trackn.
/trak/, U.S. /træk/ I. Senses relating to a sequence of marks, a path or course, and related uses.† 2. figurative. = trace n.1 6, 7 Obsolete.figurative.1656 A. Cowley To Sir W. Davenant 36 Thy Fancy like a Flame its way does make, And leave bright Tracks for following Pens to take.
1. † b. The pacing of a horse. Obsolete. rare.
a.
(a) The mark, or series of marks, left by the passage of anything; a trail; a wheel-rut; the wake of a ship; a series of footprints; the scent followed by hounds; spec. in Geology a series of fossilized footprints of an animal.
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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
1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur x. xiv. 435 Myght I fynde the trak of his hors I shold not fayle to fynde that Knyghte.
c1500 3 Kings' Sons 30 They came on the trakkys of there enmyes.
c1595 Capt. Wyatt in G. F. Warner Voy. R. Dudley to W. Indies (1899) 27 Wee discried the track of theire feet in the woodes by the impression of the sandes.
1685 C. Cotton tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. (1711) I. xxxviii. 349 Like the Beasts of Chace, who put out the Track at the Entrance into their Den.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Track, a Foot-print, or Foot~step, the rut of a Coach-wheel, the run of a Ship, a Mark that remains of any thing.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge viii. 278 The walls and roof..tapestried with the tracks of snails and slugs.
1842 Act 5 & 6 Victoria c. 79 §17 Any stage carriage..the bearing of which on the ground shall be less than 4 ft. 6 in. from the centre of the track of the right or off wheel to the centre of the track of the left or near wheel.
1912 Return Brit. Museum 174 A large slab of tracks from the Palaeozoic rocks of the Alleghany Mts.
(b) spec. in Particle Physics, a line marking the path taken by an atomic or subatomic particle.
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the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > particle accelerator > [noun] > line marking path
track1912
1912 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 87 277 It has now been found possible to photograph the tracks of even the fastest β-particles.
1942 J. D. Stranathan ‘Particles’ of Mod. Physics i. 43 The ions formed directly by the alpha particle must all have been of very low speed; otherwise the track would not be as narrow and sharply defined.
1955 Sci. News Let. 12 Feb. 103/1 When exposed to the special photographic plates, particles from the radioactive samples leave a distinct pattern, known as tracks, on the emulsion.
1973 L. J. Tassie Physics Elem. Particles vi. 50 The forked track, ab, in Fig. 23.1 was due to the decay of a heavy neutral particle..into two charged particles.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by speed or gait > [noun] > stride
stride1614
track1653
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by speed or gait > [noun] > sound made by feet
track1653
1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais 1st Bk. Wks. xliii. 195 I hear the track [Fr. trac] and beating of the enemies horse-feet.
c. Zoology. The sole of the foot, esp. in birds.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > body and limbs > [noun] > paw or foot > sole of foot
track1891
1891 in Cent. Dict.
1909 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Track,..3. Zoöl., the lower surface of the foot, esp. of birds.
d. A line on the skin made by the repeated injection of an addictive drug. Usually plural. slang.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > blemish > [noun] > scar > of injection
needle mark1855
puncture mark1859
needle track1888
hit-mark1962
needle scar1962
track1964
1964 H. Rodriguez in Larner & Tefferteller Addict in Street 34 Tracks are marks,..like a long black streak coming down your arm directly over your vein; that comes from hitting in the same place so much.
1965 Life 26 Feb. 86/4 In summer, they [sc. addicts] alone wear long sleeves (to cover their ‘tracks’—needle marks).
1972 J. Mills Rep. to Commissioner 104 Whaddya mean, lemme see your tracks? I'm a pros, man, I shoot up in my thighs.
1977 Rolling Stone 13 Jan. 14/3 The coroner found four fresh needle marks but no tracks, indicating that Bolan was not a junkie.
1979 R. B. Parker Wilderness i. 10 ‘Junkie,’ he said. The white trooper said, ‘Tracks?’.. The black trooper nodded, ‘All up and down her right arm.’
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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
1657 P. Heylyn Cosmographie (ed. 2) Introd. 12 Of Sabteca..I can finde no track [1652 tract] in any of the ancient Authors.
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 219 Now there is no track to be seen of any such thing.
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 223 In all this Citie, I found not the least track of Antiquity.
1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 27 To consider the Atmosphere, and the exterior Frame and Face of the Globe; if we may find any tracks and footsteps of Wisdom in the Constitution of Them.
1694 J. Addison tr. Ovid Met., Calisto 9 No tracks of heaven's destructive fire remain.
3. A way made or beaten by the feet of people or animals; a path; a rough unmade road.
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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
1643 O. Cromwell Let. 31 July We..came to the bottom of a steep hill: we could not well get up but by some tracks.
1675 N. Thomas in I. Mather K. Philip's War (1862) 231 We took notice that an Indian track, newly made, wheeled about from west to South.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest I. i. 33 The road..afforded only a slight track upon the grass.
1832 Act 2 & 3 William IV c. 64 Sched. O. 48 The point at which the same [road] meets the mountain track from Dowlais to Quakers Yard.
1883 W. Gardner in Hardwicke's Sci.-gossip May 97 The southern corner is crossed by a mountain track running from Trefriw to Capel Curig.
4. figurative.1565 T. Stapleton Fortresse of Faith f. 126 After the tracke of Caluins trace.
a. A line of travel, passage, or motion; the actual course or route followed (which need not be any beaten or visible path, or leave any traces, as the path of a ship, a bird in the air, a comet).
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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
1576 W. Lambarde Perambulation of Kent 287 This place..as also the whole track of their iourney, (remaining euer after a greene pathe) the Towne dwellers were wont to shew.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd i. 191 The better to converse With solitude, till far from track of men. View more context for this quotation
1681 H. Neville Plato Redivivus 79 Like Horses who know their Track well enough, without considering East or West, or what business they go about.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. x. 240 To give a better idea of the track which they hold in this navigation, I have..laid down the particular route..in..this chart.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxxiv. 131 We were just in the track of the tremendous hurricane of 1830.
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. iii. 24 The ferry-boats and steamers came out of their track to salute us in the bay.
b. The course of a nerve or blood vessel, or the like; the course of a wound.
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1807 S. Cooper First Lines Pract. Surg. I. ii. xxxi. 350 All the surfaces, in contact with each other, and surrounding the track of the wound, become generally so intimately connected together.
