extracts

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of extract.

   The anthology gathers extracts from a dozen lesser-known poets.

   Bakers often rely on vanilla and almond extracts to deepen flavor.

   Note

   One spelling, two parts of speech. As a noun plural it names passages lifted from a longer text or concentrated substances drawn from a source, and the same letters also serve as the verb's present form. Context tells them apart: extracts from his diary is a noun, while she extracts the juice is a verb. In older pharmacy an extract was a solid preparation, kept distinct from an abstract.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of extract.

   The software extracts key figures from each report automatically.

   A skilled negotiator extracts concessions without raising her voice.

   Note

   A verb form that never stands alone. Every use is transitive, so something is always drawn out and an object must follow: a dentist extracts a tooth, a press extracts oil, a calculation extracts a square root. Mathematics keeps its own idiom here, where one extracts a root rather than simply finding it. For the chemical process of withdrawal, abstract is the older near-equivalent worth comparing.

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