excerpt

¹ex·cerpt

verb
\ek-ˈsərpt, eg-ˈzərpt, ˈek-ˌ, ˈeg-ˌ\

Definition of EXCERPT

transitive verb

1

: to select (a passage) for quoting : extract

2

: to take or publish extracts from (as a book)

— ex·cerp·tor or ex·cerpt·er noun

— ex·cerp·tion \ek-ˈsərp-shən, eg-ˈzərp-\ noun

Examples of EXCERPT

1. The fiction that the magazine does publish is too often excerpted from novels or imminently forthcoming collections, making the magazine seem more a flack for publishers than a site of editorial strength and vision. —Vince Passaro, Harper's, August 1999
2. How quickly does the Net move? Last Friday journalist Michael Colton posted an elaborate Web parody of the forthcoming magazine Talk, which is owned by Miramax and helmed by former New Yorker editor Tina Brown. Within hours, the site's URL had ricocheted about in countless e-mails, and the Drudge Report had excerpted the text. —Newsweek, 26 July 1999

Origin of EXCERPT

Latin excerptus, past participle of excerpere, from ex- + carpere to gather, pluck — more at harvest

First Known Use: 15th century

Other Literature Terms

apophasis, bathos, bildungsroman, bowdlerize, caesura, coda, doggerel, euphemism, poesy, prosody