1861 T. R. Jones Gen. Outl. Animal Kingdom (ed. 3) xxvi. 625 The whole track of the intestinal tube, as well as the (so-called) hepatic viscus, is covered internally with vibratile cilia.
c. (?) A long narrow stretch (of light). (But both examples may belong properly to tract n.3: cf. branch II.)
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the world > matter > light > [noun] > ray or beam
beamc885
rowc1225
stringc1275
steamc1300
light beama1398
shafta1400
rayc1400
strakec1400
rade?a1563
gleed1566
radiation1570
shine1581
rayon1591
stralla1618
radius1620
rule1637
irradiation1643
track1693
emanation1700
spoke1849
spearc1850
slant1856
sword1866
secondary1921
1693 W. Congreve in J. Dryden tr. Persius Satires sig. A2 In their room, bright tracks of light are seen.
1757 T. Gray Ode II iii. i, in Odes 19 In yon bright track, that fires the western skies, They melt, they vanish from my eyes.
d. Aeronautics. The projection on the earth's surface of the (actual or intended) course of an aircraft; the representation of this on a chart.
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society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > navigation of course of aircraft > [noun] > course
course1905
flight path1911
heading1917
track1919
vector1941
1919 S. F. Card Air Navigation i. 6 The straight line on the map or chart joining the two places will be called the desired track.
1943 P. H. Redpath & J. M. Coburn Air Transport Navigation viii. 176 Measurement of the line must give us the groundspeed, since track and groundspeed go hand in hand.
1970 S. E. T. Taylor & H. A. Parmar Ground Stud. for Pilots ii. i. 13 Plot in the places carefully on the chart..and join them up, putting the two arrows on the line..to indicate the Track you wish to follow over the Earth's surface.
e. The plane in which the blades of a propeller are intended to rotate.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > parts of aircraft > means of propulsion > [noun] > aircraft engine > propeller > plane of rotation
track1920
1920 W. E. Park Treat. Airscrews xii. 206 The relative position of corresponding points in opposite blades..in the side elevation is considered as the ‘track’ of the blade.
1948 C. E. Chapel Aircraft Power Plants xv. 323/2 This and the several other methods of field checking the track of the propeller are rough methods only.
1956 W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 81/2 A blade is said to be in, or out of, track.
f. = line n.2 19c.
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society > occupation and work > workplace > factory > [noun] > assembly or production line
production line1905
assembly line1914
line1926
track1931
transfer line1956
1931 Flight 23 Jan. 73/1 Each fuselage moves along the track to the next [stage]..until at the end of the track the machine is complete.
1979 Daily Tel. 3 Aug. 2 The jobs of about 1,000 workers will be affected at British Leyland's Rover saloon car plant..by plans to cut production tracks from three to two.
1981 B. Walsh Live Bait ix. 85 Me and Brian work on the track... The assembly line.
g. U.S. Education. = stream n. 6d. Usually attributive.
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society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > division of pupils > stream or set
set1882
stream1938
track1959
1959 Washington Post 17 May e4/2 The extension of the track system to District junior high and elementary schools ought to benefit most pupils, but the School Board should make certain that Superintendent Carl F. Hansen's 3-track plan for children below the senior high school level is as flexible as possible.
1964 B. Fine Stretching their Minds 19 ‘Acceleration’ became fashionable—meaning either old-fashioned ‘skipping’ or the modern ‘multiple-track’ plan (in racing terms, a slow track for the average student, a fast track for the superior).
1968 Economist 7 Dec. 47/2 It ordered the end of the track system (which divided children according to academic ability, with most Negroes landing inevitably in the lowest track).
1983 N.Y. Times 13 Nov. xii. 71/2 There could be different rooms for learners and spurners. If a traditional track system is preferred, there could be a class for those who are on the track and another for those who have derailed.
5. figurative.
a. A course of action or conduct; a method of proceeding; ‘way’, ‘path’. the beaten track, the ordinary (quasi well-worn) way.
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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
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > [noun] > usual course, condition, etc. > the usual or ordinary way or procedure
coursec1325
highway1550
way1556
the common (also general, usual) road1607
the beaten track1638
run1688
1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 242 They..propound unto us the right way, and not one usually beaten track onely.
1659 T. Burton Diary (1828) IV. 54 You are in a track, and cannot go back or forwards.
1714 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. (1837) (ed. 2) I. 224 The world never believes it possible for people to act out of the common track [1965 ed.: tract].
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Third 23 To..Pace the Round Eternal?..To beat, and beat, The beaten Track?
1785 G. A. Bellamy Apol. Life II. 166 You see me now entered into a new track of life.
1864 W. W. Skeat tr. J. L. Uhland Songs & Ballads 56 Would ye have me wish to wander From the tracks of daily care?
1906 P. Kropotkin Mem. of Revolutionist (1908) IV. viii. 254 Austria and Hungary followed in the same track.
b. A train or sequence of events, thoughts, etc.
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the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > succession or following in time > [noun] > a succession, series, or sequence
suit1406
sequencea1575
train1606
series1618
track1681
1681 J. Owen Φρονημα του Πνευματος i. iv. 59 A continual track of fruitless Impertinent Thoughts about their own concerns.
1693 J. Dryden Disc. conc. Satire in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires p. viii When he is got into a Track of Scripture.
1725 I. Watts Logick iv. i. §2 In writing the Lives of Men, which is called Biography, some Authors follow the Track of their Years.
1793 E. Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 199 My pen goes in the track of my thoughts.
1827 R. Pollok Course of Time II. x. 258 Thus have I sung beyond thy first request, Rolling my numbers o'er the track of man, The world at dawn, at mid-day, and decline.
6. A path made or laid down for a special purpose; spec.
a. A continuous line of a pair of rails and the space between them, on which railway vehicles travel (commonly called in Great Britain a or the line, and in some connections the rails). Also used of a single pair of rails, in contrast to a line (which may denote the route and comprise one or more tracks: cf. line n.2 26b). Hence (U.S.) with following number, denoting the line served by a particular platform or gate. (Cf. trackage n.2) Also, an iron path or pair of rails which a carriage in a machine or a gun-chassis traverses. off the track, off the line or rails, derailed; also figurative.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track
way1700
track1806
rail track1824
railway track1824
line1825
main track1830
railroad track1830
single track1832
railway line1836
electric line1850
1806 A. Rees Cycl. (1819) VI. at Canal Surrey Iron Rail-Way... The width of each track is about 51/ 2 feet, the waggons carry about 31/ 4 tons each... Crossing rails are used at every passing-place or point where waggons are to pass out of one track of rails into another.
