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Webster 1913 Edition


Extricate

Ex′tri-cate

(ĕks′trĭ-kāt)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Extricated
(ĕks′trĭ-kāˊtĕd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Extricating
(ĕks′trĭ-kāˊtĭng)
.]
[L.
extricatus
, p. p. of
extricare
to extricate;
ex
out +
tricae
trifles, impediments, perplexities. Cf.
Intricate
.]
1.
To free, as from difficulties or perplexities; to disentangle; to disembarrass;
as, to
extricate
a person from debt, peril, etc.
We had now
extricated
ourselves from the various labyrinths and defiles.
Eustace.
Syn. – To disentangle; disembarrass; disengage; relieve; evolve; set free; liberate.

Webster 1828 Edition


Extricate

EX'TRICATE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. extrico. The primary verb trico is not in the Latin. We probably see its affinities in the Gr. hair, or a bush of hair, from interweaving, entangling. I suspect that three is contracted from this root; three for threg, folded, or a plexus. The same word occurs in intricate and intrigue; Eng. trick.
1. Properly, to disentangle; hence, to free from difficulties or perplexities; to disembarrass; as, to extricate one from complicated business, from troublesome alliances or other connections; to extricate one's self from debt.
2.
To set out; to cause to be emitted or evolved.

Definition 2024


extricate

extricate

English

Verb

extricate (third-person singular simple present extricates, present participle extricating, simple past and past participle extricated)

  1. (transitive) To free, disengage, loosen, or untangle.
    I finally managed to extricate myself from the tight jacket.
    The firemen had to use the jaws of life to extricate Monica from the car wreck.
  2. (rare) To free from intricacies or perplexity
    • 1662: Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue Two)
      Your argumentation ... is invelloped with certain intricacies, that are not easie to be extricated.

Translations

References


Latin

Verb

extrīcāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of extrīcō