Distract

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Distract \Dis*tract"\, a. [L. distractus, p. p. of distrahere to
     draw asunder; dis- + trahere to draw. See {Trace}, and cf.
     {Distraught}.]
     1. Separated; drawn asunder. [Obs.]
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     2. Insane; mad. [Obs.] --Drayton.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Distract \Dis*tract"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Distracted}, old p.
     p. {Distraught}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Distracting}.]
     1. To draw apart or away; to divide; to disjoin.
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              A city . . . distracted from itself.  --Fuller.
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     2. To draw (the sight, mind, or attention) in different
        directions; to perplex; to confuse; as, to distract the
        eye; to distract the attention.
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              Mixed metaphors . . . distract the imagination.
                                                    --Goldsmith.
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     3. To agitate by conflicting passions, or by a variety of
        motives or of cares; to confound; to harass.
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              Horror and doubt distract
              His troubled thoughts.                --Milton.
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     4. To unsettle the reason of; to render insane; to craze; to
        madden; -- most frequently used in the participle,
        distracted.
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              A poor mad soul; . . . poverty hath distracted her.
                                                    --Shak.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  distract
       v 1: draw someone's attention away from something; "The thief
            distracted the bystanders"; "He deflected his
            competitors" [syn: {deflect}]
       2: disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or
          alarmed; "She was rather perturbed by the news that her
          father was seriously ill" [syn: {perturb}, {unhinge}, {disquiet},
           {trouble}, {cark}, {disorder}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  80 Moby Thesaurus words for "distract":
     absorb, addle, agitate, amuse, ball up, befuddle, beguile, bemuse,
     bewilder, blunt, bother, bug, call away, chill, confound, confuse,
     convulse, cool, craze, damp, dampen, daze, deflect, delight,
     dement, derange, deter, detract, detract attention, disaffect,
     discompose, disconcert, discourage, disincline, disinterest,
     disturb, divert, divert the mind, drive insane, drive mad, embroil,
     engross, entertain, fluster, frenzy, fuddle, gratify, indispose,
     interest, mad, madden, make mad, mix up, mystify, occupy, perplex,
     perturb, psych, put off, puzzle, quench, rattle, repel, send mad,
     shatter, sidetrack, spook, throw, throw into confusion, throw off,
     trouble, turn aside, turn away, turn from, turn off, unbalance,
     unhinge, unsettle, upset, wean from