distract Copy link Outline I. To draw off the attention, divert1. distrăho, xi, ctum, 3 (to draw in different directions)2. distringo, nxi, ctum, 3 (like preced.)3. distĭneo, ui, tentum, 2 (strictly, to keep or hinder from doing something)4. āvŏco, 1II. To derange the mind • distract: I. To draw off the attention, divert: 1. distrăho, xi, ctum, 3 (to draw in different directions): to d. the industry of the orator, oratoris industriam in plura studia d., Cic.: Tac. 2. distringo, nxi, ctum, 3 (like preced.): to d. the attention of the Romans, ad distringendos Romanos, Liv.: he is d.'d by a variety of things, d. (eum) multarum rerum varietas, Phaedr. 3. distĭneo, ui, tentum, 2 (strictly, to keep or hinder from doing something): to be d.'d by the multitude of trials, multitudine judiciorum distineri, Cic.: by what (an amount of) engagements I am d.'d, quanta occupatione distinear, Cic.: to be d.'d by grief, distineri [et divelli] dolore, Cic. 4. āvŏco, 1: a voice d.s me more than a noise, magis mihi vox avocare videtur, quam crepitus, Sen.: v. to divert. II. To derange the mind: chiefly in p. part.: v. distracted. (See also supr. 3.)
DISTRACT Copy link • DISTRACTdistrahere (draw in different directions; hence, IMPROP., of dissipating the thoughts and perplexing the mind by presenting different objects to them; e.g., alicujus industriam in plura studia; animum in contrarias sententias): aliquem distinere (to keep apart; hence, to prevent the mind from concentrating itself, as it were, on what it would like to do). (The words are found in this connection and order.) distinere et divellere: distringere (by turning the attention to more than one object at once): to be distracted by important business of various kinds, multis et magnis negotiis distentum esse: to send Hannibal to distract the attention of the Romans, Hannibalem mittere - ad distringendos Romanos (Liv. 35, 18): to be distracted by sorrow, distineri et divelli dolore (Cic.): occupations of a distracting nature, occupationes (as Plin., Ep., 6, 15, 1): to distract anybody’s thought from his grief, animum alicujus a curis or a sollicitudine abducere; aliquem oblectare (to try to produce feelings of a pleasant nature in order to counteract any unpleasant ones). To make mad, in insaniam adigere aliquem.