[f. L. extract- ppl. stem of extrahĕre, f. ex- out + trahĕre to draw. Cf. Fr. extraire.] To draw out.
1. trans. In general sense: ‘To draw out of any containing body or cavity’ (J.).
Now only with some notion of one or other of the more specific senses.
1570. Levins, Manip., 6/25. To Extract, extrahere.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., III. ii. 50. Is there none of Pigmalions Images … to bee had now, for putting the hand in the pocket, and extracting [it] clutch’d?
1684. T. Burnet, Th. Earth, I. vii. 83. If these waters were any way extracted and laid upon the surface of the ground, nothing would be gain’d as to the Deluge by that.
2. ‘To take from something of which the thing taken was a part’ (J.).
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 56. They had whole mountaines of excellent blacke Marble … out of which the Imperiall Palace was extracted and cut out.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 497. I now see … my self Before me; Woman is her Name, of Man Extracted.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 258. Freeholders; whose estates were afterwards extracted out of the demesnes of the manor.
b. esp. To copy out (a passage in a book, etc.); also, to make extracts from (a book).
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 266. Finding nothing of substance in him [Gesner], which is not … extracted … by them.
1724. Swift, Drapier’s Lett., iv. I have thought it proper to extract out of that Pamphlet a few of these notorious Falsehoods.
1798. Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, ii. 43. I extract the following passages as specimens.
1838–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., I. iii. 1. § 8. 149. The treatise was … abridged, extracted and even turned into verse.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., I. iv. § 13. 273. It will be convenient to extract entire the section devoted to this subject in Müller’s Physiology.
c. Sc. Law. To take out a copy of (a recorded judgment) with a view to execution. Also † To extract forth. Cf. ESTREAT v.
1597. Sc. Acts Jas. VI., 177 b. Collected … and extracted foorth of the Bukes and Register of the Actes of Parliament.
1606. [see EXTRACT sb. 5 b].
1681. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 94. He forg’d records, and them enacted To bear false witness, when extracted.
1752. J. Louthian, Form of Process, App. (ed. 2), 266. The Expence of extracting the Protestation.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, xx. The subalterns, who … recorded and extracted the decrees of the Supreme Court.
1868. Act 31–32 Vict., c. 100 § 57. Notwithstanding that the Interlocutor of the Lord Ordinary may have been extracted and put to Execution.
absol. 1751. Act Sederunt 4 Jan., heading, Prohibition by the Lords against Agents to extract, or Extractors to agent.
3. To get out (the contents of anything) by force, effort or contrivance; to take out (anything embedded or firmly fixed). Often with reference to surgical operations, dentistry, and the like.
1628. Wither, Brit. Rememb., 219 b. Upon Argeir we had a faire designe, That much extracted from our silver Mine.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, IV. (1723), 215. The … mineral Matter … is … so diffused … amongst the crasser matter … that ’twould never be possible to separate and extract it.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 428. The Stone in the Bladder is not only a painful, but a mortal Disease, if not extracted.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 210. After many fruitless attempts to extract an arrow.
1794. S. Williams, Vermont, 190. One of these customs, was that of extracting their beards by the roots.
1807–26. S. Cooper, First Lines Surgery (ed. 5), 158. Army surgeons … always … extract the ball as soon as possible.
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 112. One of the best … anglers in England … had only been able to extract three of its inhabitants.
1841. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 80. He took out a knife, and picked at the lead until he extracted it from the bottle.
1878. L. P. Meredith, Teeth, 127. Fractures in attempts to extract teeth, often expose the pulp.
b. fig.; esp. to draw forth (a confession, money, etc.) against a person’s will.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, Wks. 1883–4, V. 297. And there [by torture] eyther tear him limbe from limbe, but hee will extract some capitall confession from him.
1670. Marvell, Corr., cl. Wks. 1872–5, II. 328. I had writ sooner could I have extracted out of Sir Philip … anything which I thought materiall.
