tracen.¹

Brit.

/treɪs/, U.S.

/treɪs/

Forms: Middle English– trace; also Middle English tras, Middle English–1600s trase, (Middle English traze, Scottish trass, traiss, Middle English trays, Scottish traise, Middle English traas, trayse, ( trasche), 1500s Scottish trais).

Etymology: < French trace (12th cent. in Godefroy) = Provençal trassa , Italian traccia (Spanish traza draught, first sketch), verbal noun < Old French tracier , French tracer : see trace v.¹

†1.

a. The way or path which anything takes; course, road; esp. in to take one's trace, to make one's way, take one's course, proceed. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > [noun] > course or direction of movement

runeeOE

runningOE

pathOE

wayOE

tracea1300

coursec1380

racec1390

recourse?c1425

situation1517

journey?a1560

track1565

roadway1600

career?1614

direction1665

by-run1674

sensea1679

meith1726

heading1841

society > travel > aspects of travel > travel in specific course or direction > [noun]

lodeOE

wayOE

gatea1300

tracea1300

raik?c1350

coursec1380

racec1390

line1426

fairwayc1440

tradec1480

voye1541

tract1555

track1565

career?1614

a1300 [see sense 1b].

a1400 K. Alis. (Bodl.) 7759 Alisaunder & Candace To Chaumber token her trace.

c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 1112 To-warde þe þrone þay trone a tras.

c1425 Cast. Persev. 1923 in Macro Plays 131 Haue don, felaus! & take ȝoure trasche.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 498/2 Trace, of a wey over a felde, trames.

?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 3394 To farne agayne he takes his trace.

a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Fox, Wolf, & Cadger l. 2161 in Poems (1981) 79 All the trace he trippit on his tais.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 282/2 Trace, a streyght way, trace.

1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. i. sig. Z4 Now I begin To tread an endlesse trace, withouten guyde.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 684 The Striate Particles, finding no fit Pores or Traces for their passage thorough it.

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 69 I wanted the traces thro' which my wishes might find their way to her.

†b. figurative. A course of action or conduct; way of proceeding; ‘path’, ‘way’, ‘road’; esp. in phrases to follow, take, tread the trace. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > behaviour > [noun] > (a) course of conduct or action

wayeOE

pathOE

waya1225

tracea1300

line13..

dancea1352

tenor1398

featc1420

faction1447

rink?a1500

footpath1535

trade1536

vein1549

tract1575

course1582

road1600

country dance1613

track1638

steeragea1641

rhumb1666

tack1675

conduct1706

walk1755

wheel-way1829

a1300 Cursor Mundi 25528 Until us Þat al to mikel has ben vn~buxs Vnto þi suet trace [Fairf. for to folow þi trace].

a1400 Cato's Distichs (Fairf.) l. 374 in R. Morris Cursor Mundi (1878) III. App. iv. 1674 (MED) Gode grante vs grace to folow catouns trace in his teyching.

c1430 Hymns Virg. 35 Y took to þe world, & wente from þee, Y folewide þe feend al in his traas.

c1480 (a1400) St. Nicholas 43 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 482 Þus he be-gane to god seke, & held furth ay in þat trace.

c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme cxix. 21 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 195 From the lyers trace, From falshoods wreathed way, O saue me lord.

1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 67 The rest of the Nobilitie..trode also the same trace.

1652 J. Wright tr. J.-P. Camus Nature's Paradox viii. 163 To reduce him into the trace of his Duty and Reason.

1715 R. South 12 Serm. IV. 366 God, by a secret, unobserved Trace of his Providence, may cast Men under an..seducing Ministry.

†2. A line, file, or train of persons. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > arrangement in (a) row(s) or line(s > [noun] > a line or row > of people or things one behind the other

tracec1385

filea1616

string1686

c1385 G. Chaucer Legend Good Women Prol. 285 I saugh comyng of ladyes Nientene..And after hem coome of wymen swich a traas.

1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres iv. 102 The Sergeant Maiors..haue conducted these Regiments very disorderly, making a long trace, file, or lyne (as it were) of them.

†3. A series of steps in dancing; a measure; a dance. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > dancing > [noun] > a dance

chore1382

dance1393

measure?c1430

virlyc1430

tracec1450

platfoot1559

hop-about1593

firk1637

footing1652

ballet1786

stand-up1861

c1450 Mankind ii. 521 in Macro Plays 20 I xall make hym to dawnce a-noþer trace!

c1460 R. Roos tr. La Belle Dame sans Mercy 190 Whan he thought tyme to daunce with her a trace.

?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element sig. Evj^v Folow all I wyll lede a trace.

1577 J. Grange Golden Aphroditis sig. Fiij^v It fell by course N.O. shoulde leade this trace, bycause he knewe it beste, the tracyng of this rounde requyred in the middle thereof a conge.

1622 (?a1513) W. Dunbar Poems (Reidpeth) (1998) I. 241 Thane com the ladyis danceing in ane trece.

†4.

a. plural. The series or line of footprints left by an animal; hence in singular a footprint. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun] > left by the passage of something > of a person or animal > track of footprints

scorec1330

tracesc1330

tradea1450

steppings1573

foot track1600

vestigiating1638

tracing1657

society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun] > left by the passage of something > of a person or animal > track of footprints > footprint

trod946

lastOE

foot sporeOE

tread?c1225

stepc1290

footstepa1300

solec1325

tracta1547

footprint1552

traces1552

footing1563

foot track1600

accub1623

vestigating1634

vestige1656

seal1686

sign1692

footmark1756

stabble1863

pelmatogram1890

paw print1894

c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 4732 Of hors traces hy þer seye.

c1374 G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Cambr.) v. met. v. 133 Other bestis gladen hemself to diggen hir traas or hir steppis in the Erthe with hir goyngz or with hir feet.

1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope iv. xii We knowe wel by thy traces that all the beestes whiche haue entryd in to thy hows came not oute ageyne.

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Trace or steppe, vestigium.

1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie xxxvii. 98 In beasts of pray and rauine, as Beare, and Bore. &c. they are called traces.

1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique vii. xxxii. 858 There is more regarde to be taken vnto her traces: for the print of the hares foote is sharpe, and fashioned like vnto the point of a knife.

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Trace (among Hunters), the Footprint of wild Beasts.

figurative.1610 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) (modernized text) I. 114 One who hath left so good traces and steps wherein to walk.

†b. plural. loosely. Footsteps. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > [noun] > stepping > a step, pace, or tread

stepsc1000

pacea1350

treadc1400

footstepc1440

treadingsc1440

footing1567

traces1613

footfalla1616

1613 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals I. iv. 71 Till at the last..Yee bend your traces vp some shady hill.

a. The track made by the passage of any person or thing, whether beaten by feet or indicated in any other way: = track n. 1 on one's trace(s, in pursuit of one; to keep trace of, to follow the movements of, keep sight of in going.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun] > left by the passage of something

swathc888

forec1250

vorea1387

tracec1420

track1470

rut1552

fore-step1562

cart-rut1601

trail1610

strake1617

cart-ritta1657

cart-ruck1820

wheel-spura1825

wake1851

c1420 Anturs of Arth. v The king blowe rechas, And folowed fast on þe tras.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) vi. 583 Þe hund..ay followit þe kyngis tras.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) vi. 553 In his trais þe hund he set.

1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) ix. 238 Men myghte well folow hym bi the trase, by cause of the blode that cam out of his body.

c1556 W. Tymmes Let. in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1583) 2142/1 A sheepe [= ship] that passeth ouer the waues.., when it is gone, by the trace thereof cannot be found.

1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake i. 10 Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed..Fast on his [sc. the stag's] flying traces came.

1887 C. Bowen tr. Virgil Æneid ii, in tr. Virgil in Eng. Verse 133 On his traces aflame with murderous stroke, Pyrrhus—behind—the pursuer!

b. spec. A beaten path through a wild or unenclosed region, made by the passage of people or animals; a track, a trail. U.S.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > track, trail, or path > [noun]

styc725

patheOE

stighta1340

trod-gatea1400

tread14..

pathwaya1450

terry1563

trod1570

trade way1589

track1643

trod-way1660

drifta1711

roadie1768

loke1787

trace1807

trail1807

trackway1818

mud pike1851

dirt track1902

1807 J. B. Wilkinson in Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi (1810) ii. App. 24 We..took the large Spanish trace for the Arkansaw river.

1808 Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi (1810) ii. 134 We marched, leaving the Osage trace, which we had hitherto followed.

1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 65 We..soon fell in with the trace from the Maha village to the monument.

1837 R. M. Bird Nick of Woods II. xxiv. 247 Leaving the broad buffalo-trace by which he descended the banks.

1904 W. Churchill Crossing vii They were going ahead up the trace towards his mother's.

c. In the West Indies: a grass drive, a lane.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > [noun] > covered with verdure

greenwayOE

green gatec1540

greensward way1703

trace1871

tapis vert1960

1871 C. Kingsley At Last vii The heat of a cane-field trace is utterly stifling.

1871 C. Kingsley At Last II. xiii. 190 A grass drive, as we should call it in England—a ‘trace’, as it is called in the West Indies—some sixty feet in width.

a. plural. Vestiges or marks remaining and indicating the former presence, existence, or action of something; singular a vestige, an indication. Also to sink without trace: see sink v. Phrases 6.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > memory > retrospection, reminiscence > [noun] > old memories > something preserved from past

tracesc1400

record1563

relic1624

vestigea1660

society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun]

signa1382

stepa1382

ficchingc1384

marka1400

tracesc1400

scentc1422

footstep?a1425

tidinga1440

relicc1475

smell?a1505

stead1513

vestigy1545

print1548

token1555

remnant1560

show1561

mention1564

signification1576

footing?1580

tract1583

remainder1585

vestige1602

wrack1602

engravement1604

footstepping1610

resent1610

ghost1613

impression1613

remark1624

footprint1625

studdle1635

vestigium1644

relict1646

perception1650

vestigiary1651

track1657

symptom1722

signacle1768

ray1773

vestigia1789

footmark1800

souvenir1844

latent1920

c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) vi. 71 Sche mylked hem on the rede stones of marble; so þat the traces may ȝit be sene in the stones alle whyte.

1814 J. West Alicia de Lacy III. 2 No trace of inhabitation but the fortified castle or the sacred monastery.

1816 W. Scott Antiquary I. iv. 70 My niece..saw the traces of the ditch at once.

1865 J. Lubbock Prehist. Times i. 29 At the end of the coffin were found traces of leather, doubtless the remains of boots.

1913 N.E.D. at Trace Mod. Of the fortifications no trace now remains.

b. A mark or impression left on the face, the mind, etc.

ΚΠ

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas I. iii. v. 387 My brain full of joyous traces.

1844 A. B. Welby Poems (1867) 45 Where beauty left so soft a trace.

1848 E. Bulwer-Lytton Harold I. i. i. 26 It was on that forehead that time had set its trace.

c. An indication of the presence of a minute amount of some constituent in a compound; a quantity so minute as to be inferred but not actually measured; esp. in Chemistry; transferred a very little. Also in Meteorology (see quot. 1930).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > a small quantity or amount > a slight touch or trace

specec1330

taste1390

lisounc1400

savourc1400

smatcha1500

smell?a1505

spice1531

smack1539

shadow1586

surmise1586

relish1590

tang1593

touch1597

stain1609

tincture1612

dasha1616

soula1616

twanga1640

whiff1644

haut-goût1650

casta1661

stricturea1672

tinge1736

tinct1752

vestige1756

smattering1764

soupçon1766

smutch1776

shade1791

suspicion1809

lineament1811

trait1815

tint1817

trace1827

skiff1839

spicing1844

smudgea1871

ghost1887

the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > [noun] > amount too small to be measured

trace1908

1827 M. Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. 99 It burns completely away in a blast-furnace, leaving scarcely a trace of slag.

1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 578 Traces of oxalic acid can be detected.

1859 R. Hunt Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2) 209 Its composition is: Gold 48·67, Silver 51·33, Copper, a trace.

1875 C. Darwin Insectivorous Plants xvi. 375 The distance was a trace less.

1876 W. E. Gladstone in Contemp. Rev. June 22 Like a chemist who, in a testing analysis,..if he finds something behind so minute as to refuse any quantitative estimate, calls it by the name of ‘trace’.

1908 Observer's Handbk. (Meteorol. Office) i. 35 Falls [of rain] of less than ·005-inch should be noted in the register by entering the word ‘trace’.

1930 Meteorol. Gloss. (Meteorol. Office) (ed. 2) 177 The word ‘trace’ is entered in the daily record sheet when some rain (or other form of precipitation) is known to have fallen and the amount in the gauge is not large enough to be measured.

1974 Nature 25 Oct. 694/2 The measurements were made in very light snowfall (which never exceeded a ‘trace’ in equivalent precipitation rate).

d. Psychology. A change in the brain as a result of some mental experience; the physical after-effect of such.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > psychology > developmental psychology > acquisition of knowledge > capacity for retaining experience > [noun] > change in brain

trace1690

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. i. 41 The memory of Thoughts, is retained by the impressions that are made on the Brain, and the traces there left after such thinking.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. x. 67 There is no reason why the sound of a Pipe should leave traces in their [sc. birds'] Brains.

1892 G. F. Stout Man. Psychol. I. i. ii. 76 Mental development would be impossible unless previous experience left behind it persistent after-effects to determine the nature and course of subsequent experience. These after-effects are called..traces or dispositions.

1927 G. V. Anrep tr. I. P. Pavlov Conditioned Reflexes iii. 39 The stimulus this time is not the actual disappearance of an external agent, but the trace left by the action of the agent on the central nervous system after the agent itself has been removed.

1930 W. Köhler Gestalt Psychol. ix. 232 Learning and those processes the traces of which make reproduction and recognition possible.

1940 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 30 193 This process..works in conjunction with and through the trace-column, the masses of traces, ultimately of a chemical nature, left by past experience.

1978 Tarpy & Mayer Found. Learning & Memory ii. 22 In trace conditioning, the CS does not impinge directly upon the sense receptors.

e. Linguistics. In transformational grammar, a phonetically null element considered to have been left in the position from which another element has been moved by a transformation, and to retain some influence on the resultant sentence.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > syntax or word order > syntactic relations > [noun] > change of word order or position > specifically in transformational grammar > null element after transformation

trace1975

1975 N. Chomsky Logical Struct. Ling. Theory 22 Transformations that move expressions leave a ‘trace’ in the position from which the item was moved.

1977 Stud. Eng. Lit.: Eng. Number (Tokyo) 95 Traces make it possible to define permissible transformations correctly.

1978 Language 54 412 S-initial sentential complements are base-generated in topic position.., and are linked to an empty subject position (actually a trace in subject position..) by a general rule of interpretation.

7. figurative. A non-material indication or evidence of the presence or existence of something, or of a former event or condition; a sign, mark.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > indication > [noun] > an indication or sign

tokeningc888

fingereOE

senyeOE

markOE

showing?c1225

blossomc1230

signa1325

signifyingc1384

evidencea1393

notea1398

forbysena1400

kenninga1400

knowinga1400

showerc1400

unningc1400

signala1413

signification?a1425

demonstrancec1425

cenyc1440

likelinessc1450

ensign1474

signifure?a1475

outshowinga1500

significativea1500

witter1513

precedent1518

intimation1531

signifier1532

meith1533

monument1536

indicion?1541

likelihood1541

significator1554

manifest1561

show1561

evidency1570

token-teller1574

betokener1587

calendar1590

instance1590

testificate1590

significant1598

crisis1606

index1607

impression1613

denotementa1616

story1620

remark1624

indicium1625

denotation1633

indice1636

signum1643

indiction1653

trace1656

demonstrator1657

indication1660

notationa1661

significatory1660

indicator1666

betrayer1678

demonstration1684

smell1691

wittering1781

notaa1790

blazonry1850

sign vehicle1909

marker1919

rumble1927

1656 A. Cowley Pindaric Odes i. iii With Oblivions silent stroke deface Of foregone Ills the very trace.

1713 A. Pope Windsor-Forest 16 The shady Empire shall retain no Trace Of War or Blood, but in the Sylvan chace.

1722 W. Whiston New Theory of Earth (ed. 3) ii. 186 There are Traces..of a Tradition, that a Comet did appear at the very Beginning of the Deluge.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. x. 661 In countries where all trace of the limited monarchy of the middle ages had long been effaced.

1850 J. McCosh Method Divine Govt. (ed. 2) i. ii. 38 We discover everywhere in this world traces of design and wisdom.

1909 H. M. Gwatkin Early Church Hist. xi. 188 There is no trace of any veneration of pictures or images before the fourth century.

a. A line or figure drawn; a tracing, drawing, or sketch of an object or of a piece of work; the traced record of a self-recording instrument; in Fortification the ground plan of a work. (In quot. 1861 apparently a tracing-instrument.)

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > graphic representation > [noun] > a graphic representation

iconography1628

drawing1669

trace1744

tracing1811

bit map1973

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > drawing > [noun] > a drawing

draughta1400

protract1585

drawing1669

trace1744

society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > [noun] > construction of defensive works > plan

trace1895

society > communication > record > written record > [noun] > other types of written record

criminal record1687

police record1773

office copy1776

geological record1811

time card1837

phylactery1855

reservation1884

press cutting1888

record1897

trace1898

swindle sheet1906

form sheet1911

Dead Sea Scrolls1949

yellow card1970

1744 M. Akenside Pleasures Imagination iii. 362 Not the sculptur'd gold More faithful keeps the graver's lively trace.

1861 S. Smiles Lives Engineers II. 76 Picked out from the heap were also found his drill,..his trace, his T square,..and his engraving tools.