1824 A. Scott in Prize-ess. & Trans. Highland Soc. Scotl. 6 43 All public lines of railway will require two distinct sets of railway-tracks.
1860 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 3) Track, the line of a railroad, or rather between the rails. ‘A man walking on the track was run over and killed’.
1869 Bradshaw's Railway Man. 21 390 The length of this line is 94 miles... Of the whole only 33 are ‘double track’.
1875 J. R. Lowell Spenser in Prose Wks. (1890) IV. 277 A series of jolts and jars, proving that the language had run off the track.
1894 Times 14 July 7/1 The switch~men [in U.S.]..control the yards, the making up of the trains, and the freedom of the tracks.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 820/2 The Stockton & Darlington railway... This line..was in the first instance laid with a single track.
1962 J. L. Austin et al. How to do Things with Words v. 57 Passengers are warned to cross the track by the bridge only.
1967 Times 23 Oct. 9/4 The management should..stop spending precious capital on converting double tracked lines to a single track.
1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant i. 12 He had learned before the announcement that the train for Zurich would leave from track twelve.
1984 Financial Times 27 Jan. 2/8 Yesterday, Breton farmers suspended their disruption of rail traffic and removed the barriers they had placed across the tracks in Brittany.
b. A course prepared or laid out for racing, or the like.cinder-, race, racing, running track, etc.: see the first element.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > [noun] > course or track
coursec1320
race1612
piste1696
route1771
track1836
path1883
athletics track1952
parcours1971
1836 Spirit of Times 20 Feb. 5/3 And he will run a match against either, or a sweepstakes with both, one, two, three, or four mile heats, over any good track in East Tennessee.
1851 Fraser's Mag. June 657/1 A barouche and four does not differ more from a trottingwaggon..than an English race-course from an American ‘track’.
1887 Field 20 Aug. 328/2 The six-lap grass track on which the above sports were held.
1912 Throne 7 Aug. 228/1 The..Italian sprinter Giongo..should..be seen frequently on the track at Metropolitan meetings.
c. The distance between a wheel on one side of a vehicle and the corresponding wheel on the other side.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [noun] > parts of vehicle moving on wheels > wheel > distance between right and left
tread1735
track1850
1850 Western Jrnl. 4 96 This distance will, therefore, vary in different sections of the country according to the usual ‘track’ of wagons.
1910 J. Gunn Pract. Design Motor Cars viii. 219 The wheel base and wheel track of a motor car require consideration.
1928 Sunday Disp. 16 Sept. 5 (advt.) Wider track, lower centre of gravity, improved roadability.
1948 J. D. Rittenhouse Amer. Horse-drawn Vehicles 1 The term ‘track’ refers to the extreme width of the vehicle as measured from outside rim of one wheel to the outside of the rim of the opposite wheel, measured at the bottom of the wheel.
1969 Gloss. Aeronaut. & Astronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) v. 12 Track, the distance between the outer points of contact of the port and starboard main undercarriages.
d. Each of the endless bands on certain heavy vehicles, esp. tanks, passing round and driven by wheels and facilitating travel over rough or soft ground. Cf. caterpillar n. 1b.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicles with other means of motion > [noun] > tracked vehicle > track of
track1884
crawler track1954
1884 U.S. Patent 269,998 in Specifications & Drawings (U.S. Patent Office) 15 Apr. 1384/1 This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of road-engines in which the driving and pilot or guiding wheels are connected by a chain or series of links, which together form an endless track which the wheels traverse in the movement of the engine.
1926 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. III. 723/2 The track..was carried all round the tank; this track was driven from the engine through a two-speed gear box.
1931 G. le Q. Martel In Wake of Tank 83 The whole of the engine power could be transmitted to the track on the one or the other side of the tank as desired.
1971 Power Farming Mar. 13/2 Before the development of the large rubber tyre it was possible to transmit high power to the soil only through tracks.
1974 ‘W. Haggard’ Kinsmen viii. 82 A simple crane on a pair of tracks was well within his modest competence.
e. (Without article.) The branch of athletics in which a running track is used; track athletics, track events; track and field (also attributive), athletics in general. Originally U.S.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > athletics > [noun]
palaestraa1500
athletic1605
agonistics1685
athletics1738
track and field1905
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > athletics > [noun] > track athletics
athletics1866
track athletics1890
track1934
1905 Outing 46 490/1 Track and field sport has been working out its own spontaneous solution.
1934 T. Wilder Heaven's my Destination 66 I was captain of track and basket-ball.
1936 National Geographic Mag. 69 799/2 I progressed the next year to my class squads in football and track.
1964 A. Wykes Gambling iv. 102 As for athletics, or ‘track and field’ sports, there are practically no places where public betting..flourishes to any extent.
1972 N.Y. Times 4 June 4/3 The Oregon Track Club is very active in promoting track in the area.
1978 G. A. Sheehan Running & Being viii. 107 Despite the detailed and accurate statistics of track and field, the scientists consistently underestimate the human body and its potential.
1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. viii. 265 ‘Do you have a favorite sport?’ ‘Track.’
f. A ballroom or dance-hall. U.S. slang.
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society > leisure > dancing > place for dancing > [noun] > public dance hall
dancing-hall1753
dancing-room1788
dancing-house1818
dance hall1845
dance-house1848
dance-hall1858
palais de danse1900
palais1928
pally1928
track1945
1945 L. Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. 19/2 Track, hall for dancing.
1960 H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 553/2 The Savoy Ballroom in N.Y.C.'s Harlem was widely known as ‘The Track’ to hepsters.
1965 Malcolm X Autobiogr. xvi. 315 I dig your holding this all-originals scene at the track.
1972 T. Kochman Rappin' & Stylin' Out 163 The place where the movement can occur is appropriately termed the ‘track’, whether the place is a dance hall.., the street.., or, as used figuratively, the life span.
g. A metal or plastic strip designed to carry the sliding fittings from which a curtain is hung, or on which an electric (spot)light may be positioned. Cf. track lighting n. at Compounds 2 below.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > covers or hangings > [noun] > hangings > curtain > curtain fittings
ringa1382
curtain-ring1483
curtain hookc1505
curtain-rodc1505
window pole1822
curtain-pole1865
curtain rail1924
glider1957
track1971
1971 Guardian 18 Aug. 9/6 Curtain tracks and pelmets.
1976 N.Y. Times Mag. 15 Aug. 47 Installation of the track on the ceiling is tricky, and, in most instances, involves hiding the wires from the ceiling to the light switch.
