1. (a.) Withdraw; separate.

2. (a.) Considered apart from any application to a particular object; separated from matter; existing in the mind only; as, abstract truth, abstract numbers. Hence: ideal; abstruse; difficult.

3. (a.) Expressing a particular property of an object viewed apart from the other properties which constitute it; -- opposed to concrete; as, honesty is an abstract word.

4. (a.) Resulting from the mental faculty of abstraction; general as opposed to particular; as, reptile is an abstract or general name.

5. (a.) Abstracted; absent in mind.

6. (v.) To withdraw; to separate; to take away.

7. (v.) To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects.

8. (v.) To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute.

9. (v.) To epitomize; to abridge.

10. (v.) To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till.

11. (v.) To separate, as the more volatile or soluble parts of a substance, by distillation or other chemical processes. In this sense extract is now more generally used.

12. (v. t.) To perform the process of abstraction.

13. (a.) That which comprises or concentrates in itself the essential qualities of a larger thing or of several things. Specifically: A summary or an epitome, as of a treatise or book, or of a statement; a brief.

14. (n.) A state of separation from other things; as, to consider a subject in the abstract, or apart from other associated things.

15. (n.) An abstract term.

16. (n.) A powdered solid extract of a vegetable substance mixed with sugar of milk in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance.

abate abbreviate abbreviation abbreviature abrade abrege abridge abridgment abstract idea abstraction abstruse academic altarpiece and annex apocope appropriate arcane armchair bag bate bland block print bob boil down boost borrow breviary brief broad capsule capsulize cast off cast out chuck clear clear away clear out clear the decks clip collage collective color print colorless compend compress compression conceptual condensation condense condensed version conjectural conspectus contract cop copy crib crop curtail curtailment cut cut back cut down cut off short cut out cut short cyclorama daub decrease deduct deep defraud deport depreciate derogate detached detract digest diminish diptych disconnect disengage disinterested disparage dispassionate dispose of dissociate divide dock draft drain eat away eject elide eliminate elision ellipsis embezzle engraving epitome epitomize eradicate erode esoteric essence exile expatriate expel extort extract featureless filch file away foreshorten foreshortening fresco general generalized generic get quit of get rid of get shut of head hidden hook hypothetic hypothetical icon ideal ideational illumination illustration image impair impersonal impractical indefinite indeterminate intellectual leach lessen lift likeness liquidate make off with metaphysical miniature montage moot mosaic mow mural nebulous neutral nip nonspecific notional occult outlaw outline overview palm pandect panorama part photograph pick out picture pilfer pinch poach poker-faced poll pollard postulatory precis print profound prune purge purify purloin reap recap recapitulate recapitulation recondite reduce reduction refine remove representation reproduction resume retrench retrenchment review root out root up rub away rubric run away with rustle scrounge secret separate shave shear shoplift shorten shortened version shortening skeleton sketch snare snatch snitch snub speculative stained glass window steal stencil still life strike off strike out stunt subduct subtract sum up summarize summary summation survey swindle swipe syllabus symbolic syncope synopsis synopsize tableau take take away take from take in tapestry telescope telescoping theoretical thieve thin thin out throw over throw overboard