DISTRACT

a. v.

6 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)

1.
a.

Separated; drawn asunder. [Obs.]

2.
a.

Insane; mad. [Obs.] Drayton.

3.
v.

To draw apart or away; to divide; to disjoin. A city . . . distracted from itself. Fuller.

4.
v.

To draw (the sight, mind, or attention) in different directions; to perplex; to confuse; as, to distract the eye; to distract the attention. Mixed metaphors . . . distract the imagination. Goldsmith.

5.
v.

To agitate by conflicting passions, or by a variety of motives or of cares; to confound; to harass. Horror and doubt distract His troubled thoughts. Milton.

6.
v.

To unsettle the reason of; to render insane; to craze; to madden; -- most frequently used in the participle, distracted. A poor mad soul; . . . poverty hath distracted her. Shak.

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