soutirer

to extract

verb soo-tee-REH Rare

Also means

to wring (money) from

Usage Note

Soutirer literally means to rack wine (draw it off the lees into another container), but in everyday use it nearly always means to extract something — money, a confession, information — from someone by pressure or cunning: soutirer de l'argent à quelqu'un. The winemaking sense is encountered in culinary or agricultural texts.

Examples

"Il a réussi à lui soutirer un aveu."

Natural Translation

He managed to extract a confession from her.

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