Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Detract

Detract , transitive verb

[Latin detractus, past participle of detrahere to detract; de + trahere to draw: compare French détracter. See Trace.]

1.
To take away; to withdraw.
Detract much from the view of the without. — Sir H. Wotton
2.
To take credit or reputation from; to defame.
That calumnious critic... Detracting what laboriously we do. — Drayton

Detract , intransitive verb

To take away a part or something, especially from one's credit; to lessen reputation; to derogate; to defame; -- often with from.
It has been the fashion to detract both from the moral and literary character of Cicero. — V. Knox