(no subject)
Sep. 24th, 2001 01:03 pmdistract [di-'strakt], tr. verb, middle english, 14th c.
from latin distractus, pp of distrahere. lit. to draw apart; from dis + trahere, to draw.
1 a : to turn aside: to divert: to draw or direct (as one's attention) to a different object or in different directions at the same time. 2 : to stir up or confuse with conflicting emotions or motives. also archaic adj., insane, mad.
abstract [ ab-'strakt], adj., medieval latin, 14th c.
from latin abstractus, pp of abstrahere. lit. to drag away; from ab + trahere, to pull, draw.
1 a : disassociated from any specific instance: difficult to understand: abstruse: insufficiently factual. 2: expressing a quality apart from an object (the word poem is concrete, poetry is abstract). 3 a: dealing with a subject in its abstract aspects: theoretical: impersonal, detached (the abstract compassion of a surgeon). 4: having only intrinsic form with little or no attempt at pictorial representation or narrative content.
from latin distractus, pp of distrahere. lit. to draw apart; from dis + trahere, to draw.
1 a : to turn aside: to divert: to draw or direct (as one's attention) to a different object or in different directions at the same time. 2 : to stir up or confuse with conflicting emotions or motives. also archaic adj., insane, mad.
abstract [ ab-'strakt], adj., medieval latin, 14th c.
from latin abstractus, pp of abstrahere. lit. to drag away; from ab + trahere, to pull, draw.
1 a : disassociated from any specific instance: difficult to understand: abstruse: insufficiently factual. 2: expressing a quality apart from an object (the word poem is concrete, poetry is abstract). 3 a: dealing with a subject in its abstract aspects: theoretical: impersonal, detached (the abstract compassion of a surgeon). 4: having only intrinsic form with little or no attempt at pictorial representation or narrative content.