1979 D. Brierley Cold War iv. 39 I checked plugs, sockets..the track for the curtain across the window.
h. Cricket. = wicket n. 3c.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > cricket ground > [noun] > wicket
wicket1862
pitch1871
cricket pitch1876
strip1976
track1976
1976 J. Snow Cricket Rebel 102 Deliveries..that pitched half way down the track and went through above head high.
1977 Grimsby Evening Tel. 31 May 12/6 Fast bowler Robert Herkes again gave a good account of himself and his figures of two for 33 off 16 overs was no mean feat on a track that did not give him a shred of help.
1983 Daily Tel. 3 Sept. 12 The commentators—particularly the professional cricketers (active or retired)—use a vocabulary peculiarly their own: the pitch is a ‘track’, good or bad.
7. Heraldry. A longitudinal division of an ordinary or sub-ordinary, or in the representation of certain furs.
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society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > charge: device on shield > [noun] > charge of simplest or commonest kind > division of ordinary
track1869
1869 J. E. Cussans Handbk. Heraldry (rev. ed.) iii. 53 The Furs Vair, Countervair, Potent, and Counterpotent... They are usually represented as of four rows, heraldically termed Tracks.
1869 J. E. Cussans Handbk. Heraldry (rev. ed.) iv. 64 A Bordure or other Ordinary composed of Metal and Colour alternately, is termed Compony... If there be two Tracks, it is then said to be Counter-Compony.
8. [ < track v.1] The action of tracking; the pursuit of a criminal or fugitive.
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the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > [noun] > pursuit > of a criminal or fugitive
tract1542
track1617
1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII c. 26 §47 If any goodes..be stolen..thenne upon suite therof hadde and made, the tracte shalbe folowed from Towneshipp to Towneship.]
1617 Bodl. Carte MSS LXII. f. 438 The Track shalbee vndertaken within foure and twenty howres, after the goodes have bin stolne,..that the Inhabitants of that place, may have time to put the track forwardes.
9.
a. = groove n. 2c (now rare or Obsolete); hence, a single recorded item (esp. of popular music), which on a long-playing record is a band bounded on both sides by an area of widely-spaced grooves.
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society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > a sound recording > [noun] > record or disc > groove
groove1902
track1904
fine-groove1948
microgroove1948
locked groove1956
coarse groove1958
run-in1962
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > a sound recording > [noun] > record or disc > track
title song1889
title cut1894
band1953
track1956
title track1967
1904 S. R. Bottone Talking Machines & Records 60 We must have some means of controlling or varying the pressure of the stylus of the reproducer on the record, so as to enable it to follow correctly every indentation in the ‘track’.
1949 Playback Oct.–Nov. 4/2 This took the form of a 10″ record with two ‘tracks’ or ‘grooves’ impressed on each side.
1956 Gramophone Dec. 265/1 None of the tracks lives up to the promise of the star-studded personnel.
1957 Records & Recording Oct. 35/3 It looks like a normal LP, but..it plays for only half the time—the first track is on the outside, separated by a blank band from the second inner track.
1958 Observer 28 Dec. 6/7 All the tracks had been released as singles in the era of seventy-eight r.p.m.
1967 A. Diment Dolly Dolly Spy xii. 160 I wandered over to the juke box and selected a Dylan track for relaxation.
1970 Honey June 53/4 Their first LP is so polished. There are some great original tracks.
1980 Oxf. Times 1 Feb. 23/3 On tracks like ‘Rock Music’ they seem to want to be a hard rock 'n' roll band... On several other tracks their aim is vague and visionary.
b. Cinematography. = sound track n. at sound n.3 Compounds 2b(b).
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > [noun] > sound track
sound track1929
track1931
wild track1940
laugh track1952
premix1960
1931 B. Brown Talking Pictures x. 226 To a certain extent surface noise is due to irregularities in the sensitive film used for recording the track.
1976 Oxf. Compan. Film 203/1 ‘Dolbyized’ tracks sound ‘cleaner’ and clearer than ordinary tracks.
c. A lengthwise strip on magnetic tape consisting of a single sequence of signals; more widely, a linear path in any information storage device or medium that accommodates one sequence of signals or corresponds to one head.Originally identical with preceding sense.
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society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > [noun] > tape > lengthwise strip
track1947
1947 Jrnl. Soc. Motion Picture Engineers 48 9 A magnetic recording track..on 16-mm film.
1951 Audio Engin. Sept. 40/2 The recording medium is an endless polyvinyl-chloride [magnetic] tape with 56 parallel sound tracks spaced at the ordinary rate of four tracks per millimeter.
1951 Proc. Inst. Electr. Engineers 98 ii. 29/1 As the drum rotates the surface is carried past a fixed magnetic recording and reading head... Many separate tracks can be recorded side by side.
1957 Pract. Wireless 33 697/1 Rotation of VR1 should cause it to click in and out as a certain point on the track is passed.
1962 Times 5 July 15/6 Some tapes have two tracks, others (in stereo) have four, and a four-track recorder will not produce the best results on a two-track tape.
1969 P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 305 Data are addressed on a drum by specifying the track number and word number within the drum.
1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing iii. 57 Readers and punches for paper tape can easily be adjusted to different numbers of tracks.
1977 Time 4 July 4 (advt.) There's a film to watch—a recent release—8 tracks of stereo to listen to, free naturally, and plenty of room to stretch out or stroll about.
1983 Austral. Personal Computer Aug. 62/1 Files stored on a disk are located by means of a directory set up on a particular grouping of tracks.
