Also 6 -track. [f. L. subtract-, pa. ppl. stem of subtrahĕre (whence OF. subtraire, It. sottrarre, Pg. subtrahir) f. sub- SUB- 25 + trahĕre to draw, carry. See also SUBSTRACT.]
1. trans. To withdraw or withhold (a thing that is or may be used or enjoyed). Obs. exc. arch.
1548. Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI., c. 13 § 13. Yf anye person doe subtracte or withdrawe any manner of tithes.
1559–60. MS. Cott. Calig. B. IX. Let not men … move zow to subtract zour helping hand.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 588. They did not subtract from them their ciuill obedience or counted them from that day forward, no longer to be their kings.
1607. Statutes, in Hist. Wakefield Gram. Sch. (1892), 69. To subtract so much of the Ushers wages.
1846. Grote, Greece, I. iii. I. 105. His ill will is thus raised, and he tries to subtract from man the use of fire.
† 2. To remove from a place or position. Obs.
1574. Reg. Privy Council Scot., Ser. I. II. 374. The merchandis … traffiquand betuix Berwick and Edinburgh salbe subtractit and withdrawin.
1640. Bp. Hall, Episc., II. vii. 187. And yet none of the ancient burdens subtracted.
1659. Bp. Pearson, Creed (1839), 303. Should we imagine Christ to anticipate the time of death, and to subtract his soul from future torments necessary to cause an expiration.
1676. Glanvill, Ess. Philos. & Relig., III. 27. Let him then subtract his Finger, and he will perceive the Quicksilver to descend from the Tube into the subjacent Vessel.
b. refl.
c. 1540. Bellenden’s Livy (S.T.S.), I. 8 (MS. A). To subtract [MS. B substract] me fra sicht of sic miserijs as oft occurris in to oure dayis.
1657. J. Sergeant, Schism Dispach’t, 74. If they … would subtract themselves from her obedience. Ibid., 511. Whoever subtracts himself from a former actuall governour.
1889. Healy, in Daily News, 28 Feb., 4/2. I simply wish to ask … whether steps will be taken … to prevent Houston from subtracting himself from the jurisdiction of one of her Majesty’s Courts?
3. Math. To take away or deduct (one quantity from, † out of another): see SUBTRACTION 3. Also absol. or intr.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., K ij. Wherfore I subtract 16. out of 18.
1574. W. Bourne, Regiment for Sea, xx. (1577), 53. Subtract or take away the stars declination from the heigth.
1652. News fr. Low Countr., 8. Podex can … Adde, Multiply, Subtract, Divide.
1774. M. Mackenzie, Maritime Surv., 62. Subtract the Complement of the Declination from the half Sum, and take the Remainder.
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., 72. Remembering to subtract at the last step instead of adding.
1882. Minchin, Unipl. Kinemat., 53. We should get a better approximation still by subtracting the temperature at 12 from the temperature at 1 second past 12, and multiplying the difference by 3600.
b. transf. and fig.
a. 1676. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man. (1677), 123. What is so subtracted or subducted out of the extent of the Divine Perfection, leaves still a Quotient, if I may so call it, Infinite.
1838. [F. Haywood], trans. Kant’s Crit. Pure Reason, 415. A law of the understanding, from which it is permitted to deviate under no pretence, or therefrom to subtract any phenomenon.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, ix. The transient pink flush … subtracted nothing from her majesty.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 474. That is what I suppose you to say,… you may, if you wish, add or subtract anything.
Hence Subtracting vbl. sb.
1691. Ray, Creation, I. (1692), 109. The same Swallow by the subtracting daily of her Eggs proceeded to lay nineteen successively.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 46. there is to be no adding or subtracting.