1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator i. 21 The trace of a work is the plan of its guiding or magistral line.

1895 Col. Maurice in United Service Mag. July 430 He made out both a trace of the work including the interior retrenchment and an exact profile of the ditched parapet.

1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 847 The respiration is an important factor in the blood-pressure, and in the run of the circulation is apparent to everyone who has watched the traces of the kymograph.

1899 T. S. Baldock Cromwell 293 The rampart..was strong and high, and of regular trace.

b. The luminous line or pattern on the screen of a cathode-ray tube.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > cathode-ray tube > [noun] > line or pattern on screen

trace1937

1937 G. Parr Low Voltage Cathode Ray Tube ii. 28 The effect on the trace on the screen is..to break up the line into a series of light and dark patches.

1966 D. Bagley Wyatt's Hurricane vi. 156 He blinked them open again and stared at the radar screen, following the sweep of the trace as it swept hypnotically round and round.

1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. vii. 30 This trace is displayed continuously until erased, so long as the flood beam is maintained in operation.

9. Geometry (a) The track described by a moving point, line, or surface. (b) The intersection of a line or surface with a surface; spec. the intersection of a plane with one of the co-ordinate planes, or with one of the planes of projection. (c) The projection of a line upon a surface ( Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > geometry > [noun] > action or process

effectiona1652

retrogression1704

genesis1706

construction of equations1728

trace1834

tortuosity1867

quadrature1911

surgery1961

1834 J. S. Macaulay Treat. Field Fortification 268 Let AB Fig. 71 be the horizontal trace of a vertical plane.

1840 D. Lardner Treat. Geom. i. 11 The notion of a mathematical surface may be formed by imagining a mathematical line to move in any manner in space, leaving behind it, as it moves, a trace or track. This trace or track will be a mathematical surface.

1867 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. I. i. §111 When a body rolls and spins on another body, the trace of either on the other is the curved or straight line along which it is successively touched.

†10. Heraldry. = tract n.³ 6(a), tressure n. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > charge: device on shield > [noun] > less honourable charge > border near edge of shield > diminutives of

tressurea1440

trace1486

tract1486

fillet1572

tress1577

1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. e vij He berith golde a dowble trace florishyt contrari and a Lyon rampyng of gowles.

1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. e vij He berith golde a trace triplatit of Siluer.

11. Mathematics. The sum of the elements in the principal diagonal of a matrix.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > numerical arrangement > [noun] > array > matrix > operation or result of

transposition1858

latent root1883

involutant1890

character1931

commutator1935

trace1938

1938 A. A. Albert Mod. Higher Algebra iv. 80 We call T(A) the trace of A.

1958 New Scientist 10 July 364/2 If A is a matrix it is usual to denote the transpose of A by A′ or A*, and the trace of A by tr A.

1972 Jrnl. Physics B 5 990 Evaluating the constant of proportionality by taking the trace of each side of the result for the particular case of complete recapture.

12.

a. Computing. The detailed examination of the execution of a program or part of one (usually to investigate a fault) with the aid of another program that can cause individual instructions, operands, and results to be printed or displayed as they are reached by the first program; the analysis so obtained; also, a trace program. Frequently attributive, as trace program, trace routine.

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > programming language > program or code > [noun] > testing > software to assist

trace1957

debugger1964

1957 M. V. Wilkes et al. Preparation of Programs for Electronic Digital Computer (ed. 2) 96 A useful error-diagnosis subroutine..prints the function letters of orders as they are executed... The printed sequence of function letters is sometimes known as a trace.

1960 R. H. Gregory & R. L. Van Horn Automatic Data-processing Syst. iii. 82 (caption) Trace of operations in read-write loop using an index register.

1960 R. H. Gregory & R. L. Van Horn Automatic Data-processing Syst. viii. 271 A trace routine is used to observe how the object program..operates while it is being executed.

1966 IFIP-ICC Vocab. Information Processing 85 When a trace program gives output only on selected instructions, or for selected conditions, it is called a snapshot program.

1980 N. Rushby in Meek & Heath Guide to Good Programming Practice iii. 84 Some debugging compilers provide a trace, which can be used simply to follow the program flow from statement to statement, or can include details of each assignment.

1982 Ghezzi & Jazayeri Programming Language Concepts vii. 221 After the program has terminated, a trace and an indication of the cause of failure can be produced.

b. A request for information to be sought concerning a particular person or thing; an investigation which traces this information (frequently to discover the source of a telephone call).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > research > [noun] > instance of > concerning particular person or thing

trace1974

1974 M. Penoyre Breach of Security i. 4 I might put in a trace to London to see if my Office has got anything on him.

1976 G. Seymour Glory Boys iv. 49 Very professional. No possibility of a trace on a call of the length they've been using.

1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xxviii. 331 There are men following me... I think it's called a ‘trace’. Put out by you?

1981 D. Boggis Time to Betray xxi. 114 He..got the index number... ‘Get me a trace through Yard liaison.’

Compounds

C1. attributive or as adj. Present or required only in traces.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > very small in amount or degree > present or required in very small amounts

trace1950

1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 195/1 The control..of peat scours by copper in trace amounts.

1956 Sun (Baltimore) 1 May 12/7 The oysters..are loaded with trace minerals.

1962 Listener 16 Aug. 243/2 It is the selected drug that is actually the effective agent and not trace amounts of some as yet unrecognized contaminant.

1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. vi. 63/2 To place these figures in petro~genetic perspective we must realize that gold is a trace~metal—even where concentrated in a payable reef.

1978 Sci. Amer. Dec. 124/1 It is the trace ions (those at least 1,000 times less abundant than hydrogen and helium) that serve to control the nebula thermostatically, maintaining the nebular temperature generally between 5,000 and 15,000 degrees.

1979 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Dec. 1529/1 Most trace minerals and other micronutrients required for survival are known.

C2.

trace element n. an element that is present (esp. in the soil) or required only in minute amounts; also figurative.

ΚΠ

1932 Yale Jrnl. Biol. & Med. 4 501 Investigation as to the occurrence and function of ‘trace’ elements in both plant and animal life is now very active.

1954 R. L. Parker tr. P. Niggli Rocks & Mineral Deposits i. 9 Fundamental rock chemistry need consider only comparatively few elements... This does not mean that relatively rare elements or even the so-called trace elements lack importance.

1970 Nature 17 Oct. 251 Trace element analyses of flint show statistically valid differences between products of major British and European Neolithic flint mines.

1976 Church Times 16 July 7/2 I found little that has not been said already by many radical Christian writers. There are trace-elements of Marxism, but hardly more than that.

trace fossil n. [translating German spurenfossil (K. Krejci-Graf 1932, in Senckenbergiana XIV. 21)] Palaeontology a fossil that represents the burrowing or similar activity of an animal rather than the animal itself.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > organism > fossil > [noun] > track or cast

plasm1620

lebensspur1956

trace fossil1957

1957 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. 112 475 A consideration of the..morphology of the fossil, permits its interpretation as a trace-fossil resulting from the driving of a system of branching tunnels in the sea-bed sediment.

1974 Nature 22 Mar. 328/2 It is generally agreed that the earliest metazoan animals were soft-bodied forms which are rarely preserved but have left tracks, trails and burrows, collectively known as trace fossils.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

tracen.²

Brit.

/treɪs/, U.S.

/treɪs/

Forms: see below.

Etymology: Middle English trays , < Old French traiz, trais, plural of trait (12th cent. in Littré) action of drawing, rope or leather strap by which a draught-beast is harnessed; = Italian tratto , Latin tractus draught (u -stem), < trahĕre to draw. In English written also trayse , trayce , trace , and treated as collective plural and at length (c1400) as a singular with a new plural trasys , traces : compare truce n.

†1. as plural. The pair of ropes, chains, or (subsequently usually) leather straps by which the collar of a draught-animal is connected with the splinter-bar or swingletree. Obsolete.

Middle English trais, trays, Middle English trayse, treyse, trayce, Middle English–1700s trace, 1500s treas, 1600s tress, traise, traits, 1800s dialect traice.Usually collective like tongs, scissors, shears, pincers, etc.; but sometimes a numerical plural, as in quots. 1458, 1481-90.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces

tracec1350

side rope1370

wain-rope1371

trace14..

soam1404

pintrace1440

side-trace1445

wain-string1464

theats1496

treat1611

trek-tow1822

trace-chain1844

tug-strap1882

trek-rope1883

trace-rope1900

c1350 Nom. Gall.-Angl. 884 Esteles, trays et valuere [glossed] Hamys, trays, taylerope.

c1365–6 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 568 Pro 2 paribus de Trays et 2 cartrapes; in trays, cartrapes, capistris, et reynes, 18s.

a1400 Seuyn Sages (W.) 1327 He let him drawe out of the pit..With trais an two stronge hors.

c1405 (c1385) G. Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 1281 With foure white Boles in the trays.

1412–20 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy i. 2209 Ryȝt as an hors out of þe traise at large.

1458 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1883) II. 368 For treyse and oder ropes.

1480 Wardrobe Accts. Edward IV in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) 123 For v pair trays garnyssht.

1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 150 Paid to Iohn Wygge, Ropper, for iij. thrays ij.s. ix.d.

1557 in J. P. Earwaker Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1884) 61 iiij payre of treas.

1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique i. v. 22 Collers, cart-saddles, traits, thicke clothes & other furniture for horses.

1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique i. xxviii. 171 Be carefull that their traise, cart-saddles, collars, bridles, or other parts of their geares and harnes, be not torne.

?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xxiii. 412 His reins lost, or seat, or with the tress His chariot fail'd him.

1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. iv. 861 Twelve young mules, a strong laborious race, New to the plow, unpractis'd in the trace.

1807 A. Young Gen. View Agric. Essex I. iv. 107 5 pair of plough chain traice.

2. as singular. Each of the individual ropes or leather straps mentioned above; in plural = sense 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces

tracec1350

side rope1370

wain-rope1371

trace14..

soam1404

pintrace1440

side-trace1445

wain-string1464

theats1496

treat1611

trek-tow1822

trace-chain1844

tug-strap1882

trek-rope1883

trace-rope1900

α. singular Middle English trays, -e, trayce, trahys, 1600s traise, tress, 1800s traice, 1500s– trace.

14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 566/26 Attractorium, a trayne, sed melius, a trays.

14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 617/7 Tractorium, a trays.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 499/1 Trayce, horsys ha(r)neys, tenda.

?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 811/33 Hoc retinaculum, a trayse.

1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Aii^v/2 A Trace for drawing, traha, æ.

1795 W. Felton Treat. Carriages II. 155 A square bent ring is sewed in the end [of each trace], which, with the trace, forms a loop to hitch round the Splinter Bar Rolls.

β. plural Middle English tracez, traices, Middle English–1500s trasys, -is, 1500s trasseis, 1500s–1600s tresses, 1500s– traces.1404 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 397 4 trasys, 2 trysyng rapis.1405–6 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 400 Rec. pro lez tracez del char.1497 in M. Oppenheim Naval Accts. & Inventories Henry VII (1896) 95 iij chestes, Anfeld..j, Traices..cxx pair.?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. iiii If he go with a horse plough, than must he haue..his hombers or collers, holmes whyted, treyses, swyngletrees, & togewithes.1529 Act 21 Hen. VIII c. 12 §1 Thereof make Cables, Ropes, Halsers, Traces, Halters, and other Tackle.1569 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 218 vj pair trasis with girthes.1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 11^v The smaller sort [of necessaries] be these,..Traaces [etc.].1582 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. 6 A pare of trasseis vj^d.1607 J. Carpenter Plaine Mans Spirituall Plough 192 Thirdly, the foure Traces or Tresses.1716 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad II. v. 398 His panting Steeds..He fix'd with straiten'd Traces to the Car.1762 J. Wesley Jrnl. 30 Mar. The horses pulled till the traces broke.1841 M. R. Mitford in A. G. L'Estrange Life M. R. Mitford (1870) III. viii. 117 About four miles from home one of the traces came undone.

3. figurative (from senses 1, 2), esp. in phrases; cf. collar n. 8 †out of trace, out of proper connection, out of order. into the traces, into regular work. to kick over the traces: see kick v.¹ 1c. to break a trace, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > in disorder [phrase]

at or on six and sevenOE

out of kinda1375

out of rulea1387

out of tonea1400

out of joint1415

out of nockc1520

out of tracea1529

out of order1530

out of tune1535

out of square1555

out of kilter1582

off the hinges?1608

out of (the) hinges?1608

in, out of gear1814

out of gearing1833

off the rails1848

on the bumc1870

a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Ciii All is out of harre, and out of trace.

1824 W. Irving Tales of Traveller I. 203 He was too fond of my genius to force it into the traces.

1843 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last of Barons I. i. iii. 46 Cut thy trace from the cloister, and take thy road to the shop.

c1845 W. T. Porter Big Bear Arkansas 101 You must marry that gal and no mistake, or break a trace!

1871 Harper's Mag. Dec. 155/2 I do not feel that I ever was out of that party. I may have got one leg over the traces, but I was in the harness all the while.

†a. (?) The tug or end-piece of a bell-rope. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > percussion instrument > bell > [noun] > end of rope

eche1525

eke1549

tail-rope1656

trace1663

sally1809

tuffing1869

1663 in Archaeologia Aeliana (1895) New Ser. 17 126 For two traces for y^e bellroops 6d.

b. Angling. A length of gimp or gut of varying fineness attached to the end of the reel line.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > fishing-line > [noun] > other parts of line

warp1496

linka1609

tought1676

tippet1825

trace1839

tipping1881

1839 T. C. Hofland Brit. Angler's Man. iv. 71 You must now prepare a minnow-trace of three yards of gut.

1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling iv. 86 A tackle called a trace is used.

1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 56 Flights and Traces, Floats for various kinds of fishing.

c. Organ-building. In the draw-stop action, a rod which connects the draw-stop rod with the trundle, or the trundle with the lever moving the slider; also called trace-rod n. at Compounds.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > parts conveying action

roller1632

roller board1632

sticker1756

tracker1843

pricker1852

trace1852

button1855

trundle1876

fan1880

square1880

trace-rod1880

1852 tr. J. J. Seidel Organ & its Constr. 59 The upper end of the roller..is connected.. with the end of a short pole called the trace.

1876 J. Stainer & W. A. Barrett Dict. Musical Terms 335/2 When the stop is pulled out, the arms a a draw the trace b from right to left.

1880 C. A. Edwards Organs ii. ix. 90 Another arm..communicates with the trace..by means of a mortise and pin.

d. Botany. The fibro-vascular tissue of a stem, of which the leaf trace n. at leaf n.¹ Compounds 2 is a continuation.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > part of plant > cell or aggregate tissue > [noun] > tissue > specific types of tissue

parenchyma1651

parenchyme1811

suberin1815

mesophyllum1832

prosenchyma1832

cinenchyma1835

bothrenchyma1838

merenchyma1839

pleurenchyma1839

mesophyll1848

trachenchyma1848

inenchyma1851

sterenchyma1856

collenchyma1857

rhytidome1861

procambium1872

palisade tissue1875

trace1875

taphrenchyma1876

phellem1877

ground-tissue1882

palisade parenchyma1882

stone-sclerenchyma1884

stereome1885

aerenchyma1889

chlorenchyma1894

1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. 431 We have here ‘common’ bundles [of Phanerogams], each of which has one arm that ascends and bends out into the leaf, and another which descends and runs down into the stem; the latter is called by Hanstein the ‘inner leaf-trace’.

1877 A. W. Bennett tr. O. W. Thomé Text-bk. Struct. & Physiol. Bot. vi. 360 So-called leaf-traces.

1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 239 The median bundle of the trace..as it reaches the four bundles of the leaf-trace of the second node curves to one side, and unites with the lateral bundle of the next lower trace.

1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 257 Each leaf has three bundles of the trace, one median and two lateral.

Compounds

trace-beaten adj. (of a horse) marked by the beating or friction of the traces.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [adjective] > chafed or galled

galledc1000

saddle bitten1591

shackle-galled1596

navel-galled1601

spur-galled1608

saddle-galled1648

trace-galled1673

collar-galled1684

trace-beaten1687

halter-cast1704

1687 London Gaz. No. 2287/8 Stolen.., a brown Mare above 14 hands,..Traise-beaten on her Ribs.

1707 London Gaz. No. 4295/4 A brown Gelding.., trace-beaten, most on the further Side.

trace-block n. the splinter-bar or draught-bar; formerly called the fore-block or fore-bar.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > parts of cart or carriage > [noun] > swingle-tree

swing-tree1396

swingletree1483

spring-tree1600

bridge tree1607

whippin1697

whippletree1733

cross-tree1765

splinter-bar1765

swindle-tree1801

shackle-bar1834

whiffletree1842

heel tree1846

single-tree1847

swingle-bar1849

pulling-tree1895

trace-block1900

1900 Daily News 12 Nov. 3/4 The firemen..having attached drag ropes to the trace blocks, proceeded to drag the carriage to Government House.

trace-boy n. a trace-horse boy.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > boy in charge of trace-horses

trace-boy1897

1897 Daily News 31 Mar. 7/1 Daily wages..for trace-boys 2s. 6d.

trace-buckle n. a large buckle by which the trace is attached to the tug (Knight, 1877).

trace-bundle n. Botany cf. sense 4d.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > part of plant > cell or aggregate tissue > [noun] > tissue > vascular bundle

bundle1884

bundle-ring1884

trace-bundle1884

1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 293 The rapid longitudinal divisions of the bundle-ring always begin..in a young internode, in the position of the single, or of the median trace-bundle going to the next leaf above.

trace-chain n. (a) a trace of chain, a chain trace; †(b) a long chain by which a team is yoked to the plough; = team n. 5a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces

tracec1350

side rope1370

wain-rope1371

trace14..

soam1404

pintrace1440

side-trace1445

wain-string1464

theats1496

treat1611

trek-tow1822

trace-chain1844

tug-strap1882

trek-rope1883

trace-rope1900

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces > plough traces

team1344

plough stringc1350

plough-line1384

plougherband1404

foot team?1523

team-band1808

short end1844

trace-chain1844

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm I. 618 The horse is yoked to the swing-trees by light chains, called trace-chains.

