A'bstract. n.s. [from the verb]

1. A smaller quantity, containing the virtue or power of a greater.

   You shall there find a man, who is the abstract
   Of all faults all men follow. Shakesp. Antony and Cleopatra.

   If you are false, these epithets are small;
   You're then the things, and abstract of them all. Dryd. Aar.

2. An epitome made by taking out the principal parts.

   When Mnemon came to the end of a chapter, he recollected the sentiments he had remarked; so that he could give a tolerable analysis and abstract of every treatise he had read, just after he had finished it. Watts's Improvement of the Mind.

3. The state of being abstracted.

   The hearts of great princes, if they be considered, as it were in abstract, without the necessity of states, and circumstances of time, can take no full and proportional pleasure in the exercise of any narrow bounty. Wotton.