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.
A city . . . distracted from itself.
Fuller.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
Dis*tract"ed, a. Mentally disordered; unsettled; mad.
My distracted mind.
Pope.
Dis*tract"ed*ly, adv. Disjointedly; madly. Shak.
Dis*tract"ed*ness, n. A state of being distracted; distraction. Bp. Hall.
Dis*tract"er (?), n. One who, or that which, distracts away.
Dis*tract"ful (?), a. Distracting. [R.] Heywood.
Dis*tract"i*ble (?), a. Capable of being drawn aside or distracted.
Dis*tract"ile (?), a. (Bot.) Tending or serving to draw apart.
Dis*tract"ing, a. Tending or serving to distract.
Dis*trac"tion (?), n. [L. distractio: cf. F. distraction.] 1. The act of distracting; a drawing apart; separation.
To create distractions among us.
Bp. Burnet.