1896 Cosmopolitan Feb. 398/1 The jangling of trace-chains in the quiet, darkening air, as the workmen return from the fields to the barn.

trace-fastener n. one of a pair of hooks or catches by which the traces are hitched to the draught-bar (Knight, 1877).

trace-galled adj. (of a horse) galled by the friction of the traces.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [adjective] > chafed or galled

galledc1000

saddle bitten1591

shackle-galled1596

navel-galled1601

spur-galled1608

saddle-galled1648

trace-galled1673

collar-galled1684

trace-beaten1687

halter-cast1704

1673 London Gaz. No. 783/4 One Iron Grey Nag..a little trace Galled.

trace-harness n. harness of trace-horses.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal

harness1303

plough harnessc1390

geara1400

draught1483

van harness1823

trave harness1839

yoking1873

hitch1876

trace-harness1885

1885 Wellington Weekly News 15 Oct. in Eng. Dial. Dict. Nine sets of breeching and trace harness.

trace-high adv. to the level of the traces.

ΚΠ

1899 E. Œ. Somerville & ‘M. Ross’ Some Experiences Irish R.M. ix Horses that ranged from the cart mare, clipped trace high, to shaggy and leggy three-year-olds.

trace-hook n. one of the hooks on the draught-bar for attaching the traces (Knight, 1877).

trace-horse n. a horse which draws in traces, as distinct from a shaft-horse; attributive.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > draught-horse > team of > horse outside shafts or in traces

tracer1839

outrigger1844

trace-horse1844

chain horse1876

outrunner1897

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1087 In Forfarshire the trace-horse is harnessed in a different manner.

1907 Nation 19 Oct. 79/1 Awaiting the chance of a trace-horse to give our caravan a pull.

trace-horse boy n. a boy in charge of a trace-horse.

trace-iron n. one of the upright iron studs round which the traces are looped.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces > attachments for

norsela1300

pipe?1309

tug1417

tug-hook1417

spreadbat1775

trace-ring1795

trace-tug1795

spreader1810

cock eye1819

stretcher1828

tug-buckle1851

roller1856

piping1875

tug-carrier1877

tug-slide1877

trace-iron1902

trace-loop-

1902 Daily Chron. 1 July 6/1 One of the horses attached to the fire engine was caught by the trace-iron on the off side of the cattle-float.

Thesaurus »

Categories »

trace-loop n. = trace-ring n.

trace-mate n. see quot.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > racehorse > in specific kind of race

plate horse1740

flat1811

mile-horse1829

steeplechaser1839

plater1859

all-ages1864

trace-mate1880

chaser1884

flat-racer1886

handicapper1890

miler1894

point-to-pointer1929

1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur 208 They termed the two [horses] next the pole yoke-steeds, and those on the right and left outside trace-mates.

trace-ring n. an iron ring fastened to the end of the trace, by which it is attached to the trace-hook.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces > attachments for

norsela1300

pipe?1309

tug1417

tug-hook1417

spreadbat1775

trace-ring1795

trace-tug1795

spreader1810

cock eye1819

stretcher1828

tug-buckle1851

roller1856

piping1875

tug-carrier1877

tug-slide1877

trace-iron1902

trace-loop-

1795 W. Felton Treat. Carriages II. 165 The Trace Rings, are square iron loops sewed in the ends of the traces a part of which they receive, and loops round the splinter bar.

trace-rod n. Organ = 4c.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > parts conveying action

roller1632

roller board1632

sticker1756

tracker1843

pricker1852

trace1852

button1855

trundle1876

fan1880

square1880

trace-rod1880

1880 E. J. Hopkins in Grove Dict. Music (1880) II. 606/1 A trace-rod, which spans the distance from the trundle to the end of the soundboard... The trundle partly revolves and moves the trace-rod.

trace-rope n. a trace made of rope.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces

tracec1350

side rope1370

wain-rope1371

trace14..

soam1404

pintrace1440

side-trace1445

wain-string1464

theats1496

treat1611

trek-tow1822

trace-chain1844

tug-strap1882

trek-rope1883

trace-rope1900

1900 Daily News 24 Feb. 6/3 The struggling, terrified horses inextricably mixed the trace ropes, and the position looked serious.

trace-tug n. a strap supporting the trace.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces > attachments for

norsela1300

pipe?1309

tug1417

tug-hook1417

spreadbat1775

trace-ring1795

trace-tug1795

spreader1810

cock eye1819

stretcher1828

tug-buckle1851

roller1856

piping1875

tug-carrier1877

tug-slide1877

trace-iron1902

trace-loop-

1795 W. Felton Treat. Carriages II. 156 The Trace Tugs are loops for the trace to run through, and hang by.

† trace-wheel n. Obsolete = pulley n.¹ 1c.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > lifting or hoisting equipment > [noun] > tackle > pulley

winchc1050

sheave1336

pulley1357

trice1357

truckle1417

shiver1485

trace-wheel1519

truckle-wheel1533

pullace1545

pullishee1635

wince1688

trispast1706

block-pulley1864

1519 W. Horman Vulgaria xxix. f. 241^v There must be made a trace whele [tympanum], to wynd vp stone.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

tracen.³

Brit.

/treɪs/, U.S.

/treɪs/

Forms: Middle English trace, Middle English plural trasses, 1500s Scottish trase, trais, traiss, 1500s (Scottish) 1600s– dialect trace.

Etymology: Possibly an altered form of tress n., with which this largely coincides in sense; but no explanation of the alteration of form presents itself. See also the cognate trace v.³(The different senses are cited from widely separate localities, so that they can scarcely be considered as a verbal unity, except in their apparent relation to tress n.)

Obsolete or dialect.

†1. A tress or plait of hair; = tress n. 1 (English regional (south-western)). Obsolete (but cf. trace v.³).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > styles of hair > [noun] > tresses or plaits

tracec1380

plight?1387

tressa1400

plexc1450

braid1530

tuck1532

buoy-rope1546

trammels1589

entrammelling1598

border1601

point1604

pleat?1606

trammelets1654

maze1657

brede1696

queue1724

pigtail?1725

tie1725

cue1731

tuck-up1749

tutulus1753

club1786

tail1799

French twist1850

Grecian plait1851

French plait1871

horse's tail1873

Gretchen braid, plait1890

shimada1910

ponytail1916

French braid1937

cane row1939

dreadlocks1960

French pleat1964

Tom Jones1964

corn row1971

dread1984

club-pigtail-

c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 5881 Wyþ eȝene graye, and browes bent, And ȝealwe traces, & fayre y-trent.

a1400 Trevisa's Higden (Rolls) VIII. vii. 63 Þe ȝelew heere of þe womman trasses [MS. γ. ȝelou tresses; Higden trica comæ mulieris flava] was i-founde hoole and sounde.

†2. A flat plait or braid of gold or silver thread, or other material, for trimming a robe, etc. Scottish. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1539 in T. Thomson Coll. Inventories Royal Wardrobe (1815) 32 Item, ane nycht gowne of gray dammes with ane walting trais of gold. [p. 42 has tress of silver; p. 82 tres of gold.]

1543 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1908) VIII. 181 For xx tracis of gold to the cote, weyand thre unce..v li. ij s.

1548 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1908) VIII. IX. 149 xxx elnis of trasis to eik ane goun of hirris [= hers] of blak welwote... Item, thre elnis blak welwote to eik this goun.

1549 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1908) VIII. 334 Tua unce and ane quarter unce Parice silk to sew the pasmentis and traiss of the said coit.

a. North American. A string of ears of Indian corn plaited together so as to be hung up.

ΚΠ

1679 Philos. Trans. 1677 (Royal Soc.) 12 1066 After 'tis gather'd, it [maize] must, except laid very thin, be presently stripped from the Husks... The common way (which they call Tracing) is to weave the Ears together in long Traces by some parts of the Husk left thereon.

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Tracing These traces of [Indian] corn they hang up within doors,..and they will..keep good the whole winter.

b. A ‘rope’ or string of onions. dialect.

ΚΠ

1891 R. P. Chope Dial. Hartland, Devonshire Trace, a rope of onions. [Cf. Trecces de cepis in same sense, in Tabularia Portus Regii (Du Cange).] (Cf. also [see race n.¹ 7b]. .)

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

tracev.¹

Brit.

/treɪs/, U.S.

/treɪs/

Forms: Middle English trais(e, Middle English–1600s trase, Middle English– trace.

Etymology: Middle English trace-n , < Old French tracier, 12th cent. (trasser , traser , traicier , etc.), French trace-r = Spanish trazar , Italian tracciare to follow by foot, to trace, indicating a popular Latin or Common Romanic *tractiāre , < Latin tractus a drawing, dragging, trailing, crawling; a train, track, course. The primary meaning of the verb was apparently ‘to proceed in a line, course, or track’. The early sense-development in Old French and Middle English is not very clear, and some of the senses attach themselves immediately to trace n.¹ in its sense of ‘mark left by anything moving, footprint’, itself a derivative of the verb in its earlier senses.

I. Senses relating to making one's way or treading.

†1. intransitive. To take one's course, make one's way; to proceed, pass, go, travel, tread. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > [verb (intransitive)]

nimeOE

becomec885

teec888

goeOE

i-goc900

lithec900

wendeOE

i-farec950

yongc950

to wend one's streetOE

fare971

i-wende971

shakeOE

winda1000

meteOE

wendOE

strikec1175

seekc1200

wevec1200

drawa1225

stira1225

glidea1275

kenc1275

movec1275

teemc1275

tightc1275

till1297

chevec1300

strake13..

travelc1300

choosec1320

to choose one's gatea1325

journeyc1330

reachc1330

repairc1330

wisec1330

cairc1340

covera1375

dressa1375

passa1375

tenda1375

puta1382

proceedc1392

doa1400

fanda1400

haunta1400

snya1400

take?a1400

thrilla1400

trace?a1400

trinea1400

fangc1400

to make (also have) resortc1425

to make one's repair (to)c1425

resort1429

ayrec1440

havea1450

speer?c1450

rokec1475

wina1500

hent1508

persevere?1521

pursuec1540

rechec1540

yede1563

bing1567

march1568

to go one's ways1581

groyl1582

yode1587

sally1590

track1590

way1596

frame1609

trickle1629

recur1654

wag1684

fadge1694

haul1802

hike1809

to get around1849

riddle1856

bat1867

biff1923

truck1925

?a1400 Morte Arth. 1629 Traise to-warde Troys þe tresone to wyrke.

c1400 Rom. Rose 6745 Yit may he go his breed begging; Fro dore to dore he may go trace, Til he the remenaunt may purchace.

?1504 S. Hawes Example of Vertu sig. ee.vi No man by yonde this marke may trace.

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid viii. v. 5 The prestis..Gan trasing furth.

a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Ci As good to be occupyed as vp and downe to trace And do nothynge.

1598 Mucedorus sig. E2 The wood lanes..strawed With violets, cowslips, and swete marigolds For thee to trampel and to trace vpon.

1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. D2 Induce them..to trace in the wholsome path that leadeth to the house of honour.

a1688 Duke of Buckingham Restoration in Wks. (1775) 104 Fall off again,..and every man trace to his house again.

1793 Minstrel II. 126 The forest, which she did not chuse to enter, but traced along its edge.

†2. intransitive. To pace or step in dancing; to tread a measure; to dance. Also transitive (rare). Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > dancing > [verb (intransitive)]

frikec1000

sail1297

dancec1300

sault1377

tripc1386

balea1400

hopc1405

foota1425

tracec1425

sallyc1440

to dance a fita1500

fling1528

to tread a measure, a dance1577

trip1578

traverse1584

move1594

to shake heels1595

to shake it1595

firk1596

tripudiate1623

pettitoe1651

step1698

jink1718

to stand up1753

bejig1821

to toe and heel (it)1828

morris1861

hoof1925

terp1945

c1425 J. Lydgate Daunce Machabree in Bochas Fall of Princes (1554) 220 b Death I may not flee, On this daunce with other for to trace.

1445 tr. Claudian's De Consulatu Stilichonis in Anglia (1905) 28 273 Orpheus harpe which trees made trace.

1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. ccliiii To hunt to chace: to daunce: to trace: what one is he That beryth face.

1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. B^v Come Nick. take you Ioane Miniuer to trace withal.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xx. 541 They traced to and fro promiscuously, often clapping their hands and singing aloud.

1808 W. Scott Marmion v. vii. 251 Well loved that splendid monarch aye..The merry dance, traced fast and light.

†3. transitive. To pass along or over, tread (a path, way, street, etc.). Also figurative. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > [verb (transitive)] > traverse a distance or ground

runeOE

overcomeOE

meteOE

through-gangOE

passc1300

to pass over ——c1300

overpassc1325

tracec1381

travela1393

traverse?a1400

travelc1400

measure?a1425

walkc1450

go1483

journey1531

peragrate1542

trade1548

overspin1553

overtrace1573

tract1579

progress1587

invade1590

waste1590

wear1596

march1606

void1608

recovera1625

expatiate1627

lustrate1721

do1795

slip1817

cover1818

clear1823

track1823

itinerate1830

betravel1852

to roll off1867

c1381 G. Chaucer Parl. Foules 54 Oure present wor[l]dis lyuys space Nys but a maner deth what weye we trace.

1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David viii. viii The fish,..And what thing els of waters traceth The unworn paths.

1621 J. Reynolds Triumphs Gods Revenge: 1st Bk. i. 5 Tracing the street in a neate perfumed boote with iangling spurres.

1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine iii. 343 The passage..commonly called the dolorous way,..traced with the blessed feet of our Saviour.

1794 W. Blake Little Girl Found in Songs of Experience in Compl. Poetry & Prose (1982) 21 Arm in arm seven days, They trac'd the desart ways.

figurative.1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes Prol. sig. aa^v That all tho persones that ententyfely rede or here them may be styred the better to trace the way of eternall saluacyon.

†4. transitive. To travel or range over; to go or pass about, around, or through; to tread, traverse.

ΚΠ

1430–40 J. Lydgate tr. Bochas Fall of Princes vi. iv. (Bodl. 263) lf. 314/2 Fond no loggyng, tracing the contres Saue in kauernys, & in holwe trees.

?a1554 H. Willoughby in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) ii. 268 We sailed..with diuers other courses, trauersing and tracing the seas, by reason of sundrie and manifolde contrary windes.

1577 J. Grange Golden Aphroditis sig. Gj^v My harte it dothe bothe skippe and ioye to see hir trace the grounde.

1594 C. Marlowe & T. Nashe Dido i. i But hapless I..Do trace these Lybian deserts, all despis'd.

1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. ix. 412 I traced the fertile soyles of Carindia.

1807 G. Crabbe Parish Reg. i, in Poems 46 He soon arriv'd, he trac'd the Village-green.

II. Senses relating to following or pursuit.

a. To follow the footprints or traces of; esp. to track by the footprints; also with the traces as object; hence, to pursue, to dog.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > follow [verb (transitive)] > follow (a track or trail) > follow track or trail of

troda1250

tracec1440

track1565

train1575

tract1577

hunt1579

foot1581

trail1590

to tread the feet of1596

insist1631

pad1861

sleuth1905

back-trail1907

back-track1925

the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > find or discover [verb (transitive)] > by searching or tracking down

findOE

track1565

to start up1566

explore1592

to find forth1601

tracea1913

c1440 Pallad. on Husb. Tab. 39 Been forto trace vnto their dwellyng.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 760/2 It is forbydden to trace hares in snowe tyme.

1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates Glendower xxxi So traste they me among the mountaynes wide.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iv. i. 169 His Wife, his Babes, and all vnfortunate Soules That trace him in his Line.

1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. i. 17 Still left vntold, something there must be seene For them, who trace our feete, with Argus eyne.

1677 W. Hubbard Narr. Troubles with Indians New-Eng. ii. 25 By the help of the Snow that fell about that time, [they] were traced till they were overtaken.

1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India I. ii. ii. 123 Bound to find out the possessor of any stolen property within the township, or to trace him till he has passed the boundary.

