n. [ Cf. F. abstraction. See Abstract, a. ] 1. The act of abstracting, separating, or withdrawing, or the state of being withdrawn; withdrawal. [ 1913 Webster ]

A wrongful abstraction of wealth from certain members of the community. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Metaph.) The act process of leaving out of consideration one or more properties of a complex object so as to attend to others; analysis. Thus, when the mind considers the form of a tree by itself, or the color of the leaves as separate from their size or figure, the act is called abstraction. So, also, when it considers whiteness, softness, virtue, existence, as separate from any particular objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Abstraction is necessary to classification, by which things are arranged in genera and species. We separate in idea the qualities of certain objects, which are of the same kind, from others which are different, in each, and arrange the objects having the same properties in a class, or collected body. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abstraction is no positive act: it is simply the negative of attention. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An idea or notion of an abstract, or theoretical nature; as, to fight for mere abstractions. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A separation from worldly objects; a recluse life; as, a hermit's abstraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Absence or absorption of mind; inattention to present objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The taking surreptitiously for one's own use part of the property of another; purloining. [ Modern ] [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Chem.) A separation of volatile parts by the act of distillation. Nicholson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to abstraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An idealist. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. attractio: cf. F. attraction. ] 1. (Physics) An invisible power in a body by which it draws anything to itself; the power in nature acting mutually between bodies or ultimate particles, tending to draw them together, or to produce their cohesion or combination, and conversely resisting separation. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Attraction is exerted at both sensible and insensible distances, and is variously denominated according to its qualities or phenomena. Under attraction at sensible distances, there are, -- (1.)
Attraction of gravitation, which acts at all distances throughout the universe, with a force proportional directly to the product of the masses of the bodies and inversely to the square of their distances apart. (2.)
Magnetic,
diamagnetic, and
electrical attraction, each of which is limited in its sensible range and is polar in its action, a property dependent on the quality or condition of matter, and not on its quantity. Under attraction at insensible distances, there are, -- (1.)
Adhesive attraction, attraction between surfaces of sensible extent, or by the medium of an intervening substance. (2.)
Cohesive attraction, attraction between ultimate particles, whether like or unlike, and causing simply an aggregation or a union of those particles, as in the absorption of gases by charcoal, or of oxygen by spongy platinum, or the process of solidification or crystallization. The power in adhesive attraction is strictly the same as that of cohesion. (3.)
Capillary attraction, attraction causing a liquid to rise, in capillary tubes or interstices, above its level outside, as in very small glass tubes, or a sponge, or any porous substance, when one end is inserted in the liquid. It is a special case of cohesive attraction. (4.)
Chemical attraction, or
affinity, that peculiar force which causes elementary atoms, or groups of atoms, to unite to form molecules. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act or property of attracting; the effect of the power or operation of attraction. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The power or act of alluring, drawing to, inviting, or engaging; an attractive quality; as, the attraction of beauty or eloquence. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. That which attracts; an attractive object or feature. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Allurement; enticement; charm. [ 1913 Webster ]

. 1. (Zool.) (a) The central mass of the aster in mitotic cell division; centrosphere. (b) Less often, the mass of archoplasm left by the aster in the resting cell. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Bot.) A small body situated on or near the nucleus in the cells of some of the lower plants, consisting of two centrospheres containing centrosomes. It exercises an important function in mitosis. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. contractio: cf. F. contraction. ] 1. The act or process of contracting, shortening, or shrinking; the state of being contracted; as, contraction of the heart, of the pupil of the eye, or of a tendon; the contraction produced by cold. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) The process of shortening an operation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of incurring or becoming subject to, as liabilities, obligation, debts, etc.; the process of becoming subject to; as, the contraction of a disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; -- as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Gram.) The shortening of a word, or of two words, by the omission of a letter or letters, or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one; as, ne'er for never; can't for can not; don't for do not; it's for it is. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A marriage contract. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a rival attraction. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. détraction, L. detractio. ] 1. A taking away or withdrawing. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The detraction of the eggs of the said wild fowl. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of taking away from the reputation or good name of another; a lessening or cheapening in the estimation of others; the act of depreciating another, from envy or malice; calumny.

