion of a book or document, incorporated distinctly in another work; 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.
n (obsolete) A peculiar principle (fundamental essence) once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts; -- called also the extractive principle.
n A draft or copy of writing; a certified copy of the proceedings in an action and the judgment therein, with an order for execution.
v (transitive) 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 (transitive) To withdraw by expression, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process; as, to extract an essence. Compare abstract, transitive verb.
v (transitive) To take by selection; to choose out; to cite or quote, as a passage from a book.
v (transitive|arithmetic) To determine (a root of a number).