1886 C. E. Pascoe London of To-day (ed. 3) xxi. 207 We might have traced Thackeray through his wanderings from street to street.

a1913 Mod. Note the number of the postal order, so that it may be traced if lost.

b. figurative. To follow, pursue (instructions, example, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > subjection > obedience > obey or be obedient to [verb (transitive)] > act in conformity to a rule or decree

to stand at ——c1300

to stand to ——c1300

usec1300

keep1387

abidea1393

obeya1393

stand?1435

answer1552

trace1649

1649 W. Blith Eng. Improver xiii. 77 Observe my Method, and strictly trace my Instructions.

1745 Transl. & Paraphr. Sc. Ch. lii. i You who the Name of Jesus bear, His holy Footsteps trace.

a. figurative. To follow the course, development, or history of. Also with the course, etc. as object.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > find out, discover [verb (transitive)] > trace or follow up

investigate1623

trace1654

to run up1657

track1681

retrace1697

1654 J. Bramhall Just Vindic. Church of Eng. v. 90 If we trace on this Argument a little further, to search out how the Bishop of Rome comes to be Saint Peters heire.

1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. xii. 250 The common Virtues, and the common Vices of Mankind, may be traced up to Benevolence, or the want of it.

1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. xiv. 236 The tracing the inheritance back through the male line of ancestors.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 503 No libel on the government had ever been traced to a Quaker.

1887 Westm. Rev. June 309 We have traced the history of Lower Canada down to the year 1839.

b. intransitive for passive. To trace its origin or history; to go back in time, to date back.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > source or origin > originate, derive, or arise [verb (intransitive)] > derive or go back

refer?1406

remount1612

to go back1771

trace1876

stem1937

1876 3rd Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1875–6 107 The farmer loses sight of the fact that the character of the calf..may ‘trace back’, as it is termed, to a remote ancestor.

1886 Field 4 Sept. 346/1 The Belvoir Senator and the Brocklesby Harbinger traced directly to the Fitzwilliam.

1889 Jacobs & Lang Æsop's Fables 53 The earliest form..cannot trace back earlier than the third..century.

1907 Daily Chron. 9 Sept. 3/2 The scare of invasion traces to the Armada of 1588.

a. transitive. To make out and follow (with the eye or mind) the course or line of; to ascertain (the course or line of something).

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > watch or observe > follow with eyes

to look after ——OE

followa1393

suea1398

pursue1558

tracea1701

to watch after1850

a1701 H. Maundrell Acct. Journey from Aleppo in Journey to Jerusalem (1721) 2 Its Walls, which may be traced all round.

1779 Mirror No. 9. ⁋3 I..amused myself with tracing in the daughters, those features which, in the mothers and grandmothers, had charmed me so often.

1818 in J. K. Tuckey Narr. Exped. River Zaire Introd. p. viii The stream of this mysterious river [sc. the Niger] being now traced with certainty from west to east as far as Tombuctoo.

1839 R. I. Murchison Silurian Syst. i. xxxvii. 572 In situations where the boulders may be traced..to their parent rocks.

1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine i. 19 Often their course can be traced, not by visible water, but a track of moss here, a fringe of rushes there.

1907 F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (ed. 2 reissued) I. 2 The form of the ancient manor house may still be traced.

b. To make out (worn or obscure writing); to discern, decipher.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > code, cipher > decoding, deciphering > decipher [verb (transitive)] > obscure or foreign writing

decipher1574

trace1768

1768 T. Gray Descent of Odin in Poems 89 Thrice he traced the runic rhyme.

1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. i. 137 It calls me..to trace The few fond lines that Time may soon efface.

1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany ii. 17 The characters may still be traced on a block of granite.

c. To make a tracing of (a listed item); to derive (a tracing) from an index or catalogue; see tracing n. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > record > written record > arrangement and storage of written records > arrange and store written records [verb (transitive)] > index > enter in index

index1761

trace1905

1905 N.Y. State Library Bull. No. 95. 578 See that every secondary card is traced on one or both main cards.

1914 N.Y. State Libr. School Cataloging Rules 32 Trace added entries on the back of the main card. Write the tracing for other cards toward what will then be the lower right corner.

1926 Amer. Speech 2 93 The catalog cards are ‘main entry’ cards and ‘secondary entry’ cards, the latter being ‘traced’ from the former.

a. To discover, find out, or ascertain by investigation; to find out step by step; to search out.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > research > find out by investigation [verb (transitive)]

seekc900

seeOE

searcha1382

takea1382

inquire1390

undergrope?a1412

explore1531

to pry out1548

to scan out1548

to hunt out1576

sound1596

exquire1607

pervestigate1610

pump1611

trace1642

probe1649

to hunt up1741

to pick a person's brains (also brain)1770

verify1801

to get a load of1929

sus1966

1642 T. Fuller Holy State v. i. 359 God..varieth his ways of dealing with wantons, that they may be at a losse in tracing him.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 92 Happy the Man, who, studying Nature's Laws, Thro' known Effects can trace the secret Cause.

1745 Transl. & Paraphr. Sc. Ch. xxii. iv Tho' him thou can'st not see, nor trace the working of his hands.

1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey II. 306 Tracing a connection..where in reality none exists.

b. To discover evidence of the existence or occurrence of; to find traces of.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > find or discover [verb (transitive)] > find evidence of existence of

trace1697

1697 J. Dryden Ded. Æneis in tr. Virgil Wks. sig. a3^v He observes no Method that I can trace, whatever Scaliger the Father, or Heinsius may have seen.

1782 F. Burney Cecilia IV. viii. x. 325 The earliest circumstances she could trace were kindnesses received from her.

1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters III. 137 There is a great deal more in your heart, of evil and good, than you ever can trace.

a1862 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1871) III. v. 367 Black..called it latent heat, because though we conceive it as an idea, we cannot trace it as a fact.

c. Computing. To subject (a program) to a trace (trace n.¹ 12a).

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > programming language > program or code > [verb (transitive)] > debug

debug1943

trace1959

1959 M. H. Wrubel Primer of Programming for Digital Computers v. 107 When a program is traced, the machine produces a record of each instruction as it is performed.

1967 M. Klerer & G. A. Korn Digital Computer User's Handbk. i. i. 23 The location limits of the program segments to be traced enter as initial parameters to the trace program.

1981 L. A. Hill Structured Programming in FORTRAN iii. 73 The program is traced in Table 3–6 with Rule 4 relaxed.

III. Senses relating to marking or drawing.

9. transitive. To mark, make marks upon; esp. to mark or ornament with lines, figures, or characters: cf. tracery n.

ΚΠ

a1400–50 Alexander 4914 Þe testre trased full of trones with trimballand wingis þe silloure full of Seraphens.

1523 J. Skelton Goodly Garlande of Laurell 395 With diamauntes and rubis there tabers were trasid.

1583 D. Ingram in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) iii. 558 The haire of their heads is shauen in sundry spots, and the rest of their head is traced [? tattooed].

1832 Ld. Tennyson Palace of Art xxxvi, in Poems (new ed.) 79 The deepset windows, stained and traced, Burned, like slow-flaming crimson fires From shadowed grots of arches interlaced.

1858 J. G. Whittier Palm-tree 24 He holds a palm-leaf scroll in his hands, Traced with the Prophet's wise commands.

1890 Daily News 6 Jan. 5/2 Stockings and buckles were richly traced; the pocket was often a blaze of the richest embroidery.

10. To make a plan, diagram, or chart of (something existing or to be constructed); to mark out the course of (a road, etc.) on, or by means of, a plan or map; to mark or set out (the lines of a work or road) on the ground itself. Also figurative, to devise (a plan of action), map out (a policy).

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > graphic representation > drawing plans or diagrams > make plan or diagram of [verb (transitive)]

to set down in plat1508

to plat forth1556

delineate1579

plot1588

plat1589

trace1599

to line outa1616

lineament1638

to lay down1669

design1697

plan1734

draught1828

1374–5 [implied in: 1374–5 in G. Oliver Exeter Cathedral (1861) 385 Custus nove domus in Calendarhay vocate ‘Trasyng hous’. (at tracing-house n. at tracing n. Compounds)].

1399 [implied in: 1399 in J. Raine Fabric Rolls York Minster (1859) 17 In le loge [mason's work-shop] apud Ebor, in cimiterio, lxix stanexes, j magna kevell, xcvj chisielles ferri.., ij tracyngbordes. (at tracing-board n. at tracing n. Compounds)].

1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. F3 When I had doubled my poynt, traste my ground.

1624 Ld. Kensington Let. 31 Aug. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. III. 173 What they traced out for the breaking of the match, yow follow, pretending to conclude it.

1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ i. xli. 84 The Castle [in Milan], by which the Cittadell of Antwerp was trac'd.

1669 P. Staynred Compend. Fortification 6 in S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. Tables..Whereby you may trace out any Fort by help of a Line of Equal Parts.

1696 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) To Trace, to draw upon Paper the plane of a Building or Fortification.

1834 L. Ritchie Wanderings by Seine 120 Rollo's..path, like that of other conquerors, was traced in blood and ashes.

1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest IV. xviii. 212 The Ermine Street, notwithstanding all the centuries which have passed since it was first traced out and paved, is still distinguished from a yet older track.

11.

a. To draw; to draw an outline or figure of; also, to put down in writing, to pen. [So Old French tracier.]

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > writing > [verb (transitive)] > a letter or symbol

writeOE

trace1390

society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > graphic representation > represent graphically [verb (transitive)] > line or figure

drawc1300

trace1390

scribe1887

1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 46 Babilla with hire Sones sevene..With Cernes bothe square and rounde He traceth ofte upon the grounde.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 499/1 Tracyn, or draw strykys, protraho.

1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. v. iii. sig. Kk3 (heading) Killing a Crow.., and immediately tracing the ensuing Reflection with a Pen made of one of his Quills.

1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 96 Then trace upon the Ground the Triangle CDE.

1859 T. J. Gullick & J. Timbs Painting 8 The mode of commencing a picture by tracing the outline was followed by the early oil painters.

1888 J. W. Burgon Lives Twelve Good Men I. i. 26 These last [annotations] were evidently traced by fingers rendered tremulous by age.

b. To copy (a drawing, plan, etc.) by following the lines of the original drawing on a transparent sheet placed upon it; to make a tracing of.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > drawing > draw [verb (transitive)] > copy or make tracing of

trace1782

1782 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 3) V. 211 There were an hundred and four heads, hands and feet, traced off from the Cartoons.

1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay iii. 38 They practised duets together, and traced patterns.

Phrases

† trace and traverse, trace and rase, in reference to combatants: sense uncertain: cf. race v.², raze v., and traverse v. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > dissent > fighting > fight [verb (intransitive)] > move to and fro in fighting

traversea1470

trace and rase1470

trace and traverse1470

vibrate1616

1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur vi. viii. 194 Thus they ferd two houres or mo trasyng and rasyng eyther other where they myght hytte ony bare place.

1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur vii. iv. 217 They rasshyd to gyders lyke borys tracynge, rasynge and foynynge to the mountenaunce of an houre.

1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur x. xxx. 463 Thus they tracyd and trauercyd and hewe on helmes and hawberkes... And euer sire Tristram tracyd and trauercyd and wente forward hym here and there.

1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. viii. sig. T2 Thus long they trast, and trauerst to and fro.

Derivatives

traced adj.¹

/treɪst/ †(a) travelled, journeyed: with adverbial qualification (obsolete); (b) outlined, drawn, written.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > aspects of travel > traveller > [adjective] > much travelled

travelledc1450

well-travelledc1450

journeyed1553

traced1632

society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > graphic representation > [adjective] > outlined, drawn, or written

traced1632

1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. (1906) vii. 293 My life and liberty being deare to me, my long traced feete became more nimble in twelve score paces, then they could follow in eighteene.

1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 92 The traced Line AB.

1875 T. Seaton Man. Fret Cutting 146 Place the edge of the tool on the traced line.

ˈtracing adj. that traces or draws lines.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > winter sports > skating > [adjective] > that traces or draws lines

tracing1884

1884 Instr. Mil. Engin. (ed. 3) I. ii. 21 A sapper should be stationed..to await the arrival of the tracing party.

1907 Daily Chron. 24 Jan. 8/1 The spiral..must be skated boldly,..the knee of the tracing leg rather strongly bent.

Draft additions 1993

To follow or make out (a course, line, etc.) with one's finger. Also with the finger as subj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > follow [verb (transitive)] > follow (a track or trail) > follow track or trail of > with finger

trace1931

the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > follow [verb (transitive)] > follow (a track or trail) > follow track or trail of > with finger > with finger as subject

trace1980

1931 A. Uttley Country Child x. 124 Her fingers traced the way, round corners to her high attic, where..she climbed into bed and fell asleep.

1939 R. P. Warren Night Rider xiii. 315 He held the book in his left hand and his right forefinger traced each line as he read it.

1972 T. Keneally Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith v. 34 His fingers traced padmarks along the edge of the road and into tussocks on the verge.

1980 D. Bogarde Gentle Occup. v. 114 She leaned up from him and traced his throat with her finger.

1984 K. Hulme Bone People (1985) ii. 52 Simon is tracing the intricacies of the tatami mat with his forefinger.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

† tracev.²

Etymology: < trace n.²

Obsolete. rare.

transitive. To attach by traces, to harness in traces.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [verb (transitive)] > harness or yoke

yokeOE

harness13..

cart-saddle1377

join1377

couple1393

enharness1490

benda1522

bind1535

span1550

team1552

spang1580

inyoke1595

trace1605

enclose?1615

gear1638

to get in1687

reharness1775

reyoke1813

to hook up1825

inspan1834

hitch1844

pole1846

stock1909

1605 J. Stow Annales (new ed.) 1432 They [Bayliffs of the Town] presented him with three-score and ten Teeme of horse, all traced to faire new Ploughes.

1656 A. Cowley Muse in Pindaric Odes i Go, the rich Chariot instantly prepare;..Unruly Phansie with strong Judgment trace, Put in nimble-footed Wit.

a1796 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 218 My Furr ahin's a wordy beast, As e'er in tug or tow was trac'd.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2021).

tracev.³

Forms: Middle English trase, (past participle trased, trast), 1600s– trace.

Etymology: Belongs to trace n.³; possibly an altered form of tress v.

Obsolete exc. local.

1. transitive. To plait, twine, interweave, braid. Also with up.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > intertwining or interweaving > intertwine or interweave [verb (transitive)]

wind971

braidc1000

writheOE

biwevec1300

enlacec1374

winda1387

tracec1400

bredec1440

knit1470

embraid1481

interlace1523

entrail?1530

wreathea1547

beknit1565

twist1565

wand1572

embroid1573

mat1577

complect1578

intertex1578

inweave1578

lace1579

plight1589

entwine1597

bewreath1598

interweave1598

implicate1610

twine1612

complicatea1631

implex1635

intertwine1641

plash1653

enwreathe1667

raddle1671

intertwist1797

pleach1830

impleach1865

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1739 Þe haȝer stones Trased aboute hir tressour be twenty in clusteres.

a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 405 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 107 Mony schene scheld With tuscheis of trast silk tichit to ye tre.

1616 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals II. iv. 93 A little Lad..Tracing greene Rushes for a Winter Chayre.

1616 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals II. iv. 94 As oft as I..Trace the sharpe Rushes ends.

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Tracing,..a term used by our planters for the method of preserving the maize... [They] trace it, that is, they leave it in the ear, and weave, or fasten together a great number of ears by the ends of the husks.

1884 8th Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1883–4 285 The ears thus selected should be ‘traced up’ and hung away to dry.

1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Trace, to plait (always) ‘I can't only trace dree, but our Jim can trace zix’ [i.e. plait six strands together].

1941 Old Farmer's Almanac 70 In the early fall the farmers would speak of ‘tracing up’ the yellow ears of corn to hang from the beams of the woodshed.

2. To plait or braid the hair of the head in tresses; = tress v. 1.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify (the hair) [verb (transitive)] > braid

tress?a1366

browd1386

broidc1405

braid1530

border1585

entrammel1598

snake1653

queue1754

cue1774

club1779

trace1832

weave1884

1832 R. Lander & J. Lander Jrnl. Exped. Niger I. i. 41 Her hair was traced with such extraordinary neatness, that we expressed a wish to examine it more minutely.

1905 Eng. Dial. Dict. VI. 213/2 [W. Cornwall] She traces her hair every day.

Derivatives

traced adj.²

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > pattern or design > [adjective]

flourishedc1400

figury1467

figured1490

traceda1525

infigured1611

patterned1758

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [adjective] > woven

browdenOE

woven1488

traceda1525

obtexed1623

wove1710

loomed1729

woofed1820

textile1844

a1525Trast [see sense 1].

1808–25 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (at cited word) A traced hat is a hat bound with gold lace.

ˈtracing n.² interweaving, embroidering, braiding; also attributive.Here perhaps belong quot. 1874 at tracing n. 3b, and tracing-braid n., tracing-lace n. at tracing n. Compounds.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > sewing or ornamenting textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing

broidery1382

embroidery1393

braidingc1440

broideringa1450

surfling1490

stitching1521

surfle?1533

tracing1549

acupiction1663

1549 in Accts. Ld. High Treasurer Scotl. (1911) IX. 334 Thre score thre elnis trasing silk to the samyn coit.

