subtractyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[subtract 词源字典]
subtract: [16] To subtract something is etymologically to ‘pull it away’. The word comes from subtractus, the past participle of Latin subtrahere ‘pull away’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix sub-, usually ‘under’ but here used in the sense ‘away’, and trahere ‘pull’ (source of English traction, tractor, trait, etc). The strictly mathematical use of the word is a post-Latin development.
=> contract, retract, traction, tractor, trait[subtract etymology, subtract origin, 英语词源]
abstract (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
late 14c., originally in grammar (of nouns), from Latin abstractus "drawn away," past participle of abstrahere "to drag away, detach, pull away, divert;" also figuratively, from ab(s)- "away" (see ab-) + trahere "draw" (see tract (n.1)).

Meaning "withdrawn or separated from material objects or practical matters" is from mid-15c. That of "difficult to understand, abstruse" is from c. 1400. Specifically in reference to modern art, it dates from 1914; abstract expressionism as an American-based uninhibited approach to art exemplified by Jackson Pollock is from 1952, but the term itself had been used in the 1920s of Kandinsky and others.
Oswald Herzog, in an article on "Der Abstrakte Expressionismus" (Sturm, heft 50, 1919) gives us a statement which with equal felicity may be applied to the artistic attitude of the Dadaists. "Abstract Expressionism is perfect Expressionism," he writes. "It is pure creation. It casts spiritual processes into a corporeal mould. It does not borrow objects from the real world; it creates its own objects .... The abstract reveals the will of the artist; it becomes expression. ..." [William A. Drake, "The Life and Deeds of Dada," 1922]


Then, that art we have called "abstract" for want of any possible descriptive term, with which we have been patient, and, even, appreciative, getting high stimulation by the new Guggenheim "non-objective" Art Museum, is reflected in our examples of "surrealism," "dadaism," and what-not, to assert our acquaintance in every art, fine or other. [Report of the Art Reference Department of Pratt Institute Free Library for year ending June 30, 1937]
abstraction (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1400, "a withdrawal from worldly affairs, asceticism," from Old French abstraction (14c.), from Latin abstractionem (nominative abstractio), noun of action from past participle stem of abstrahere "drag away, pull away, divert" (see abstract (adj.)). Meaning "idea of something that has no actual existence" is from 1640s.
convulse (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1640s, transitive; 1680s, intransitive; from Latin convulsus, past participle of convellere (transitive only) "to pull away, to pull this way and that, wrench," hence "to weaken, overthrow, destroy" (see convulsion). Related: Convulsed (1630s); convulsing.
revulsion (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1540s, as a medical term, from Middle French revulsion (16c.) or directly from Latin revulsionem (nominative revulsio) "a tearing off, act of pulling away," noun of action from past participle stem of revellere "to pull away," from re- "away" (see re-) + vellere "to tear, pull," from PIE *wel-no-, suffixed form of root *wel- (4) "to tear, pull" (see svelte). The meaning "sudden reaction of disgust" is first attested 1816.