distract
verb
- to draw or turn away from actual position, destination, or purpose
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /dɪˈstɹækt/
adj
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin distractus, from distrahō (“to pull apart”), from dis- + trahō (“to pull”).
- Drawn asunder; separated.
- Insane, mad.
“Ol[ivia]. […] Fetch Maluolio hither, / And yet alas, novv I remember me, / They ſay poore Gentleman, he's much diſtract. […] Did he vvrite this? / Clo[wn]. I [aye] Madame. / Du[ke Orsino]. This ſauours not much of diſtraction.”
“Alone ſhee beeing left the ſpoyle of loue and death, / In labour of her griefe outrageouſly diſtract, / The utmoſt of her ſpleene on her falſe Lord to act […]”
verb
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin distractus, from distrahō (“to pull apart”), from dis- + trahō (“to pull”).
- To divert the attention of.
“The crowd was distracted by a helicopter hovering over the stadium when the only goal of the game was scored.”
“While Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had warned his players against letting the pre-match festivities distract them from the task at hand, they clearly struggled for fluency early on.”
- To divert (attention).
“It is recorded in the Talmud that there was no water organ [...] at the Temple, because of its sweet and powerful voice which was able to distract attention from the traditional instruments.”
- To make crazy or insane; to drive to distraction.
“By Heav’ns, ſuch Virtues, join’d with ſuch Succeſs, Diſtract my very Soul: Our Father’s Fortune Wou’d almoſt tempt us to renounce his Precepts.”