1681 Scot. Proclam. 1 Mar. Silver and gold threde, silver and gold lace, fringes or tracing.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

n.¹a1300

n.²c1350

n.³c1380

v.¹1374

v.²1605

v.³c1400

单词	trace
释义	tracen.¹ Brit. /treɪs/, U.S. /treɪs/ Forms: Middle English– trace; also Middle English tras, Middle English–1600s trase, (Middle English traze, Scottish trass, traiss, Middle English trays, Scottish traise, Middle English traas, trayse, ( trasche), 1500s Scottish trais). Etymology: < French trace (12th cent. in Godefroy) = Provençal trassa , Italian traccia (Spanish traza draught, first sketch), verbal noun < Old French tracier , French tracer : see trace v.¹ †1. a. The way or path which anything takes; course, road; esp. in to take one's trace, to make one's way, take one's course, proceed. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > [noun] > course or direction of movement runeeOE runningOE pathOE wayOE tracea1300 coursec1380 coursec1380 racec1390 recourse?c1425 situation1517 journey?a1560 track1565 roadway1600 career?1614 direction1665 by-run1674 sensea1679 meith1726 heading1841 society > travel > aspects of travel > travel in specific course or direction > [noun] lodeOE wayOE gatea1300 tracea1300 raik?c1350 coursec1380 coursec1380 racec1390 line1426 fairwayc1440 tradec1480 voye1541 tract1555 track1565 career?1614 a1300 [see sense 1b]. a1400 K. Alis. (Bodl.) 7759 Alisaunder & Candace To Chaumber token her trace. c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 1112 To-warde þe þrone þay trone a tras. c1425 Cast. Persev. 1923 in Macro Plays 131 Haue don, felaus! & take ȝoure trasche. c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 498/2 Trace, of a wey over a felde, trames. ?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 3394 To farne agayne he takes his trace. a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Fox, Wolf, & Cadger l. 2161 in Poems (1981) 79 All the trace he trippit on his tais. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 282/2 Trace, a streyght way, trace. 1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. i. sig. Z4 Now I begin To tread an endlesse trace, withouten guyde. View more context for this quotation 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 684 The Striate Particles, finding no fit Pores or Traces for their passage thorough it. 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 69 I wanted the traces thro' which my wishes might find their way to her. †b. figurative. A course of action or conduct; way of proceeding; ‘path’, ‘way’, ‘road’; esp. in phrases to follow, take, tread the trace. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > behaviour > [noun] > (a) course of conduct or action wayeOE pathOE waya1225 tracea1300 line13.. dancea1352 tenor1398 featc1420 faction1447 rink?a1500 footpath1535 trade1536 vein1549 tract1575 course1582 road1600 country dance1613 track1638 steeragea1641 rhumb1666 tack1675 conduct1706 walk1755 wheel-way1829 a1300 Cursor Mundi 25528 Until us Þat al to mikel has ben vn~buxs Vnto þi suet trace [Fairf. for to folow þi trace]. a1400 Cato's Distichs (Fairf.) l. 374 in R. Morris Cursor Mundi (1878) III. App. iv. 1674 (MED) Gode grante vs grace to folow catouns trace in his teyching. c1430 Hymns Virg. 35 Y took to þe world, & wente from þee, Y folewide þe feend al in his traas. c1480 (a1400) St. Nicholas 43 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 482 Þus he be-gane to god seke, & held furth ay in þat trace. c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme cxix. 21 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 195 From the lyers trace, From falshoods wreathed way, O saue me lord. 1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 67 The rest of the Nobilitie..trode also the same trace. 1652 J. Wright tr. J.-P. Camus Nature's Paradox viii. 163 To reduce him into the trace of his Duty and Reason. 1715 R. South 12 Serm. IV. 366 God, by a secret, unobserved Trace of his Providence, may cast Men under an..seducing Ministry. †2. A line, file, or train of persons. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > arrangement in (a) row(s) or line(s > [noun] > a line or row > of people or things one behind the other tracec1385 filea1616 string1686 c1385 G. Chaucer Legend Good Women Prol. 285 I saugh comyng of ladyes Nientene..And after hem coome of wymen swich a traas. 1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres iv. 102 The Sergeant Maiors..haue conducted these Regiments very disorderly, making a long trace, file, or lyne (as it were) of them. †3. A series of steps in dancing; a measure; a dance. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > dancing > [noun] > a dance chore1382 dance1393 measure?c1430 virlyc1430 tracec1450 platfoot1559 hop-about1593 firk1637 footing1652 ballet1786 stand-up1861 c1450 Mankind ii. 521 in Macro Plays 20 I xall make hym to dawnce a-noþer trace! c1460 R. Roos tr. La Belle Dame sans Mercy 190 Whan he thought tyme to daunce with her a trace. ?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element sig. Evj^v Folow all I wyll lede a trace. 1577 J. Grange Golden Aphroditis sig. Fiij^v It fell by course N.O. shoulde leade this trace, bycause he knewe it beste, the tracyng of this rounde requyred in the middle thereof a conge. 1622 (?a1513) W. Dunbar Poems (Reidpeth) (1998) I. 241 Thane com the ladyis danceing in ane trece. †4. a. plural. The series or line of footprints left by an animal; hence in singular a footprint. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun] > left by the passage of something > of a person or animal > track of footprints scorec1330 tracesc1330 tradea1450 steppings1573 foot track1600 vestigiating1638 tracing1657 society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun] > left by the passage of something > of a person or animal > track of footprints > footprint trod946 lastOE foot sporeOE tread?c1225 stepc1290 footstepa1300 solec1325 tracta1547 footprint1552 traces1552 footing1563 foot track1600 accub1623 vestigating1634 vestige1656 seal1686 sign1692 footmark1756 stabble1863 pelmatogram1890 paw print1894 c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 4732 Of hors traces hy þer seye. c1374 G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Cambr.) v. met. v. 133 Other bestis gladen hemself to diggen hir traas or hir steppis in the Erthe with hir goyngz or with hir feet. 1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope iv. xii We knowe wel by thy traces that all the beestes whiche haue entryd in to thy hows came not oute ageyne. 1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Trace or steppe, vestigium. 1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie xxxvii. 98 In beasts of pray and rauine, as Beare, and Bore. &c. they are called traces. 1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique vii. xxxii. 858 There is more regarde to be taken vnto her traces: for the print of the hares foote is sharpe, and fashioned like vnto the point of a knife. 1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Trace (among Hunters), the Footprint of wild Beasts. figurative.1610 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) (modernized text) I. 114 One who hath left so good traces and steps wherein to walk. †b. plural. loosely. Footsteps. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > [noun] > stepping > a step, pace, or tread stepsc1000 pacea1350 treadc1400 footstepc1440 treadingsc1440 footing1567 traces1613 footfalla1616 1613 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals I. iv. 71 Till at the last..Yee bend your traces vp some shady hill. 5. a. The track made by the passage of any person or thing, whether beaten by feet or indicated in any other way: = track n. 1 on one's trace(s, in pursuit of one; to keep trace of, to follow the movements of, keep sight of in going. ΘΚΠ society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun] > left by the passage of something swathc888 forec1250 vorea1387 tracec1420 track1470 rut1552 fore-step1562 cart-rut1601 trail1610 strake1617 cart-ritta1657 cart-ruck1820 wheel-spura1825 wake1851 c1420 Anturs of Arth. v The king blowe rechas, And folowed fast on þe tras. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) vi. 583 Þe hund..ay followit þe kyngis tras. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) vi. 553 In his trais þe hund he set. 1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) ix. 238 Men myghte well folow hym bi the trase, by cause of the blode that cam out of his body. c1556 W. Tymmes Let. in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1583) 2142/1 A sheepe [= ship] that passeth ouer the waues.., when it is gone, by the trace thereof cannot be found. 1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake i. 10 Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed..Fast on his [sc. the stag's] flying traces came. 1887 C. Bowen tr. Virgil Æneid ii, in tr. Virgil in Eng. Verse 133 On his traces aflame with murderous stroke, Pyrrhus—behind—the pursuer! b. spec. A beaten path through a wild or unenclosed region, made by the passage of people or animals; a track, a trail. U.S. ΘΚΠ society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > track, trail, or path > [noun] styc725 patheOE stighta1340 trod-gatea1400 tread14.. pathwaya1450 terry1563 trod1570 trade way1589 track1643 trod-way1660 drifta1711 roadie1768 loke1787 trace1807 trail1807 trackway1818 mud pike1851 dirt track1902 1807 J. B. Wilkinson in Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi (1810) ii. App. 24 We..took the large Spanish trace for the Arkansaw river. 1808 Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi (1810) ii. 134 We marched, leaving the Osage trace, which we had hitherto followed. 1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 65 We..soon fell in with the trace from the Maha village to the monument. 1837 R. M. Bird Nick of Woods II. xxiv. 247 Leaving the broad buffalo-trace by which he descended the banks. 1904 W. Churchill Crossing vii They were going ahead up the trace towards his mother's. c. In the West Indies: a grass drive, a lane. ΘΚΠ society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > [noun] > covered with verdure greenwayOE green gatec1540 greensward way1703 trace1871 tapis vert1960 1871 C. Kingsley At Last vii The heat of a cane-field trace is utterly stifling. 1871 C. Kingsley At Last II. xiii. 190 A grass drive, as we should call it in England—a ‘trace’, as it is called in the West Indies—some sixty feet in width. 6. a. plural. Vestiges or marks remaining and indicating the former presence, existence, or action of something; singular a vestige, an indication. Also to sink without trace: see sink v. Phrases 6. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > memory > retrospection, reminiscence > [noun] > old memories > something preserved from past tracesc1400 record1563 relic1624 vestigea1660 society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun] signa1382 stepa1382 ficchingc1384 marka1400 tracesc1400 scentc1422 footstep?a1425 tidinga1440 relicc1475 smell?a1505 stead1513 vestigy1545 print1548 token1555 remnant1560 show1561 mention1564 signification1576 footing?1580 tract1583 remainder1585 vestige1602 wrack1602 engravement1604 footstepping1610 resent1610 ghost1613 impression1613 remark1624 footprint1625 studdle1635 vestigium1644 relict1646 perception1650 vestigiary1651 track1657 symptom1722 signacle1768 ray1773 vestigia1789 footmark1800 souvenir1844 latent1920 c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) vi. 71 Sche mylked hem on the rede stones of marble; so þat the traces may ȝit be sene in the stones alle whyte. 1814 J. West Alicia de Lacy III. 2 No trace of inhabitation but the fortified castle or the sacred monastery. 1816 W. Scott Antiquary I. iv. 70 My niece..saw the traces of the ditch at once. 1865 J. Lubbock Prehist. Times i. 29 At the end of the coffin were found traces of leather, doubtless the remains of boots. 1913 N.E.D. at Trace Mod. Of the fortifications no trace now remains. b. A mark or impression left on the face, the mind, etc. ΚΠ 1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas I. iii. v. 387 My brain full of joyous traces. 1844 A. B. Welby Poems (1867) 45 Where beauty left so soft a trace. 1848 E. Bulwer-Lytton Harold I. i. i. 26 It was on that forehead that time had set its trace. c. An indication of the presence of a minute amount of some constituent in a compound; a quantity so minute as to be inferred but not actually measured; esp. in Chemistry; transferred a very little. Also in Meteorology (see quot. 1930). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > a small quantity or amount > a slight touch or trace specec1330 taste1390 lisounc1400 savourc1400 smatcha1500 smell?a1505 spice1531 smack1539 shadow1586 surmise1586 relish1590 tang1593 touch1597 stain1609 tincture1612 dasha1616 soula1616 twanga1640 whiff1644 haut-goût1650 casta1661 stricturea1672 tinge1736 tinct1752 vestige1756 smattering1764 soupçon1766 smutch1776 shade1791 suspicion1809 lineament1811 trait1815 tint1817 trace1827 skiff1839 spicing1844 smudgea1871 ghost1887 the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > [noun] > amount too small to be measured trace1908 1827 M. Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. 99 It burns completely away in a blast-furnace, leaving scarcely a trace of slag. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 578 Traces of oxalic acid can be detected. 1859 R. Hunt Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2) 209 Its composition is: Gold 48·67, Silver 51·33, Copper, a trace. 1875 C. Darwin Insectivorous Plants xvi. 375 The distance was a trace less. 1876 W. E. Gladstone in Contemp. Rev. June 22 Like a chemist who, in a testing analysis,..if he finds something behind so minute as to refuse any quantitative estimate, calls it by the name of ‘trace’. 1908 Observer's Handbk. (Meteorol. Office) i. 35 Falls [of rain] of less than ·005-inch should be noted in the register by entering the word ‘trace’. 1930 Meteorol. Gloss. (Meteorol. Office) (ed. 2) 177 The word ‘trace’ is entered in the daily record sheet when some rain (or other form of precipitation) is known to have fallen and the amount in the gauge is not large enough to be measured. 1974 Nature 25 Oct. 694/2 The measurements were made in very light snowfall (which never exceeded a ‘trace’ in equivalent precipitation rate). d. Psychology. A change in the brain as a result of some mental experience; the physical after-effect of such. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > psychology > developmental psychology > acquisition of knowledge > capacity for retaining experience > [noun] > change in brain trace1690 1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. i. 41 The memory of Thoughts, is retained by the impressions that are made on the Brain, and the traces there left after such thinking. 1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. x. 67 There is no reason why the sound of a Pipe should leave traces in their [sc. birds'] Brains. 1892 G. F. Stout Man. Psychol. I. i. ii. 76 Mental development would be impossible unless previous experience left behind it persistent after-effects to determine the nature and course of subsequent experience. These after-effects are called..traces or dispositions. 1927 G. V. Anrep tr. I. P. Pavlov Conditioned Reflexes iii. 39 The stimulus this time is not the actual disappearance of an external agent, but the trace left by the action of the agent on the central nervous system after the agent itself has been removed. 1930 W. Köhler Gestalt Psychol. ix. 232 Learning and those processes the traces of which make reproduction and recognition possible. 1940 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 30 193 This process..works in conjunction with and through the trace-column, the masses of traces, ultimately of a chemical nature, left by past experience. 1978 Tarpy & Mayer Found. Learning & Memory ii. 22 In trace conditioning, the CS does not impinge directly upon the sense receptors. e. Linguistics. In transformational grammar, a phonetically null element considered to have been left in the position from which another element has been moved by a transformation, and to retain some influence on the resultant sentence. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > syntax or word order > syntactic relations > [noun] > change of word order or position > specifically in transformational grammar > null element after transformation trace1975 1975 N. Chomsky Logical Struct. Ling. Theory 22 Transformations that move expressions leave a ‘trace’ in the position from which the item was moved. 1977 Stud. Eng. Lit.: Eng. Number (Tokyo) 95 Traces make it possible to define permissible transformations correctly. 1978 Language 54 412 S-initial sentential complements are base-generated in topic position.., and are linked to an empty subject position (actually a trace in subject position..) by a general rule of interpretation. 7. figurative. A non-material indication or evidence of the presence or existence of something, or of a former event or condition; a sign, mark. ΘΚΠ society > communication > indication > [noun] > an indication or sign tokeningc888 fingereOE senyeOE markOE showing?c1225 blossomc1230 signa1325 signifyingc1384 evidencea1393 notea1398 forbysena1400 kenninga1400 knowinga1400 showerc1400 unningc1400 signala1413 signification?a1425 demonstrancec1425 cenyc1440 likelinessc1450 ensign1474 signifure?a1475 outshowinga1500 significativea1500 witter1513 precedent1518 intimation1531 signifier1532 meith1533 monument1536 indicion?1541 likelihood1541 significator1554 manifest1561 show1561 evidency1570 token-teller1574 betokener1587 calendar1590 instance1590 testificate1590 significant1598 crisis1606 index1607 impression1613 denotementa1616 story1620 remark1624 indicium1625 denotation1633 indice1636 signum1643 indiction1653 trace1656 demonstrator1657 indication1660 notationa1661 significatory1660 indicator1666 betrayer1678 demonstration1684 smell1691 wittering1781 notaa1790 blazonry1850 sign vehicle1909 marker1919 rumble1927 1656 A. Cowley Pindaric Odes i. iii With Oblivions silent stroke deface Of foregone Ills the very trace. 1713 A. Pope Windsor-Forest 16 The shady Empire shall retain no Trace Of War or Blood, but in the Sylvan chace. 1722 W. Whiston New Theory of Earth (ed. 3) ii. 186 There are Traces..of a Tradition, that a Comet did appear at the very Beginning of the Deluge. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. x. 661 In countries where all trace of the limited monarchy of the middle ages had long been effaced. 1850 J. McCosh Method Divine Govt. (ed. 2) i. ii. 38 We discover everywhere in this world traces of design and wisdom. 1909 H. M. Gwatkin Early Church Hist. xi. 188 There is no trace of any veneration of pictures or images before the fourth century. 8. a. A line or figure drawn; a tracing, drawing, or sketch of an object or of a piece of work; the traced record of a self-recording instrument; in Fortification the ground plan of a work. (In quot. 1861 apparently a tracing-instrument.) ΘΚΠ society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > graphic representation > [noun] > a graphic representation iconography1628 drawing1669 trace1744 tracing1811 bit map1973 society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > drawing > [noun] > a drawing draughta1400 protract1585 drawing1669 trace1744 society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > [noun] > construction of defensive works > plan trace1895 society > communication > record > written record > [noun] > other types of written record criminal record1687 police record1773 office copy1776 geological record1811 time card1837 phylactery1855 reservation1884 press cutting1888 record1897 trace1898 swindle sheet1906 form sheet1911 Dead Sea Scrolls1949 yellow card1970 1744 M. Akenside Pleasures Imagination iii. 362 Not the sculptur'd gold More faithful keeps the graver's lively trace. 