Extract \Ex*tract"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Extracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Extracting.]

[L. extractus, p. p. of extrahere to extract; ex out + trahere to draw. See Trace, and cf. Estreat.]

1. 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.

The bee Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet. --Milton.

2. To withdraw by expression, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process; as, to extract an essence. Cf. Abstract, v. t., 6.

Sunbeams may be extracted from cucumbers, but the process is tedious.

3. To take by selection; to choose out; to cite or quote, as a passage from a book.

I have extracted out of that pamphlet a few notorious falsehoods. --Swift.

To extract the root (Math.), to ascertain the root of a number or quantity.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)