10. Phrases. in one's tracks, on the spot where one is at the moment; instantly, immediately. on the right track, having the right idea; heading in the right direction; also on the (or a) wrong track. on the track (of), in pursuit of; also, having a trace of or clue to. to cover (up) a person's tracks, to conceal or screen his motions or measures. to keep track, to follow or grasp the course, progress, or sequence of; to keep account of; so to lose track of. to make (take) tracks (for), to make off, to make for; to go off quickly (originally U.S.). the wrong side of the tracks, the socially inferior part of town; so to cross the tracks and similar phrases. on the track (Australian), tramping from place to place in search of work. on track (U.S.), on course; achieving or doing what is required. to comb the tracks: see comb v.1 4c. to jump the track: see jump v. 6c.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)]
wendeOE
i-wite971
ashakec975
shakeOE
to go awayOE
witea1000
afareOE
agoOE
atwendOE
awayOE
to wend awayOE
awendOE
gangOE
rimeOE
flitc1175
to fare forthc1200
depart?c1225
part?c1225
partc1230
to-partc1275
biwitec1300
atwitea1325
withdrawa1325
to draw awayc1330
passc1330
to turn one's (also the) backc1330
lenda1350
begonec1370
remuea1375
voidc1374
removec1380
to long awaya1382
twinc1386
to pass one's wayc1390
trussc1390
waive1390
to pass out ofa1398
avoida1400
to pass awaya1400
to turn awaya1400
slakec1400
wagc1400
returnc1405
to be gonea1425
muck1429
packc1450
recede1450
roomc1450
to show (a person) the feetc1450
to come offc1475
to take one's licence1475
issue1484
devoidc1485
rebatea1500
walka1500
to go adieua1522
pikea1529
to go one's ways1530
retire?1543
avaunt1549
to make out1558
trudge1562
vade?1570
fly1581
leave1593
wag1594
to get off1595
to go off1600
to put off1600
shog1600
troop1600
to forsake patch1602
exit1607
hence1614
to give offa1616
to take off1657
to move off1692
to cut (also slip) the painter1699
sheera1704
to go about one's business1749
mizzle1772
to move out1792
transit1797–1803
stump it1803
to run away1809
quit1811
to clear off1816
to clear out1816
nash1819
fuff1822
to make (take) tracks (for)1824
mosey1829
slope1830
to tail out1830
to walk one's chalks1835
to take away1838
shove1844
trot1847
fade1848
evacuate1849
shag1851
to get up and get1854
to pull out1855
to cut (the) cable(s)1859
to light out1859
to pick up1872
to sling one's Daniel or hook1873
to sling (also take) one's hook1874
smoke1893
screw1896
shoot1897
voetsak1897
to tootle off1902
to ship out1908
to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909
to push off1918
to bugger off1922
biff1923
to fuck off1929
to hit, split or take the breeze1931
to jack off1931
to piss offa1935
to do a mick1937
to take a walk1937
to head off1941
to take a hike1944
moulder1945
to chuff off1947
to get lost1947
to shoot through1947
skidoo1949
to sod off1950
peel1951
bug1952
split1954
poop1961
mugger1962
frig1965
the world > space > place > presence > present [phrase] > on the spot where one is
in one's tracks1824
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > go away suddenly or hastily
fleec825
runOE
swervea1225
biwevec1275
skip1338
streekc1380
warpa1400
yerna1400
smoltc1400
stepc1460
to flee (one's) touch?1515
skirr1548
rubc1550
to make awaya1566
lope1575
scuddle1577
scoura1592
to take the start1600
to walk off1604
to break awaya1616
to make off1652
to fly off1667
scuttle1681
whew1684
scamper1687
whistle off1689
brush1699
to buy a brush1699
to take (its, etc.) wing1704
decamp1751
to take (a) French leave1751
morris1765
to rush off1794
to hop the twig1797
to run along1803
scoot1805
to take off1815
speela1818
to cut (also make, take) one's lucky1821
to make (take) tracks (for)1824
absquatulize1829
mosey1829
absquatulate1830
put1834
streak1834
vamoose1834
to put out1835
cut1836
stump it1841
scratch1843
scarper1846
to vamoose the ranch1847
hook1851
shoo1851
slide1859
to cut and run1861
get1861
skedaddle1862
bolt1864
cheese it1866
to do a bunkc1870
to wake snakes1872
bunk1877
nit1882
to pull one's freight1884
fooster1892
to get the (also to) hell out (of)1892
smoke1893
mooch1899
to fly the coop1901
skyhoot1901
shemozzle1902
to light a shuck1905
to beat it1906
pooter1907
to take a run-out powder1909
blow1912
to buzz off1914
to hop it1914
skate1915
beetle1919
scram1928
amscray1931
boogie1940
skidoo1949
bug1950
do a flit1952
to do a scarper1958
to hit, split or take the breeze1959
to do a runner1980
to be (also get, go) ghost1986
society > travel > aspects of travel > departure, leaving, or going away > depart, leave, or go away [verb (intransitive)] > hastily or suddenly
fleec825
warpa1400
wringc1400
bolt1575
decamp1751
mog1770
to hop the twig1797
to take (its, etc.) wing1806
to make (take) tracks (for)1824
vamoose1834
fade1848
skedaddle1862
to beat it1906
blow1912
to hop it1914
beetle1919
bug1950
jet1951
society > travel > [noun] > in pursuit of; having a clue to
on the track (of)1871
the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > [phrase] > on the track of
on one's windc1330
on the track (of)1871
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)] > keep up with
follow1667
to go with ——1873
to keep track1883
to be with1900
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > misinterpretation > misunderstand [phrase]
to take amissa1425
to walk wide in words1529
to have (also take, catch) the wrong pig by the ear (also tail)1536
to be out of the story1649
to be at cross-purposes1688
I beg your pardon1806
to lose track of1894
to get (someone) wrong1927
to speak past ——1952
to lose the thread1956
1824 T. D. Arnold in M. James A. Jackson (1937) 156 He failed to shoot ‘Jackson dead in his tracks’.
1835–40 T. C. Haliburton Clockmaker (1862) 30 I'd a made him make tracks, I guess.
1843 ‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase I. xvii. 130 The rifle was fired..and he fell dead in his tracks.
1867 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 2nd Ser. (new ed.) Introd. p. xxxviii In his tracks for immediately has acquired an American accent, and passes where he can for a native.
1871 F. W. Farrar Witness of Hist. ii. 49 Not on the false track of myths, artificially elaborated.
1873 J. C. F. Johnson Christmas on Carringa 19 'Tis Christmas Eve again to day, and I am on ‘the track’.
1878 J. T. Trowbridge Guy Vernon in G. P. Lathrop Masque of Poets 244 Whatever else he lacks, He has the art of covering up his tracks.