1861 S. Smiles Lives Engineers II. 76 Picked out from the heap were also found his drill,..his trace, his T square,..and his engraving tools. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator i. 21 The trace of a work is the plan of its guiding or magistral line. 1895 Col. Maurice in United Service Mag. July 430 He made out both a trace of the work including the interior retrenchment and an exact profile of the ditched parapet. 1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 847 The respiration is an important factor in the blood-pressure, and in the run of the circulation is apparent to everyone who has watched the traces of the kymograph. 1899 T. S. Baldock Cromwell 293 The rampart..was strong and high, and of regular trace. b. The luminous line or pattern on the screen of a cathode-ray tube. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > cathode-ray tube > [noun] > line or pattern on screen trace1937 1937 G. Parr Low Voltage Cathode Ray Tube ii. 28 The effect on the trace on the screen is..to break up the line into a series of light and dark patches. 1966 D. Bagley Wyatt's Hurricane vi. 156 He blinked them open again and stared at the radar screen, following the sweep of the trace as it swept hypnotically round and round. 1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. vii. 30 This trace is displayed continuously until erased, so long as the flood beam is maintained in operation. 9. Geometry (a) The track described by a moving point, line, or surface. (b) The intersection of a line or surface with a surface; spec. the intersection of a plane with one of the co-ordinate planes, or with one of the planes of projection. (c) The projection of a line upon a surface ( Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > geometry > [noun] > action or process effectiona1652 retrogression1704 genesis1706 construction of equations1728 trace1834 tortuosity1867 quadrature1911 surgery1961 1834 J. S. Macaulay Treat. Field Fortification 268 Let AB Fig. 71 be the horizontal trace of a vertical plane. 1840 D. Lardner Treat. Geom. i. 11 The notion of a mathematical surface may be formed by imagining a mathematical line to move in any manner in space, leaving behind it, as it moves, a trace or track. This trace or track will be a mathematical surface. 1867 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. I. i. §111 When a body rolls and spins on another body, the trace of either on the other is the curved or straight line along which it is successively touched. †10. Heraldry. = tract n.³ 6(a), tressure n. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > charge: device on shield > [noun] > less honourable charge > border near edge of shield > diminutives of tressurea1440 trace1486 tract1486 fillet1572 tress1577 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. e vij He berith golde a dowble trace florishyt contrari and a Lyon rampyng of gowles. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. e vij He berith golde a trace triplatit of Siluer. 11. Mathematics. The sum of the elements in the principal diagonal of a matrix. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > numerical arrangement > [noun] > array > matrix > operation or result of transposition1858 latent root1883 involutant1890 character1931 commutator1935 trace1938 1938 A. A. Albert Mod. Higher Algebra iv. 80 We call T(A) the trace of A. 1958 New Scientist 10 July 364/2 If A is a matrix it is usual to denote the transpose of A by A′ or A, and the trace of A by tr A. 1972 Jrnl. Physics B* 5 990 Evaluating the constant of proportionality by taking the trace of each side of the result for the particular case of complete recapture. 12. a. Computing. The detailed examination of the execution of a program or part of one (usually to investigate a fault) with the aid of another program that can cause individual instructions, operands, and results to be printed or displayed as they are reached by the first program; the analysis so obtained; also, a trace program. Frequently attributive, as trace program, trace routine. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > programming language > program or code > [noun] > testing > software to assist trace1957 debugger1964 1957 M. V. Wilkes et al. Preparation of Programs for Electronic Digital Computer (ed. 2) 96 A useful error-diagnosis subroutine..prints the function letters of orders as they are executed... The printed sequence of function letters is sometimes known as a trace. 1960 R. H. Gregory & R. L. Van Horn Automatic Data-processing Syst. iii. 82 (caption) Trace of operations in read-write loop using an index register. 1960 R. H. Gregory & R. L. Van Horn Automatic Data-processing Syst. viii. 271 A trace routine is used to observe how the object program..operates while it is being executed. 1966 IFIP-ICC Vocab. Information Processing 85 When a trace program gives output only on selected instructions, or for selected conditions, it is called a snapshot program. 1980 N. Rushby in Meek & Heath Guide to Good Programming Practice iii. 84 Some debugging compilers provide a trace, which can be used simply to follow the program flow from statement to statement, or can include details of each assignment. 1982 Ghezzi & Jazayeri Programming Language Concepts vii. 221 After the program has terminated, a trace and an indication of the cause of failure can be produced. b. A request for information to be sought concerning a particular person or thing; an investigation which traces this information (frequently to discover the source of a telephone call). ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > research > [noun] > instance of > concerning particular person or thing trace1974 1974 M. Penoyre Breach of Security i. 4 I might put in a trace to London to see if my Office has got anything on him. 1976 G. Seymour Glory Boys iv. 49 Very professional. No possibility of a trace on a call of the length they've been using. 1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xxviii. 331 There are men following me... I think it's called a ‘trace’. Put out by you? 1981 D. Boggis Time to Betray xxi. 114 He..got the index number... ‘Get me a trace through Yard liaison.’ Compounds C1. attributive or as adj. Present or required only in traces. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > very small in amount or degree > present or required in very small amounts trace1950 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 195/1 The control..of peat scours by copper in trace amounts. 1956 Sun (Baltimore) 1 May 12/7 The oysters..are loaded with trace minerals. 1962 Listener 16 Aug. 243/2 It is the selected drug that is actually the effective agent and not trace amounts of some as yet unrecognized contaminant. 1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. vi. 63/2 To place these figures in petro~genetic perspective we must realize that gold is a trace~metal—even where concentrated in a payable reef. 1978 Sci. Amer. Dec. 124/1 It is the trace ions (those at least 1,000 times less abundant than hydrogen and helium) that serve to control the nebula thermostatically, maintaining the nebular temperature generally between 5,000 and 15,000 degrees. 1979 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Dec. 1529/1 Most trace minerals and other micronutrients required for survival are known. C2. trace element n. an element that is present (esp. in the soil) or required only in minute amounts; also figurative. ΚΠ 1932 Yale Jrnl. Biol. & Med. 4 501 Investigation as to the occurrence and function of ‘trace’ elements in both plant and animal life is now very active. 1954 R. L. Parker tr. P. Niggli Rocks & Mineral Deposits i. 9 Fundamental rock chemistry need consider only comparatively few elements... This does not mean that relatively rare elements or even the so-called trace elements lack importance. 1970 Nature 17 Oct. 251 Trace element analyses of flint show statistically valid differences between products of major British and European Neolithic flint mines. 1976 Church Times 16 July 7/2 I found little that has not been said already by many radical Christian writers. There are trace-elements of Marxism, but hardly more than that. trace fossil n. [translating German spurenfossil (K. Krejci-Graf 1932, in Senckenbergiana XIV. 21)] Palaeontology a fossil that represents the burrowing or similar activity of an animal rather than the animal itself. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > organism > fossil > [noun] > track or cast plasm1620 lebensspur1956 trace fossil1957 1957 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. 112 475 A consideration of the..morphology of the fossil, permits its interpretation as a trace-fossil resulting from the driving of a system of branching tunnels in the sea-bed sediment. 1974 Nature 22 Mar. 328/2 It is generally agreed that the earliest metazoan animals were soft-bodied forms which are rarely preserved but have left tracks, trails and burrows, collectively known as trace fossils. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022). tracen.² Brit. /treɪs/, U.S. /treɪs/ Forms: see below. Etymology: Middle English trays , < Old French traiz, trais, plural of trait (12th cent. in Littré) action of drawing, rope or leather strap by which a draught-beast is harnessed; = Italian tratto , Latin tractus draught (u -stem), < trahĕre to draw. In English written also trayse , trayce , trace , and treated as collective plural and at length (c1400) as a singular with a new plural trasys , traces : compare truce n. †1. as plural. The pair of ropes, chains, or (subsequently usually) leather straps by which the collar of a draught-animal is connected with the splinter-bar or swingletree. Obsolete. Middle English trais, trays, Middle English trayse, treyse, trayce, Middle English–1700s trace, 1500s treas, 1600s tress, traise, traits, 1800s dialect traice.Usually collective like tongs, scissors, shears, pincers, etc.; but sometimes a numerical plural, as in quots. 1458, 1481-90. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces tracec1350 side rope1370 wain-rope1371 trace14.. soam1404 pintrace1440 side-trace1445 wain-string1464 theats1496 treat1611 trek-tow1822 trace-chain1844 tug-strap1882 trek-rope1883 trace-rope1900 c1350 Nom. Gall.-Angl. 884 Esteles, trays et valuere [glossed] Hamys, trays, taylerope. c1365–6 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 568 Pro 2 paribus de Trays et 2 cartrapes; in trays, cartrapes, capistris, et reynes, 18s. a1400 Seuyn Sages (W.) 1327 He let him drawe out of the pit..With trais an two stronge hors. c1405 (c1385) G. Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 1281 With foure white Boles in the trays. 1412–20 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy i. 2209 Ryȝt as an hors out of þe traise at large. 1458 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1883) II. 368 For treyse and oder ropes. 1480 Wardrobe Accts. Edward IV in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) 123 For v pair trays garnyssht. 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 150 Paid to Iohn Wygge, Ropper, for iij. thrays ij.s. ix.d. 1557 in J. P. Earwaker Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1884) 61 iiij payre of treas. 1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique i. v. 22 Collers, cart-saddles, traits, thicke clothes & other furniture for horses. 1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique i. xxviii. 171 Be carefull that their traise, cart-saddles, collars, bridles, or other parts of their geares and harnes, be not torne. ?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xxiii. 412 His reins lost, or seat, or with the tress His chariot fail'd him. 1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. iv. 861 Twelve young mules, a strong laborious race, New to the plow, unpractis'd in the trace. 1807 A. Young Gen. View Agric. Essex I. iv. 107 5 pair of plough chain traice. 2. as singular. Each of the individual ropes or leather straps mentioned above; in plural = sense 1. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces tracec1350 side rope1370 wain-rope1371 trace14.. soam1404 pintrace1440 side-trace1445 wain-string1464 theats1496 treat1611 trek-tow1822 trace-chain1844 tug-strap1882 trek-rope1883 trace-rope1900 α. singular Middle English trays, -e, trayce, trahys, 1600s traise, tress, 1800s traice, 1500s– trace. 14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 566/26 Attractorium, a trayne, sed melius, a trays. 14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 617/7 Tractorium, a trays. c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 499/1 Trayce, horsys ha(r)neys, tenda. ?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 811/33 Hoc retinaculum, a trayse. 1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Aii^v/2 A Trace for drawing, traha, æ. 1795 W. Felton Treat. Carriages II. 155 A square bent ring is sewed in the end [of each trace], which, with the trace, forms a loop to hitch round the Splinter Bar Rolls. β. plural Middle English tracez, traices, Middle English–1500s trasys, -is, 1500s trasseis, 1500s–1600s tresses, 1500s– traces.1404 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 397 4 trasys, 2 trysyng rapis.1405–6 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 400 Rec. pro lez tracez del char.1497 in M. Oppenheim Naval Accts. & Inventories Henry VII (1896) 95 iij chestes, Anfeld..j, Traices..cxx pair.?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. iiii If he go with a horse plough, than must he haue..his hombers or collers, holmes whyted, treyses, swyngletrees, & togewithes.1529 Act 21 Hen. VIII c. 12 §1 Thereof make Cables, Ropes, Halsers, Traces, Halters, and other Tackle.1569 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 218 vj pair trasis with girthes.1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 11^v The smaller sort [of necessaries] be these,..Traaces [etc.].1582 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. 6 A pare of trasseis vj^d.1607 J. Carpenter Plaine Mans Spirituall Plough 192 Thirdly, the foure Traces or Tresses.1716 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad II. v. 398 His panting Steeds..He fix'd with straiten'd Traces to the Car.1762 J. Wesley Jrnl. 30 Mar. The horses pulled till the traces broke.1841 M. R. Mitford in A. G. L'Estrange Life M. R. Mitford (1870) III. viii. 117 About four miles from home one of the traces came undone. 3. figurative (from senses 1, 2), esp. in phrases; cf. collar n. 8 †out of trace, out of proper connection, out of order. into the traces, into regular work. to kick over the traces: see kick v.¹ 1c. to break a trace, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > in disorder [phrase] at or on six and sevenOE out of kinda1375 out of rulea1387 out of tonea1400 out of joint1415 out of nockc1520 out of tracea1529 out of order1530 out of tune1535 out of square1555 out of kilter1582 off the hinges?1608 out of (the) hinges?1608 in, out of gear1814 out of gearing1833 off the rails1848 on the bumc1870 a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Ciii All is out of harre, and out of trace. 1824 W. Irving Tales of Traveller I. 203 He was too fond of my genius to force it into the traces. 1843 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last of Barons I. i. iii. 46 Cut thy trace from the cloister, and take thy road to the shop. c1845 W. T. Porter Big Bear Arkansas 101 You must marry that gal and no mistake, or break a trace! 1871 Harper's Mag. Dec. 155/2 I do not feel that I ever was out of that party. I may have got one leg over the traces, but I was in the harness all the while. 4. †a. (?) The tug or end-piece of a bell-rope. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > percussion instrument > bell > [noun] > end of rope eche1525 eke1549 tail-rope1656 trace1663 sally1809 tuffing1869 1663 in Archaeologia Aeliana (1895) New Ser. 17 126 For two traces for y^e bellroops 6d. b. Angling. A length of gimp or gut of varying fineness attached to the end of the reel line. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > fishing-line > [noun] > other parts of line warp1496 linka1609 tought1676 tippet1825 trace1839 tipping1881 1839 T. C. Hofland Brit. Angler's Man. iv. 71 You must now prepare a minnow-trace of three yards of gut. 1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling iv. 86 A tackle called a trace is used. 1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 56 Flights and Traces, Floats for various kinds of fishing. c. Organ-building. In the draw-stop action, a rod which connects the draw-stop rod with the trundle, or the trundle with the lever moving the slider; also called trace-rod n. at Compounds. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > parts conveying action roller1632 roller board1632 sticker1756 tracker1843 pricker1852 trace1852 button1855 trundle1876 fan1880 square1880 trace-rod1880 1852 tr. J. J. Seidel Organ & its Constr. 59 The upper end of the roller..is connected.. with the end of a short pole called the trace. 1876 J. Stainer & W. A. Barrett Dict. Musical Terms 335/2 When the stop is pulled out, the arms a a draw the trace b from right to left. 1880 C. A. Edwards Organs ii. ix. 90 Another arm..communicates with the trace..by means of a mortise and pin. d. Botany. The fibro-vascular tissue of a stem, of which the leaf trace n. at leaf n.¹ Compounds 2 is a continuation. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > cell or aggregate tissue > [noun] > tissue > specific types of tissue parenchyma1651 parenchyme1811 suberin1815 mesophyllum1832 prosenchyma1832 cinenchyma1835 bothrenchyma1838 merenchyma1839 pleurenchyma1839 mesophyll1848 trachenchyma1848 inenchyma1851 sterenchyma1856 collenchyma1857 rhytidome1861 procambium1872 palisade tissue1875 trace1875 taphrenchyma1876 phellem1877 ground-tissue1882 palisade parenchyma1882 stone-sclerenchyma1884 stereome1885 aerenchyma1889 chlorenchyma1894 1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. 431 We have here ‘common’ bundles [of Phanerogams], each of which has one arm that ascends and bends out into the leaf, and another which descends and runs down into the stem; the latter is called by Hanstein the ‘inner leaf-trace’. 1877 A. W. Bennett tr. O. W. Thomé Text-bk. Struct. & Physiol. Bot. vi. 360 So-called leaf-traces. 1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 239 The median bundle of the trace..as it reaches the four bundles of the leaf-trace of the second node curves to one side, and unites with the lateral bundle of the next lower trace. 1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 257 Each leaf has three bundles of the trace, one median and two lateral. Compounds trace-beaten adj. (of a horse) marked by the beating or friction of the traces. