Definition of abstracting:
(n) :
An abridgement or summary of a longer publication.
(n) :
Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items.
(n) :
Concentrated essence of a product.
(n) :
(medicine) A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
(n) :
An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract.
(n) :
The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form.