To draw out; withdraw; take or get out; pull out or remove from a fixed position, literally or figuratively.To separate or eliminate, as a constituent part from the whole, as by distillation or heat, or other chemical or physical means: as, to extract spirit from cane-juice, or salt from sea-water.Hence Figuratively, to obtain as if by distillation or chemical action; draw or bring out by some process: as, to extract pleasure from a quiet life; to extract instruction from adversity.To pick out or select; segregate, as from a collection, or from a book or writing.n. That which is extracted or drawn out.n. Anything drawn from a substance by distillation, heat, solution, or other chemical or physical process, as an essence or tincture.n. Hence A concentration of the principles or elements of anything; a condensed embodiment or representation.n. In chem., a peculiar principle once supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts. Also called the extractive principle.n. In lit., a passage taken from a book or writing; an excerpt; a citation; a quotation.n. Extraction; descent; origin.n. In Scots law, a copy, authenticated by the proper officer, of a deed, writing, or other entry, the principal of which is in a public record, or a transcript of which taken from the principal has been preserved in a public record.n. Shoddy or loose wool fiber, obtained by tearing apart old cloth, from which the cotton or other vegetable fiber has been removed by means of acids and heat.