1883 J. Gilmour Among Mongols xxiii. 282 The noise of the two crowds..made it difficult to keep track of what was going on.
1886 E. Marshall Tower on Cliff xii The men are on the track.
1886 C. M. Yonge Chantry House I. xiii. 116 This had done more to convince my father that he was on the right track than the having found him on his knees.
1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat iii. 37 You know we are on a wrong track altogether. We must not think of the things we could do with, but only of the things that we can't do without.
1894 Outing 23 387/1 Day after day passes in precisely the same manner.., until one loses all track of the days of the week.
1896 H. Lawson While Billy Boils 207 I've been knocking round for five years, and the last two years constant on the track, and no show of getting off it unless I go for good.
1902 Munsey's Mag. 26 569/1 Theater-goers who have kept close track of the dramatic tastes of New York and London.
1915 A. Huxley Let. Oct. (1969) 84 These maximal horrors of war are really too unthinkably appalling; but things I trust are on the right track now for health.
1929 T. Smith Stray Lamb iv. 29 In most commuting towns..there are always two sides of which the tracks serve as a line of demarcation. There is the right side and the wrong side. Translated into terms of modern American idealism, this means, the rich side and the side that hopes to be rich.]
1945 S. Lewis Cass Timberlane (1947) xxxiv. 230 I thought at first that she was from the wrong side of the railroad tracks, but she seems to have settled down to being a nice little lady and a good war worker.
1953 ‘Caddie’ Sydney Barmaid xliv. 255 It would have been impossible for him to maintain the home on a dole ration... He was going on the track.
1954 I. Murdoch Under Net xi. 141 What I saw as I opened the door made me stop dead in my tracks.
1956 W. H. Whyte Organization Man xxi. 269 The boy from Shanty~town was going to have less chance than ever of crossing over the tracks.
1965 E. Lambert Long White Night 12 His clothes clearly proclaimed him as a man who had been on the track, one of that tattered, aimless, wandering band which the Depression threw up.
1973 Times 19 May 6/6 ‘The Government may fall,’ Mr Caulfield reportedly said, complaining: ‘Everybody else is on track but you.’
1977 Listener 13 Oct. 478/2 Eva Duarte Peron..came from the wrong side of the tracks.
1978 Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. f 3 (advt.) We're looking for a professional who can keep us on track by making contributions that improve efficiency.
1978 Time 24 Apr. 20/2 If we can reach a salt agreement..that will begin to change the whole character of the relationship, put it on the right track again.
1979 B. L. C. Johnson Pakistan xiii. 199/1 The whole area has something of a ‘beyond the tracks’ character about it.
1984 Gainesville (Florida) Sun 3 Apr. 10 b/5 Three weeks ago, Mondale won the Illinois primary and said his comeback was on track.
II. Used by confusion in senses of tract n.3(Tract is very commonly pronounced dial. (træk), and some of the senses are identical with those of track.)† 11. A feature, lineament, trait; = tract n.3 7. Scottish. Obsolete. rare.† 13. An attraction, enticement; = tract n.3 4. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > feature > [noun]
track1513
lineamenta1535
delineament1596
tract1606
miniature1630
remark1660
trait1773
signalment1779
feature1828
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid xii. xiii. 135 And all elike wympillit and cled thir trakis With eddris thrawin, and haris full of snakis.
1808–18 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Track, feature, lineament.
12. An extent of land; also, a space of time, a period; also, †a sequence or succession of actions or events (obsolete); cf. tract n.3 1c, 2, 3.
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the world > the earth > land > tract > [noun]
placec1325
piecec1330
soil1430
groundc1436
territory?a1439
land1604
strain1614
track1686
reaching1727
terrain1766
land-score1828
outstretch1858
the world > time > [noun] > stretch, period, or portion of time
tidea900
while971
fristOE
stemOE
throwOE
timeOE
selea1250
piecec1300
termc1300
stagea1325
whilesc1330
space?a1400
racec1400
spacec1405
termine1420
parodya1425
timea1425
continuancec1440
thrallc1450
espace1483
space of timec1500
tracta1513
stead1596
reach1654
amidst1664
stretch1698
spell1728
track1835
lifetime1875
time slice1938
1686 Bp. G. Burnet Some Lett. conc. Switzerland iii. 171 All the way to Florence this track of Hills continues, tho there are several bottoms.
1765 Museum Rusticum 4 lxii. 268 Very large tracks, of two or three thousand acres.
1769 H. Brooke Fool of Quality IV. xvii. 123 Their conquest or seizure of any track of country.
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) I. 132 The track of land inundated was lower than the Ocean.
1835 I. Taylor Spiritual Despotism iii. 91 During a much longer track of time.
1851 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 12 i. 127 If a track of dry weather sets in.
1893 , 1901 in Eng. Dial. Dict. (of weather).
1896 W. B. Wildman Hist. Sherborne i. 1 A track of country won for England from the West-Welsh.
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the mind > will > motivation > attraction, allurement, or enticement > [noun] > one who or that which > that which
lurec1385
baitc1400
traina1425
allective1445
allurement1548
lodestone?1577
attractive1581
invites1615
magnetic1645
magnet1655
invitatory1666
track1672
glittering prize1713
catch1781
the rainbow's end1846
carrot1895
come-on1902
1672 O. Walker Of Educ. i. i. 6 Since we find great..tracks and encouragements in the..way of pleasure.
Compounds
C1. General attributive. Also trackway n.
a.
track-chart n.
track-cutting n.
ΚΠ
1890 Goldfields of Victoria 27 Track-cutting..enables parties to proceed into the jungle country, which would otherwise be unknown.
track-side n.
ΚΠ
1886 R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped i. 4 He..lighted on a big boulder under a birch by the trackside.
b. In sense 6a (mainly U.S.)
track-cleaner n.
ΚΠ
1900 Daily News 12 Nov. 8/5 With a view to minimising the amount of water used a large number of track cleaners were employed [on the tramways].
track-grading n.
ΚΠ
1901 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 631/2 Track-grading contracts.
Categories »
track construction n.
Categories »
track elevation n.
