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Infusion vs Extract - What's the difference?

infusion | extract |

In obsolete terms the difference between infusion and extract

is that infusion is the act of dipping into a fluid while extract is a peculiar principle (fundamental essence) once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts; -- called also the extractive principle.

As nouns the difference between infusion and extract

is that infusion is a product consisting of a liquid which has had other ingredients steeped in it to extract useful qualities while extract is that which is extracted or drawn out.

As a verb extract is

to draw out or forth; to pull out; to remove forcibly from a fixed position, as by traction or suction, etc.

infusion

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A product consisting of a liquid which has had other ingredients steeped in it to extract useful qualities.
  • An extract of rooibos and chamomile makes a refreshing infusion .
  • The act of steeping or soaking a substance in liquid so as to extract medicinal or herbal qualities.
  • The act of installing a quality into a person.
  • * 1602 : , act V scene 1
  • [...] but in the verity of extolment / I take him to be a soul of great article and his infusion / of such dearth and rareness as, to make true diction of / him, his semblable in his mirror, and who else would / trace him, his umbrage, nothing more.
  • (obsolete) The act of dipping into a fluid.
  • extract

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • That which is extracted or drawn out.
  • A portion of a book or document, incorporated distinctly in another work; a citation; a quotation.
  • A decoction, solution, or infusion made by drawing out from any substance that which gives it its essential and characteristic virtue; essence; as, extract of beef; extract of dandelion; also, any substance so extracted, and characteristic of that from which it is obtained; as, quinine is the most important extract of Peruvian bark.
  • A solid preparation obtained by evaporating a solution of a drug, etc., or the fresh juice of a plant; -- distinguished from an abstract.
  • (obsolete) A peculiar principle (fundamental essence) once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts; -- called also the extractive principle.
  • Ancestry; descent.
  • A draft or copy of writing; a certified copy of the proceedings in an action and the judgment therein, with an order for execution.
  • Synonyms

    * (that which is extracted) extraction * origin, extraction

    Derived terms

    * yeast extract

    See also

    * tincture

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To draw out or forth; to pull out; to remove forcibly from a fixed position, as by traction or suction, etc.
  • to extract a tooth from its socket, a stump from the earth, or a splinter from the finger
  • * Milton
  • The bee / Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}
  • To withdraw by expression, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process. Compare abstract (transitive verb).
  • to extract an essential oil from a plant
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • To take by selection; to choose out; to cite or quote, as a passage from a book.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • I have extracted out of that pamphlet a few notorious falsehoods.
  • (arithmetic) To determine (a root of a number).
  • Synonyms

    * (to take by selection) (l)