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [adjective] > chafed or galled galledc1000 saddle bitten1591 shackle-galled1596 navel-galled1601 spur-galled1608 saddle-galled1648 trace-galled1673 collar-galled1684 trace-beaten1687 halter-cast1704 1687 London Gaz. No. 2287/8 Stolen.., a brown Mare above 14 hands,..Traise-beaten on her Ribs. 1707 London Gaz. No. 4295/4 A brown Gelding.., trace-beaten, most on the further Side. trace-block n. the splinter-bar or draught-bar; formerly called the fore-block or fore-bar. ΘΚΠ society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > parts of cart or carriage > [noun] > swingle-tree swing-tree1396 swingletree1483 spring-tree1600 bridge tree1607 whippin1697 whippletree1733 cross-tree1765 splinter-bar1765 swindle-tree1801 shackle-bar1834 whiffletree1842 heel tree1846 single-tree1847 swingle-bar1849 pulling-tree1895 trace-block1900 1900 Daily News 12 Nov. 3/4 The firemen..having attached drag ropes to the trace blocks, proceeded to drag the carriage to Government House. trace-boy n. a trace-horse boy. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > boy in charge of trace-horses trace-boy1897 1897 Daily News 31 Mar. 7/1 Daily wages..for trace-boys 2s. 6d. trace-buckle n. a large buckle by which the trace is attached to the tug (Knight, 1877). trace-bundle n. Botany cf. sense 4d. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > cell or aggregate tissue > [noun] > tissue > vascular bundle bundle1884 bundle-ring1884 trace-bundle1884 1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 293 The rapid longitudinal divisions of the bundle-ring always begin..in a young internode, in the position of the single, or of the median trace-bundle going to the next leaf above. trace-chain n. (a) a trace of chain, a chain trace; †(b) a long chain by which a team is yoked to the plough; = team n. 5a. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces tracec1350 side rope1370 wain-rope1371 trace14.. soam1404 pintrace1440 side-trace1445 wain-string1464 theats1496 treat1611 trek-tow1822 trace-chain1844 tug-strap1882 trek-rope1883 trace-rope1900 the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces > plough traces team1344 plough stringc1350 plough-line1384 plougherband1404 foot team?1523 team-band1808 short end1844 trace-chain1844 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm I. 618 The horse is yoked to the swing-trees by light chains, called trace-chains. 1896 Cosmopolitan Feb. 398/1 The jangling of trace-chains in the quiet, darkening air, as the workmen return from the fields to the barn. trace-fastener n. one of a pair of hooks or catches by which the traces are hitched to the draught-bar (Knight, 1877). trace-galled adj. (of a horse) galled by the friction of the traces. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [adjective] > chafed or galled galledc1000 saddle bitten1591 shackle-galled1596 navel-galled1601 spur-galled1608 saddle-galled1648 trace-galled1673 collar-galled1684 trace-beaten1687 halter-cast1704 1673 London Gaz. No. 783/4 One Iron Grey Nag..a little trace Galled. trace-harness n. harness of trace-horses. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal harness1303 plough harnessc1390 geara1400 draught1483 van harness1823 trave harness1839 yoking1873 hitch1876 trace-harness1885 1885 Wellington Weekly News 15 Oct. in Eng. Dial. Dict. Nine sets of breeching and trace harness. trace-high adv. to the level of the traces. ΚΠ 1899 E. Œ. Somerville & ‘M. Ross’ Some Experiences Irish R.M. ix Horses that ranged from the cart mare, clipped trace high, to shaggy and leggy three-year-olds. trace-hook n. one of the hooks on the draught-bar for attaching the traces (Knight, 1877). trace-horse n. a horse which draws in traces, as distinct from a shaft-horse; attributive. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > draught-horse > team of > horse outside shafts or in traces tracer1839 outrigger1844 trace-horse1844 chain horse1876 outrunner1897 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1087 In Forfarshire the trace-horse is harnessed in a different manner. 1907 Nation 19 Oct. 79/1 Awaiting the chance of a trace-horse to give our caravan a pull. trace-horse boy n. a boy in charge of a trace-horse. trace-iron n. one of the upright iron studs round which the traces are looped. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces > attachments for norsela1300 pipe?1309 tug1417 tug-hook1417 spreadbat1775 trace-ring1795 trace-tug1795 spreader1810 cock eye1819 stretcher1828 tug-buckle1851 roller1856 piping1875 tug-carrier1877 tug-slide1877 trace-iron1902 trace-loop- 1902 Daily Chron. 1 July 6/1 One of the horses attached to the fire engine was caught by the trace-iron on the off side of the cattle-float. Thesaurus » Categories » trace-loop n. = trace-ring n. trace-mate n. see quot. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > racehorse > in specific kind of race plate horse1740 flat1811 mile-horse1829 steeplechaser1839 plater1859 all-ages1864 trace-mate1880 chaser1884 flat-racer1886 handicapper1890 miler1894 point-to-pointer1929 1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur 208 They termed the two [horses] next the pole yoke-steeds, and those on the right and left outside trace-mates. trace-ring n. an iron ring fastened to the end of the trace, by which it is attached to the trace-hook. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces > attachments for norsela1300 pipe?1309 tug1417 tug-hook1417 spreadbat1775 trace-ring1795 trace-tug1795 spreader1810 cock eye1819 stretcher1828 tug-buckle1851 roller1856 piping1875 tug-carrier1877 tug-slide1877 trace-iron1902 trace-loop- 1795 W. Felton Treat. Carriages II. 165 The Trace Rings, are square iron loops sewed in the ends of the traces a part of which they receive, and loops round the splinter bar. trace-rod n. Organ = 4c. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > parts conveying action roller1632 roller board1632 sticker1756 tracker1843 pricker1852 trace1852 button1855 trundle1876 fan1880 square1880 trace-rod1880 1880 E. J. Hopkins in Grove Dict. Music (1880) II. 606/1 A trace-rod, which spans the distance from the trundle to the end of the soundboard... The trundle partly revolves and moves the trace-rod. trace-rope n. a trace made of rope. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces tracec1350 side rope1370 wain-rope1371 trace14.. soam1404 pintrace1440 side-trace1445 wain-string1464 theats1496 treat1611 trek-tow1822 trace-chain1844 tug-strap1882 trek-rope1883 trace-rope1900 1900 Daily News 24 Feb. 6/3 The struggling, terrified horses inextricably mixed the trace ropes, and the position looked serious. trace-tug n. a strap supporting the trace. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > harness of draught animal > traces > attachments for norsela1300 pipe?1309 tug1417 tug-hook1417 spreadbat1775 trace-ring1795 trace-tug1795 spreader1810 cock eye1819 stretcher1828 tug-buckle1851 roller1856 piping1875 tug-carrier1877 tug-slide1877 trace-iron1902 trace-loop- 1795 W. Felton Treat. Carriages II. 156 The Trace Tugs are loops for the trace to run through, and hang by. † trace-wheel n. Obsolete = pulley n.¹ 1c. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > lifting or hoisting equipment > [noun] > tackle > pulley winchc1050 sheave1336 pulley1357 trice1357 truckle1417 shiver1485 trace-wheel1519 truckle-wheel1533 pullace1545 pullishee1635 wince1688 trispast1706 block-pulley1864 1519 W. Horman Vulgaria xxix. f. 241^v There must be made a trace whele [tympanum], to wynd vp stone. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022). tracen.³ Brit. /treɪs/, U.S. /treɪs/ Forms: Middle English trace, Middle English plural trasses, 1500s Scottish trase, trais, traiss, 1500s (Scottish) 1600s– dialect trace. Etymology: Possibly an altered form of tress n., with which this largely coincides in sense; but no explanation of the alteration of form presents itself. See also the cognate trace v.³(The different senses are cited from widely separate localities, so that they can scarcely be considered as a verbal unity, except in their apparent relation to tress n.) Obsolete or dialect. †1. A tress or plait of hair; = tress n. 1 (English regional (south-western)). Obsolete (but cf. trace v.³). ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > styles of hair > [noun] > tresses or plaits tracec1380 plight?1387 tressa1400 plexc1450 braid1530 tuck1532 buoy-rope1546 trammels1589 entrammelling1598 border1601 point1604 pleat?1606 trammelets1654 maze1657 brede1696 queue1724 pigtail?1725 tie1725 cue1731 tuck-up1749 tutulus1753 club1786 tail1799 French twist1850 Grecian plait1851 French plait1871 horse's tail1873 Gretchen braid, plait1890 shimada1910 ponytail1916 French braid1937 cane row1939 dreadlocks1960 French pleat1964 Tom Jones1964 corn row1971 dread1984 club-pigtail- c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 5881 Wyþ eȝene graye, and browes bent, And ȝealwe traces, & fayre y-trent. a1400 Trevisa's Higden (Rolls) VIII. vii. 63 Þe ȝelew heere of þe womman trasses [MS. γ. ȝelou tresses; Higden trica comæ mulieris flava] was i-founde hoole and sounde. †2. A flat plait or braid of gold or silver thread, or other material, for trimming a robe, etc. Scottish. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1539 in T. Thomson Coll. Inventories Royal Wardrobe (1815) 32 Item, ane nycht gowne of gray dammes with ane walting trais of gold. [p. 42 has tress of silver; p. 82 tres of gold.] 1543 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1908) VIII. 181 For xx tracis of gold to the cote, weyand thre unce..v li. ij s. 1548 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1908) VIII. IX. 149 xxx elnis of trasis to eik ane goun of hirris [= hers] of blak welwote... Item, thre elnis blak welwote to eik this goun. 1549 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1908) VIII. 334 Tua unce and ane quarter unce Parice silk to sew the pasmentis and traiss of the said coit. 3. a. North American. A string of ears of Indian corn plaited together so as to be hung up. ΚΠ 1679 Philos. Trans. 1677 (Royal Soc.) 12 1066 After 'tis gather'd, it [maize] must, except laid very thin, be presently stripped from the Husks... The common way (which they call Tracing) is to weave the Ears together in long Traces by some parts of the Husk left thereon. 1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Tracing These traces of [Indian] corn they hang up within doors,..and they will..keep good the whole winter. b. A ‘rope’ or string of onions. dialect. ΚΠ 1891 R. P. Chope Dial. Hartland, Devonshire Trace, a rope of onions. [Cf. Trecces de cepis in same sense, in Tabularia Portus Regii (Du Cange).] (Cf. also [see race n.¹ 7b]. .) This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022). tracev.¹ Brit. /treɪs/, U.S. /treɪs/ Forms: Middle English trais(e, Middle English–1600s trase, Middle English– trace. Etymology: Middle English trace-n , < Old French tracier, 12th cent. (trasser , traser , traicier , etc.), French trace-r = Spanish trazar , Italian tracciare to follow by foot, to trace, indicating a popular Latin or Common Romanic tractiāre , < Latin tractus* a drawing, dragging, trailing, crawling; a train, track, course. The primary meaning of the verb was apparently ‘to proceed in a line, course, or track’. The early sense-development in Old French and Middle English is not very clear, and some of the senses attach themselves immediately to trace n.¹ in its sense of ‘mark left by anything moving, footprint’, itself a derivative of the verb in its earlier senses. I. Senses relating to making one's way or treading. †1. intransitive. To take one's course, make one's way; to proceed, pass, go, travel, tread. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ society > travel > [verb (intransitive)] nimeOE becomec885 teec888 goeOE i-goc900 lithec900 wendeOE i-farec950 yongc950 to wend one's streetOE fare971 i-wende971 shakeOE winda1000 meteOE wendOE strikec1175 seekc1200 wevec1200 drawa1225 stira1225 glidea1275 kenc1275 movec1275 teemc1275 tightc1275 till1297 chevec1300 strake13.. travelc1300 choosec1320 to choose one's gatea1325 journeyc1330 reachc1330 repairc1330 wisec1330 cairc1340 covera1375 dressa1375 passa1375 tenda1375 puta1382 proceedc1392 doa1400 fanda1400 haunta1400 snya1400 take?a1400 thrilla1400 trace?a1400 trinea1400 fangc1400 to make (also have) resortc1425 to make one's repair (to)c1425 resort1429 ayrec1440 havea1450 speer?c1450 rokec1475 wina1500 hent1508 persevere?1521 pursuec1540 rechec1540 yede1563 bing1567 march1568 to go one's ways1581 groyl1582 yode1587 sally1590 track1590 way1596 frame1609 trickle1629 recur1654 wag1684 fadge1694 haul1802 hike1809 to get around1849 riddle1856 bat1867 biff1923 truck1925 ?a1400 Morte Arth. 1629 Traise to-warde Troys þe tresone to wyrke. c1400 Rom. Rose 6745 Yit may he go his breed begging; Fro dore to dore he may go trace, Til he the remenaunt may purchace. ?1504 S. Hawes Example of Vertu sig. ee.vi No man by yonde this marke may trace. 1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid viii. v. 5 The prestis..Gan trasing furth. a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Ci As good to be occupyed as vp and downe to trace And do nothynge. 1598 Mucedorus sig. E2 The wood lanes..strawed With violets, cowslips, and swete marigolds For thee to trampel and to trace vpon. 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. D2 Induce them..to trace in the wholsome path that leadeth to the house of honour. a1688 Duke of Buckingham Restoration in Wks. (1775) 104 Fall off again,..and every man trace to his house again. 1793 Minstrel II. 126 The forest, which she did not chuse to enter, but traced along its edge. †2. intransitive. To pace or step in dancing; to tread a measure; to dance. Also transitive (rare). Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > dancing > [verb (intransitive)] frikec1000 sail1297 dancec1300 sault1377 tripc1386 balea1400 hopc1405 foota1425 tracec1425 sallyc1440 to dance a fita1500 fling1528 to tread a measure, a dance1577 trip1578 traverse1584 move1594 to shake heels1595 to shake it1595 firk1596 tripudiate1623 pettitoe1651 step1698 jink1718 to stand up1753 bejig1821 to toe and heel (it)1828 morris1861 hoof1925 terp1945 c1425 J. Lydgate Daunce Machabree in Bochas Fall of Princes (1554) 220 b Death I may not flee, On this daunce with other for to trace. 1445 tr. Claudian's De Consulatu Stilichonis in Anglia (1905) 28 273 Orpheus harpe which trees made trace. 1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. ccliiii To hunt to chace: to daunce: to trace: what one is he That beryth face. 1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. B^v Come Nick. take you Ioane Miniuer to trace withal. 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xx. 541 They traced to and fro promiscuously, often clapping their hands and singing aloud. 1808 W. Scott Marmion v. vii. 251 Well loved that splendid monarch aye..The merry dance, traced fast and light. †3. transitive. To pass along or over, tread (a path, way, street, etc.). Also figurative. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > travel > [verb (transitive)] > traverse a distance or ground runeOE overcomeOE meteOE through-gangOE passc1300 to pass over ——c1300 overpassc1325 tracec1381 travela1393 traverse?a1400 travelc1400 measure?a1425 walkc1450 go1483 journey1531 peragrate1542 trade1548 overspin1553 overtrace1573 tract1579 progress1587 invade1590 waste1590 wear1596 march1606 void1608 recovera1625 expatiate1627 lustrate1721 do1795 slip1817 cover1818 clear1823 track1823 itinerate1830 betravel1852 to roll off1867 c1381 G. Chaucer Parl. Foules 54 Oure present wor[l]dis lyuys space Nys but a maner deth what weye we trace. 1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David viii. viii The fish,..And what thing els of waters traceth The unworn paths. 1621 J. Reynolds Triumphs Gods Revenge: 1st Bk. i. 5 Tracing the street in a neate perfumed boote with iangling spurres. 1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine iii. 343 The passage..commonly called the dolorous way,..traced with the blessed feet of our Saviour. 1794 W. Blake Little Girl Found in Songs of Experience in Compl. Poetry & Prose (1982) 21 Arm in arm seven days, They trac'd the desart ways. figurative.1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes Prol. sig. aa^v That all tho persones that ententyfely rede or here them may be styred the better to trace the way of eternall saluacyon. †4. transitive. To travel or range over; to go or pass about, around, or through; to tread, traverse. ΚΠ 1430–40 J. Lydgate tr. Bochas Fall of Princes vi. iv. (Bodl. 263) lf. 314/2 Fond no loggyng, tracing the contres Saue in kauernys, & in holwe trees. ?a1554 H. Willoughby in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) ii. 268 We sailed..with diuers other courses, trauersing and tracing the seas, by reason of sundrie and manifolde contrary windes. 1577 J. Grange Golden Aphroditis sig. Gj^v My harte it dothe bothe skippe and ioye to see hir trace the grounde. 1594 C. Marlowe & T. Nashe Dido i. i But hapless I..Do trace these Lybian deserts, all despis'd. 1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. ix. 412 I traced the fertile soyles of Carindia. 1807 G. Crabbe Parish Reg. i, in Poems 46 He soon arriv'd, he trac'd the Village-green. II. Senses relating to following or pursuit. 5. a. To follow the footprints or traces of; esp. to track by the footprints; also with the traces as object; hence, to pursue, to dog. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > follow [verb (transitive)] > follow (a track or trail) > follow track or trail of troda1250 tracec1440 track1565 train1575 tract1577 hunt1579 foot1581 trail1590 to tread the feet of1596 insist1631 pad1861 sleuth1905 back-trail1907 back-track1925 the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > find or discover [verb (transitive)] > by searching or tracking down findOE track1565 to start up1566 explore1592 to find forth1601 tracea1913 c1440 Pallad. on Husb. Tab. 39 Been forto trace vnto their dwellyng. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 760/2 It is forbydden to trace hares in snowe tyme. 1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates Glendower xxxi So traste they me among the mountaynes wide. a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iv. i. 169 His Wife, his Babes, and all vnfortunate Soules That trace him in his Line. View more context for this quotation 1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. i. 17 Still left vntold, something there must be seene For them, who trace our feete, with Argus eyne. 1677 W. Hubbard Narr. Troubles with Indians New-Eng. ii. 25 By the help of the Snow that fell about that time, [they] were traced till they were overtaken. 1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India I. ii. ii. 123 Bound to find out the possessor of any stolen property within the township, or to trace him till he has passed the boundary. 1886 C. E. Pascoe London of To-day (ed. 3) xxi. 207 We might have traced Thackeray through his wanderings from street to street. a1913 Mod. Note the number of the postal order, so that it may be traced if lost. b. figurative. To follow, pursue (instructions, example, etc.). ΘΚΠ society > authority > subjection > obedience > obey or be obedient to [verb (transitive)] > act in conformity to a rule or decree to stand at ——c1300 to stand to ——c1300 usec1300 keep1387 abidea1393 obeya1393 stand?1435 answer1552 trace1649 1649 W. Blith Eng. Improver xiii. 77 Observe my Method, and strictly trace my Instructions. 1745 Transl. & Paraphr. Sc. Ch. lii. i You who the Name of Jesus bear, His holy Footsteps trace. 6. a. figurative. To follow the course, development, or history of. Also with the course, etc. as object. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > find out, discover [verb (transitive)] > trace or follow up investigate1623 trace1654 to run up1657 track1681 retrace1697 1654 J. Bramhall Just Vindic. Church of Eng. v. 90 If we trace on this Argument a little further, to search out how the Bishop of Rome comes to be Saint Peters heire. 