Categories »
track material n.
c. In sense 6b or 6e.
track athlete n.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > athletics > [noun] > track athletics > athlete
playmanOE
game-player1533
track athlete1888
trackster1974
athlete2006
1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 27 Aug. 14/1 The baseball and track athletes graduated 34 per cent. of their number... In physical development..the crew men coming first, the baseball players next, and track athletes last.
track athletics n.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > athletics > [noun] > track athletics
athletics1866
track athletics1890
track1934
1890 W. Camp in Cent. Mag. June 204/2 The..games..generally classed under the term ‘track athletics’ are walking, running, jumping, bicycling, pole vaulting, throwing of weights, and tug-of-war contests.
track coach n.
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1962 A. Lurie Love & Friendship x. 199 Hal Humphrey, the track coach.
1977 J. F. Fixx Compl. Bk. Running vii. 85 It has been attributed to..Lauri Pihkala, a pre-World War 1 Finnish runner, and George W. Orton, at one time Penn State's track coach.
track event n.
ΚΠ
1912 Times 29 June 13/1 In the track events, all of which must be held in the Stadium..there are 95 entries.
1928 Daily Sketch 10 Aug. 2/4 There are bound to be fine finishes in the international track events.
1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon ix. 138 He had always been a brilliant natural athlete, excelling at almost every game and track event in which he took part.
track-measuring n.
track meet n. U.S.
ΚΠ
1904 Cap & Gown (Chicago) IX. 215 Track Meets and Scores, 1903... Second Annual Interscholastic Meet, at Marshall Field.
1976 Columbus (Montana) News 27 May 1/4 Absarokee and Columbus scored first and second respectively in the Southern C Divisional track meet on May 20.
track meeting n.
track-owner n.
ΚΠ
1928 Daily Express 5 Oct. 2/6 Track-owners are expected to confer with the National Greyhound Racing Club stewards.
track-racing n.
ΚΠ
1896 Daily News 28 Dec. 5/2 One of the earliest and most notable of track-racing cyclists.
d.
track shirt n.
ΚΠ
1977 J. F. Fixx Compl. Bk. Running x. 121 I bought them all inexpensive track shoes and University of Southern California track shirts just like Daddy's.
1978 Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. a19/1 (advt.) Juvenile to teen male track shirts, hooded sweatshirts.
track shorts n.
ΚΠ
1946 C. McCullers Member of Wedding i. 4 She wore a pair of blue track shorts.
1974 Index-Jrnl. (Greenwood, S. Carolina) 23 Apr. 7/6 Smith describes his actions as mild, temporary schizophrenia, or Clark Kent in track shorts. ‘When I pole vault..I'm like a complete different person.’
track team n.
ΚΠ
1907 St. Nicholas (N.Y.) XXXIV. 693/2 Hammond has a track team, but we have n't.
1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 30 June 7- e/1 Aams was also an outstanding performer on the basketball and track teams at East Bay.
e.
track-mounted adj.
ΚΠ
1977 Time 21 Feb. 34/2 He would be inclined to forgo continued development of a mobile U.S. nuclear missile launcher (the MX) if the Soviet Union will abandon deployment of its track-mounted launcher (the SS-20).
C2.
track-bed n. = bed n. 12e.
ΚΠ
1962 Mod. Railways Apr. 278/2 The jack, which had been left projecting from the track bed, did considerable damage to the gear underneath the cars.
1978 W. Hjortsberg Falling Angel xliv. 217 I followed the trackbed of the downtown express, measuring my pace to the spacing of the ties.
track-brake n. a railway brake which acts by pressure directly against the rail; also, a device consisting of rails with curved ends, kept in position alongside the ordinary rails by springs, which by friction automatically retards a vehicle passing over them by compressing the flanges of the wheels.
ΚΠ
1903 Science Abstracts VI. §B. 57 The Westinghouse-Newell track brake... In this an electro~magnet..grips the rail with a pressure which may reach two tons.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 29 Oct. 7/2 It seems to Colonel Yorke that the track brake can at its best only be regarded as a supplementary to the wheel brakes.
Categories »
track-channeler n. in quarrying, a groove-cutting tool mounted on a rail truck ( Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909).
track-chisel n. a plate-layer's hammer with a flat cutting peen ( Cent. Dict. Suppl.).
track circuit n. an electric circuit formed by the two rails of a railway line, so that the short-circuit produced by the presence of a train can be used to control the signals protecting it.
ΚΠ
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 76/2 At points the track circuit is run through a circuit breaker, so that the ‘opening’ of the points sets the signal for the section.
1931 E. T. MacDermot Hist. G.W.R. II. 498 Track circuits, whereby the signals protecting an occupied section of line are electrically locked at Danger, were first introduced in August 1907.
1983 Internat. Railway Jrnl. May 8/1 The Landskut box controls 125 signals, 83 points and 110 track circuits.
track-circuit v. (transitive) to equip with or make into a track circuit.
ΚΠ
1935 Economist 22 June 1419/1 If every mile of line in use were ‘track-circuited’..a blunder by a signalman would be impossible; no train could be signalled forward unless the line really was clear.
track circuiting n.
ΚΠ
1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Dec. 999/1 Exactly the same argument might be heard to-day against the introduction of track-circuiting or automatic train control.
1956 Railway Mag. Nov. 793/1 Track circuiting at both home and starting signals can be used to give additional safeguards.
track-clearer n. a crossbar carried immediately in front of the wheels of a locomotive or tram-car to push obstructions off the rails; also, a cow-catcher or snow-sweeper fixed in front of a locomotive; also, a wedge-shaped board fixed at the outer end of the cutter-bar of a reaping machine, which directs the swath to the cutters and leaves a clear track for the next passage of the machine.
ΚΠ
1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Track-clearer, (1) (Railway.) (a) A cow-catcher... (b) A track-sweeper to remove snow. (2) (Harvesting.) A triangular frame on the outer end of the cutter-bar of a mowing or reaping machine [etc.].
track-edge n. the abrupt edge of a millstone furrow.
ΚΠ
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 928/1 The steep edge of the furrow [in a millstone] is called the track-edge; the more inclined edge is called the feather-edge.
Categories »
track-harness n. U.S. light harness for trotting-races (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. 1877).
track-hound n. a hound capable of following a track, a sleuth-hound.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > hound > [noun] > bloodhound > kinds of
sleuth-hound1483
slot-hound1537
sludden1570
slow-hound1591
Spartan dog1600
slough-dog1774
track-hound1888
1888 Cent. Mag. May 42/2 Intending to return on the morrow with a good track hound.
track-in n. the movement of a film or television camera towards the subject.