1765. H. Walpole, Otranto, v. (1798), 78. He used every insinuating … argument to extract her consent.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1116. He had extracted the last extractable halfpenny.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Three Ages, iii. 93. Nothing could be extracted from him relative to his former associates.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xvi. 108. I … tried to extract some direct encouragement from him.
4. To obtain (constituent elements, juices, etc.) from a thing or substance by suction, pressure, distillation, or any chemical or mechanical operation. Said both of personal and material agents. † Also intr. for refl. (obs. rare).
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., Chem. Concl., 3. The maner of drawing, or extracting of the oiles out of hearbes.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 645. Out of the Ashes of all Plants they extract a Salt, which they vse in Medicines.
1641. French, Distill., i. (1651), 33. Let the Spirit extract in digestion till no more feces fall to the bottom.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 25. How the Bee Sits on the Bloom extracting liquid sweet.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 97. Distil then with water … till all the spirits are extracted.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 444. Filter the liquor, wash the sediment with water, till it ceases to extract any thing.
1853. Soyer, Pantroph., 131. When the cook wanted to extract the salt, he first boiled the meat well in milk.
1875. Ure’s Dict. Arts, III. 1146. The skins being present, the wine which is in process of formation extracts tannic acid from the skins.
absol. 1651. Biggs, New Disp., ¶ 79. You labour stoutly in extracting after the manner introduc’d by Neotericks.
b. fig.; esp. to obtain (comfort, pleasure, happiness) from a specified source; also, to draw out (the sense of anything); to deduce (a doctrine, principle, right, etc.).
1596. Davies, Orchestra, ciii. He [Love] first extracted from th’ earth-mingled mind That heau’nly fire, or quintessence diuine.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. ii. 101. May it be possible, that forraigne hyer Could out of thee extract one sparke of euill?
1719. Young, Busiris, IV. i. To see us act like prudent men, And out of ills extract our happiness.
1775. Johnson, Tax. no Tyr., 44. No general right can be extracted from them [the charters].
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 317, note. In whatever situation he was placed he [Franklin] extracted something useful for himself or others.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, I. iii. [He] means to extract the utmost possible amount of pleasure … out of this life.
1890. Ld. Esher, in Law Times Rep., LXIII. 693/2. It is sought by this defendant to extract from that case this doctrine, that [etc.].
5. Math. To extract the root of a number or quantity: to obtain the root by a mathematical process. Also † To extract (a quantity): to find the root of.
1571. Digges, Pantom., II. xxii. P ij. From the quotient thereof … extracte the quadrate roote.
1676. Glanvill, Ess., iii. 13. The Method of Extracting Roots in the most numerous Æquations.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Extraction, To extract the root out of a given power, is the same thing as [etc.].
1827. Hutton, Course Math., I. 86. Mixed numbers may be … extracted by the first or second rule. Ibid., I. 89. Extract the cube root of 571482·19.
6. Occasional uses after Lat. or Fr.
† a. To take away, withdraw. Obs.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 60. O Lorde, I have bene wicked, and justlie may thow extract thy grace from me. Ibid., 333. By your faynting, and by extracting of your support, the enimeis ar incoraged.
† b. Only in passive: To be derived or descended. Const. from, of. Obs. Cf. EXTRACTION 5.
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn, xxi. 71. He is a man come of a grete house and extracted of hyghe parentage.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., I. 95/1. Of the first, the kings of Kent were lineallie extracted.
1605. Camden, Rem., 13. This English tongue extracted out of the olde German … is mixed.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. (1843), I. 5/1. The enriching a private family, (how well soever originally extracted).
1678. Wanley, Wond. Lit. World, V. ii. § 70. 471/2. Michael the eighth … extracted from the Comnenian Emperours.
† c. To ‘derive,’ affirm to be derived from a specified origin. Obs.
1634. W. Tirwhyt, trans. Balzac’s Lett., 341. It onely angers me, that out of the poorest part of Rhetoricke receiued among the ancients, they will needes extract all ours.