1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. xii. 250 The common Virtues, and the common Vices of Mankind, may be traced up to Benevolence, or the want of it. 1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. xiv. 236 The tracing the inheritance back through the male line of ancestors. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 503 No libel on the government had ever been traced to a Quaker. 1887 Westm. Rev. June 309 We have traced the history of Lower Canada down to the year 1839. b. intransitive for passive. To trace its origin or history; to go back in time, to date back. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > source or origin > originate, derive, or arise [verb (intransitive)] > derive or go back refer?1406 remount1612 to go back1771 trace1876 stem1937 1876 3rd Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1875–6 107 The farmer loses sight of the fact that the character of the calf..may ‘trace back’, as it is termed, to a remote ancestor. 1886 Field 4 Sept. 346/1 The Belvoir Senator and the Brocklesby Harbinger traced directly to the Fitzwilliam. 1889 Jacobs & Lang Æsop's Fables 53 The earliest form..cannot trace back earlier than the third..century. 1907 Daily Chron. 9 Sept. 3/2 The scare of invasion traces to the Armada of 1588. 7. a. transitive. To make out and follow (with the eye or mind) the course or line of; to ascertain (the course or line of something). ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > watch or observe > follow with eyes to look after ——OE followa1393 suea1398 pursue1558 tracea1701 to watch after1850 a1701 H. Maundrell Acct. Journey from Aleppo in Journey to Jerusalem (1721) 2 Its Walls, which may be traced all round. 1779 Mirror No. 9. ⁋3 I..amused myself with tracing in the daughters, those features which, in the mothers and grandmothers, had charmed me so often. 1818 in J. K. Tuckey Narr. Exped. River Zaire Introd. p. viii The stream of this mysterious river [sc. the Niger] being now traced with certainty from west to east as far as Tombuctoo. 1839 R. I. Murchison Silurian Syst. i. xxxvii. 572 In situations where the boulders may be traced..to their parent rocks. 1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine i. 19 Often their course can be traced, not by visible water, but a track of moss here, a fringe of rushes there. 1907 F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (ed. 2 reissued) I. 2 The form of the ancient manor house may still be traced. b. To make out (worn or obscure writing); to discern, decipher. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > code, cipher > decoding, deciphering > decipher [verb (transitive)] > obscure or foreign writing decipher1574 trace1768 1768 T. Gray Descent of Odin in Poems 89 Thrice he traced the runic rhyme. 1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. i. 137 It calls me..to trace The few fond lines that Time may soon efface. 1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany ii. 17 The characters may still be traced on a block of granite. c. To make a tracing of (a listed item); to derive (a tracing) from an index or catalogue; see tracing n. 1b. ΘΚΠ society > communication > record > written record > arrangement and storage of written records > arrange and store written records [verb (transitive)] > index > enter in index index1761 trace1905 1905 N.Y. State Library Bull. No. 95. 578 See that every secondary card is traced on one or both main cards. 1914 N.Y. State Libr. School Cataloging Rules 32 Trace added entries on the back of the main card. Write the tracing for other cards toward what will then be the lower right corner. 1926 Amer. Speech 2 93 The catalog cards are ‘main entry’ cards and ‘secondary entry’ cards, the latter being ‘traced’ from the former. 8. a. To discover, find out, or ascertain by investigation; to find out step by step; to search out. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > research > find out by investigation [verb (transitive)] seekc900 seeOE searcha1382 takea1382 inquire1390 undergrope?a1412 explore1531 to pry out1548 to scan out1548 to hunt out1576 sound1596 exquire1607 pervestigate1610 pump1611 trace1642 probe1649 to hunt up1741 to pick a person's brains (also brain)1770 verify1801 to get a load of1929 sus1966 1642 T. Fuller Holy State v. i. 359 God..varieth his ways of dealing with wantons, that they may be at a losse in tracing him. 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 92 Happy the Man, who, studying Nature's Laws, Thro' known Effects can trace the secret Cause. View more context for this quotation 1745 Transl. & Paraphr. Sc. Ch. xxii. iv Tho' him thou can'st not see, nor trace the working of his hands. 1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey II. 306 Tracing a connection..where in reality none exists. b. To discover evidence of the existence or occurrence of; to find traces of. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > find or discover [verb (transitive)] > find evidence of existence of trace1697 1697 J. Dryden Ded. Æneis in tr. Virgil Wks. sig. a3^v He observes no Method that I can trace, whatever Scaliger the Father, or Heinsius may have seen. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia IV. viii. x. 325 The earliest circumstances she could trace were kindnesses received from her. 1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters III. 137 There is a great deal more in your heart, of evil and good, than you ever can trace. a1862 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1871) III. v. 367 Black..called it latent heat, because though we conceive it as an idea, we cannot trace it as a fact. c. Computing. To subject (a program) to a trace (trace n.¹ 12a). ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > programming language > program or code > [verb (transitive)] > debug debug1943 trace1959 1959 M. H. Wrubel Primer of Programming for Digital Computers v. 107 When a program is traced, the machine produces a record of each instruction as it is performed. 1967 M. Klerer & G. A. Korn Digital Computer User's Handbk. i. i. 23 The location limits of the program segments to be traced enter as initial parameters to the trace program. 1981 L. A. Hill Structured Programming in FORTRAN iii. 73 The program is traced in Table 3–6 with Rule 4 relaxed. III. Senses relating to marking or drawing. 9. transitive. To mark, make marks upon; esp. to mark or ornament with lines, figures, or characters: cf. tracery n. ΚΠ a1400–50 Alexander 4914 Þe testre trased full of trones with trimballand wingis þe silloure full of Seraphens. 1523 J. Skelton Goodly Garlande of Laurell 395 With diamauntes and rubis there tabers were trasid. 1583 D. Ingram in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) iii. 558 The haire of their heads is shauen in sundry spots, and the rest of their head is traced [? tattooed]. 1832 Ld. Tennyson Palace of Art xxxvi, in Poems (new ed.) 79 The deepset windows, stained and traced, Burned, like slow-flaming crimson fires From shadowed grots of arches interlaced. 1858 J. G. Whittier Palm-tree 24 He holds a palm-leaf scroll in his hands, Traced with the Prophet's wise commands. 1890 Daily News 6 Jan. 5/2 Stockings and buckles were richly traced; the pocket was often a blaze of the richest embroidery. 10. To make a plan, diagram, or chart of (something existing or to be constructed); to mark out the course of (a road, etc.) on, or by means of, a plan or map; to mark or set out (the lines of a work or road) on the ground itself. Also figurative, to devise (a plan of action), map out (a policy). ΘΚΠ society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > graphic representation > drawing plans or diagrams > make plan or diagram of [verb (transitive)] to set down in plat1508 to plat forth1556 delineate1579 plot1588 plat1589 trace1599 to line outa1616 lineament1638 to lay down1669 design1697 plan1734 draught1828 1374–5 [implied in: 1374–5 in G. Oliver Exeter Cathedral (1861) 385 Custus nove domus in Calendarhay vocate ‘Trasyng hous’. (at tracing-house n. at tracing n. Compounds)]. 1399 [implied in: 1399 in J. Raine Fabric Rolls York Minster (1859) 17 In le loge [mason's work-shop] apud Ebor, in cimiterio, lxix stanexes, j magna kevell, xcvj chisielles ferri.., ij tracyngbordes. (at tracing-board n. at tracing n. Compounds)]. 1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. F3 When I had doubled my poynt, traste my ground. 1624 Ld. Kensington Let. 31 Aug. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. III. 173 What they traced out for the breaking of the match, yow follow, pretending to conclude it. 1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ i. xli. 84 The Castle [in Milan], by which the Cittadell of Antwerp was trac'd. 1669 P. Staynred Compend. Fortification 6 in S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. Tables..Whereby you may trace out any Fort by help of a Line of Equal Parts. 1696 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) To Trace, to draw upon Paper the plane of a Building or Fortification. 1834 L. Ritchie Wanderings by Seine 120 Rollo's..path, like that of other conquerors, was traced in blood and ashes. 1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest IV. xviii. 212 The Ermine Street, notwithstanding all the centuries which have passed since it was first traced out and paved, is still distinguished from a yet older track. 11. a. To draw; to draw an outline or figure of; also, to put down in writing, to pen. [So Old French tracier.] ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > [verb (transitive)] > a letter or symbol writeOE trace1390 society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > graphic representation > represent graphically [verb (transitive)] > line or figure drawc1300 trace1390 scribe1887 1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 46 Babilla with hire Sones sevene..With Cernes bothe square and rounde He traceth ofte upon the grounde. c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 499/1 Tracyn, or draw strykys, protraho. 1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. v. iii. sig. Kk3 (heading) Killing a Crow.., and immediately tracing the ensuing Reflection with a Pen made of one of his Quills. 1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 96 Then trace upon the Ground the Triangle CDE. 1859 T. J. Gullick & J. Timbs Painting 8 The mode of commencing a picture by tracing the outline was followed by the early oil painters. 1888 J. W. Burgon Lives Twelve Good Men I. i. 26 These last [annotations] were evidently traced by fingers rendered tremulous by age. b. To copy (a drawing, plan, etc.) by following the lines of the original drawing on a transparent sheet placed upon it; to make a tracing of. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > drawing > draw [verb (transitive)] > copy or make tracing of trace1782 1782 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 3) V. 211 There were an hundred and four heads, hands and feet, traced off from the Cartoons. 1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay iii. 38 They practised duets together, and traced patterns. Phrases † trace and traverse, trace and rase, in reference to combatants: sense uncertain: cf. race v.², raze v., and traverse v. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > dissent > fighting > fight [verb (intransitive)] > move to and fro in fighting traversea1470 trace and rase1470 trace and traverse1470 vibrate1616 1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur vi. viii. 194 Thus they ferd two houres or mo trasyng and rasyng eyther other where they myght hytte ony bare place. 1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur vii. iv. 217 They rasshyd to gyders lyke borys tracynge, rasynge and foynynge to the mountenaunce of an houre. 1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur x. xxx. 463 Thus they tracyd and trauercyd and hewe on helmes and hawberkes... And euer sire Tristram tracyd and trauercyd and wente forward hym here and there. 1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. viii. sig. T2 Thus long they trast, and trauerst to and fro. View more context for this quotation Derivatives traced adj.¹ /treɪst/ †(a) travelled, journeyed: with adverbial qualification (obsolete); (b) outlined, drawn, written. ΘΚΠ society > travel > aspects of travel > traveller > [adjective] > much travelled travelledc1450 well-travelledc1450 journeyed1553 traced1632 society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > graphic representation > [adjective] > outlined, drawn, or written traced1632 1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. (1906) vii. 293 My life and liberty being deare to me, my long traced feete became more nimble in twelve score paces, then they could follow in eighteene. 1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 92 The traced Line AB. 1875 T. Seaton Man. Fret Cutting 146 Place the edge of the tool on the traced line. ˈtracing adj. that traces or draws lines. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > winter sports > skating > [adjective] > that traces or draws lines tracing1884 1884 Instr. Mil. Engin. (ed. 3) I. ii. 21 A sapper should be stationed..to await the arrival of the tracing party. 1907 Daily Chron. 24 Jan. 8/1 The spiral..must be skated boldly,..the knee of the tracing leg rather strongly bent. Draft additions 1993 To follow or make out (a course, line, etc.) with one's finger. Also with the finger as subj. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > follow [verb (transitive)] > follow (a track or trail) > follow track or trail of > with finger trace1931 the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > follow [verb (transitive)] > follow (a track or trail) > follow track or trail of > with finger > with finger as subject trace1980 1931 A. Uttley Country Child x. 124 Her fingers traced the way, round corners to her high attic, where..she climbed into bed and fell asleep. 1939 R. P. Warren Night Rider xiii. 315 He held the book in his left hand and his right forefinger traced each line as he read it. 1972 T. Keneally Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith v. 34 His fingers traced padmarks along the edge of the road and into tussocks on the verge. 1980 D. Bogarde Gentle Occup. v. 114 She leaned up from him and traced his throat with her finger. 1984 K. Hulme Bone People (1985) ii. 52 Simon is tracing the intricacies of the tatami mat with his forefinger. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † tracev.² Etymology: < trace n.² Obsolete. rare. transitive. To attach by traces, to harness in traces. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [verb (transitive)] > harness or yoke yokeOE harness13.. cart-saddle1377 join1377 couple1393 enharness1490 benda1522 bind1535 span1550 team1552 spang1580 inyoke1595 trace1605 enclose?1615 gear1638 to get in1687 reharness1775 reyoke1813 to hook up1825 inspan1834 hitch1844 pole1846 stock1909 1605 J. Stow Annales (new ed.) 1432 They [Bayliffs of the Town] presented him with three-score and ten Teeme of horse, all traced to faire new Ploughes. 1656 A. Cowley Muse in Pindaric Odes i Go, the rich Chariot instantly prepare;..Unruly Phansie with strong Judgment trace, Put in nimble-footed Wit. a1796 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 218 My Furr ahin's a wordy beast, As e'er in tug or tow was trac'd. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2021). tracev.³ Forms: Middle English trase, (past participle trased, trast), 1600s– trace. Etymology: Belongs to trace n.³; possibly an altered form of tress v. Obsolete exc. local. 1. transitive. To plait, twine, interweave, braid. Also with up. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > intertwining or interweaving > intertwine or interweave [verb (transitive)] wind971 braidc1000 writheOE biwevec1300 enlacec1374 winda1387 tracec1400 bredec1440 knit1470 embraid1481 interlace1523 entrail?1530 wreathea1547 beknit1565 twist1565 wand1572 embroid1573 mat1577 complect1578 intertex1578 inweave1578 lace1579 plight1589 entwine1597 bewreath1598 interweave1598 implicate1610 twine1612 complicatea1631 implex1635 intertwine1641 plash1653 enwreathe1667 raddle1671 intertwist1797 pleach1830 impleach1865 c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1739 Þe haȝer stones Trased aboute hir tressour be twenty in clusteres. a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 405 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 107 Mony schene scheld With tuscheis of trast silk tichit to ye tre. 1616 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals II. iv. 93 A little Lad..Tracing greene Rushes for a Winter Chayre. 1616 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals II. iv. 94 As oft as I..Trace the sharpe Rushes ends. 1679 Philos. Trans. 1677 (Royal Soc.) 12 1066 After 'tis gather'd, it [maize] must, except laid very thin, be presently stripped from the Husks... The common way (which they call Tracing) is to weave the Ears together in long Traces by some parts of the Husk left thereon. 1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Tracing,..a term used by our planters for the method of preserving the maize... [They] trace it, that is, they leave it in the ear, and weave, or fasten together a great number of ears by the ends of the husks. 1884 8th Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1883–4 285 The ears thus selected should be ‘traced up’ and hung away to dry. 1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Trace, to plait (always) ‘I can't only trace dree, but our Jim can trace zix’ [i.e. plait six strands together]. 1941 Old Farmer's Almanac 70 In the early fall the farmers would speak of ‘tracing up’ the yellow ears of corn to hang from the beams of the woodshed. 2. To plait or braid the hair of the head in tresses; = tress v. 1. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify (the hair) [verb (transitive)] > braid tress?a1366 browd1386 broidc1405 braid1530 border1585 entrammel1598 snake1653 queue1754 cue1774 club1779 trace1832 weave1884 1832 R. Lander & J. Lander Jrnl. Exped. Niger I. i. 41 Her hair was traced with such extraordinary neatness, that we expressed a wish to examine it more minutely. 1905 Eng. Dial. Dict. VI. 213/2 [W. Cornwall] She traces her hair every day. Derivatives traced adj.² ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > pattern or design > [adjective] flourishedc1400 figury1467 figured1490 traceda1525 infigured1611 patterned1758 the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [adjective] > woven browdenOE woven1488 traceda1525 obtexed1623 wove1710 loomed1729 woofed1820 textile1844 a1525Trast [see sense 1]. 1808–25 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (at cited word) A traced hat is a hat bound with gold lace. ˈtracing n.² interweaving, embroidering, braiding; also attributive.Here perhaps belong quot. 1874 at tracing n. 3b, and tracing-braid n., tracing-lace n. at tracing n. Compounds. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > sewing or ornamenting textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing broidery1382 embroidery1393 braidingc1440 broideringa1450 surfling1490 stitching1521 surfle?1533 tracing1549 acupiction1663 1549 in Accts. Ld. High Treasurer Scotl. (1911) IX. 334 Thre score thre elnis trasing silk to the samyn coit. 1681 Scot. Proclam. 1 Mar. Silver and gold threde, silver and gold lace, fringes or tracing. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.¹a1300n.²c1350n.³c1380v.¹1374v.²1605v.³c1400
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