v. & n.
v.tr. 1 remove or take out, esp. by effort or force (anything firmly rooted). 2 obtain (money, an admission, etc.) with difficulty or against a person's will. 3 obtain (a natural resource) from the earth. 4 select or reproduce for quotation or performance (a passage of writing, music, etc.). 5 obtain (juice etc.) by suction, pressure, distillation, etc. 6 derive (pleasure etc.). 7 Math. find (the root of a number). 8 archaic deduce (a principle etc.).
n. 1 a short passage taken from a book, piece of music, etc.; an excerpt. 2 a preparation containing the active principle of a substance in concentrated form (malt extract). extractable adj. extractability n.
[ L extrahere extract- (as EX-(1), trahere draw) ]