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.-to withdraw by expression, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process; as, to extract an essence.  cf. abstract, v. t., 6.-to take by selection; to choose out; to cite or quote, as a passage from a book.-that which is extracted or drawn out.-a portion of a book or document, separately transcribed; a citation; a quotation.-a decoction, solution, or infusion made by drawing out from any substance that which gives it its essential and characteristic virtue; essence; as, extract of beef; extract of dandelion; also, any substance so extracted, and characteristic of that from which it is obtained; as, quinine is the most important extract of peruvian bark.-a solid preparation obtained by evaporating a solution of a drug, etc., or the fresh juice of a plant; -- distinguished from an abstract. see abstract, n., 4.-a peculiar principle once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts; -- called also the extractive principle.-extraction; descent.-a draught or copy of writing; certified copy of the proceedings in an action and the judgement therein, with an order for execution.