Syn. -- Depreciation; disparagement; derogation; slander; calumny; aspersion; censure. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. distractio: cf. F. distraction. ] 1. The act of distracting; a drawing apart; separation. [ 1913 Webster ]

To create distractions among us. Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which diverts attention; a diversion. “Domestic distractions.” G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A diversity of direction; detachment. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

His power went out in such distractions as
Beguiled all species. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. State in which the attention is called in different ways; confusion; perplexity. [ 1913 Webster ]

That ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. 1 Cor. vii. 35. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Confusion of affairs; tumult; disorder; as, political distractions. [ 1913 Webster ]

Never was known a night of such distraction. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Agitation from violent emotions; perturbation of mind; despair. [ 1913 Webster ]

The distraction of the children, who saw both their parents together, would have melted the hardest heart. Tatler. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Derangement of the mind; madness. Atterbury.

Syn. -- Perplexity; confusion; disturbance; disorder; dissension; tumult; derangement; madness; raving; franticness; furiousness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. extraction. ] 1. The act of extracting, or drawing out; as, the extraction of a tooth, of a bone or an arrow from the body, of a stump from earth, of a passage from a book, of an essence or tincture. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Derivation from a stock or family; lineage; descent; birth; the stock from which one has descended. “A family of ancient extraction.” Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is extracted; extract; essence. [ 1913 Webster ]

They [ books ] do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The extraction of roots. (Math.) (a) The operation of finding the root of a given number or quantity. (b) The method or rule by which the operation is performed; evolution. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. protractio. ] 1. A drawing out, or continuing; the act of delaying the termination of a thing; prolongation; continuance; delay; as, the protraction of a debate. [ 1913 Webster ]

A protraction only of what is worst in life. Mallock. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Surv.) (a) The act or process of making a plot on paper. (b) A plot on paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. rétraction, L. retractio a drawing back, hesitation. ] 1. The act of retracting, or drawing back; the state of being retracted; as, the retraction of a cat's claws. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of withdrawing something advanced, stated, claimed, or done; declaration of change of opinion; recantation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Other men's insatiable desire of revenge hath wholly beguiled both church and state of the benefit of all my either retractions or concessions. Eikon Basilike. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Physiol.) (a) The act of retracting or shortening; as, the retraction of a severed muscle; the retraction of a sinew. (b) The state or condition of a part when drawn back, or towards the center of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. substraction, F. soustraction. See Subtract. ] 1. Subtraction; deduction. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) See Subtraction, 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. subtractio a drawing back. See Subtract, and cf. Substraction. ] 1. The act or operation of subtracting or taking away a part. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) The taking of a lesser number or quantity from a greater of the same kind or denomination; an operation for finding the difference between two numbers or quantities. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) The withdrawing or withholding from a person of some right to which he is entitled by law. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Thus the subtraction of conjugal rights is when either the husband or wife withdraws from the other and lives separate without sufficient reason. The subtraction of a legacy is the withholding or detailing of it from the legatee by the executor. In like manner, the withholding of any service, rent, duty, or custom, is a subtraction, for which the law gives a remedy. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. trahere, tractum, to draw: cf. F. traction. ] 1. The act of drawing, or the state of being drawn; as, the traction of a muscle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically, the act of drawing a body along a plane by motive power, as the drawing of a carriage by men or horses, the towing of a boat by a tug. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Attraction; a drawing toward. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The adhesive friction of a wheel on a rail, a rope on a pulley, or the like; as, the car is stuck in the snow because it can;t get any traction. Knight. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

Angle of traction (Mech.), the angle made with a given plane by the line of direction in which a tractive force acts. --
Traction engine, a locomotive for drawing vehicles on highways or in the fields. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or relating to traction. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Mach.) (a) A locomotive driving wheel which acts by friction adhesion to a smooth track. (b) A smooth-rimmed friction wheel for giving motion to an endless link belt or the like. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]