ΚΠ
1954 Encounter Aug. 53/1 Her abject jealous misery has been..conveyed by the camera's slow track-in to close-up of her anguished face.
1961 Listener 2 Nov. 716/1 A track-in suggests an increase in intensity.
track-iron n. Golf see quot. 1908 and iron n.1 17.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > equipment > [noun] > club > types of club
play club1685
putting club1690
gentlemen's club1709
putter1783
spoon1790
iron1793
sand-iron1796
whip-club1808
cleek1829
driving putter1833
bunker-iron1857
driver1857
niblick1857
putting iron1857
baffing-spoon1858
mid-spoon1858
short spoon1858
sand-club1873
three-wood1875
long iron1877
driving cleek1881
mashie1881
putting cleek1881
track-iron1883
driving iron1887
lofting-iron1887
baffy1888
brassy1888
bulger1889
lofter1889
lofter1892
jigger1893
driving mashie1894
mid-iron1897
mashie-niblick1907
wood1915
pinsplitter1916
chipper1921
blaster1937
sand-wedge1937
wedge1937
1883 Standard 16 Nov. 5/2 He..is ready with..the track-iron [at golf].
1908 Daily Chron. 3 Aug. 2/4 A collection of ‘track’ irons, round-headed with concave face, used fifty or sixty years ago to get the ball out of the cart tracks.
track-layer n. (a) a man employed in laying or repairing a railway track, a plate-layer; also, a railway truck equipped with machinery for laying rails; (b) one who lays the trail in training dogs to track criminals; (c) a tractor or other vehicle which travels on endless tracks (sense 6d above).
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society > travel > rail travel > railway worker > [noun] > track maintenance workers
gangman1830
platelayer1836
wayman1840
surfaceman1845
lineman1858
track-layera1861
track-man1881
linesman1883
track-walker1890
lengthman1902
underman1921
gandy dancer1923
snake1929
fluffer1956
a1861 T. Winthrop Life in Open Air (1863) 234 ‘Wanted, experienced track-layer!’ was the word along the files.
1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Track-layer, a carriage provided with apparatus for placing the rails in their proper positions..as the machine advances.
1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Nov. 7/2 The Provincial tracklayers by a ruse have got a locomotive across the Canadian Pacific Company's line, and are now carrying rails across and laying a new track to the north of that line.
1909 Lightkeeper June 14/2 The track-layer..is useful in making ‘skid-roads’, over which the heavy logs are hauled.
1928 Daily Express 19 Sept. 2 Coastguards..acted as track~layers for the open police dog trials.
1934 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. (at cited word) The tracklayer is used especially where tractive conditions are poor.
1952 J. W. Day New Yeomen of Eng. viii. 96 In all there are 45 tractors (including 6 track-layers), 4 moto-carts for hauling and odd jobs, and 8 combine harvesters.
1971 Power Farming Mar. 13/2 Use of the tracklayer was now mainly restricted to heavy clay soils and industrial duties where its higher costs could still be justified.
track-laying adj. (a) that lays railway track; (b) (of a vehicle) having endless tracks (sense 6e above).
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1920 Sci. Amer. 2 Oct. 335 (caption) Typical tractors of the wheeled and track-laying species now employed for agricultural and other purposes.
1957 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Dec. 781/3 They resemble (as it says on driving licences) a ‘track-laying vehicle steered by its tracks’.
track-laying n. (a) the laying of railway track; (b) in film editing, the putting together of the sound track that is to accompany a picture.
ΚΠ
1857 R. G. Payne Rep. Condition Railroads Tennessee 7 The track-laying is progressng from the southern end of the road.
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 900/2 Track-laying machine.
1900 Engin. Mag. 19 797/2 Tracklaying by Machinery on the Canadian Pacific Ry.
1957 A. R. Manvell & J. Huntley Technique Film Music iv. 178 The four technical branches of film production, i.e., design..photography..sound..and editing (including assembly cutting, track-laying, laboratory liaison, and post-production processes).
1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio xii. 206 Track-laying systems, where a whole series of tracks can be recorded individually on a single broad tape and then scanned together.
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track-leveller n. a railway truck having heavy projecting wings or shares which can be raised or lowered so as to level the ballast on a railway line as it is drawn along ( Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909).
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track-lifter n. a wheeled frame or truck with powerful jaws for grasping the rails, and mechanism for getting a lifting purchase against the ground; used in levelling a railway line (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. 1877).
track lighting n. lighting in which the lights are fitted on to tracks, allowing variable positioning (see sense 6g above).
ΚΠ
1972 Times 30 Nov. 18/1 Ceiling mounted spotlights and..track lighting systems.
1980 D. Francis Reflex iii. 41 In the sitting room, white walls..track lighting.
track-line n. the line of a (former) track or path: see quot. 1889.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > track, trail, or path > [noun] > line of former or prehistoric
track-line1848
ley1922
ley line1972
1848 S. Rowe Peramb. Dartmoor 47 Greatly similar..are the Tracklines, or Boundary Banks, which are invariably observed in connexion with aboriginal dwellings and sepulchral remains.
1889 J. L. W. Page Explor. Dartmoor iii. 43 Oftentimes low banks of earth and stone are observed among the traces of ancient settlements. These are tracklines.
track-man n. (a) a workman employed in the construction or maintenance of a railway or tramway; (b) a track athlete.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway worker > [noun] > track maintenance workers
gangman1830
platelayer1836
wayman1840
surfaceman1845
lineman1858
track-layera1861
track-man1881
linesman1883
track-walker1890
lengthman1902
underman1921
gandy dancer1923
snake1929
fluffer1956
1881 Chicago Times 30 Apr. Track men and mechanics now in employment on the road.
1893 Labour Commission Gloss. Trackmen, men who clean the groove of tramway rails with scoops, and when necessary sand or salt the track between the metals.
1901 Westm. Gaz. 18 June 8/3 The engineers will..refuse to run trains over a system not properly examined by trackmen.
1972 N.Y. Times 4 June 4/2 An illegal water-jump area has impaired the credibility of the three fastest steeplechase performances by American trackmen.
1977 Evening Gaz. (Middlesbrough) 11 Jan. 14/2 Teesside Clarion's top trackmen..were among those honoured at their club's annual presentation in the Normanby Hotel last Friday.
track-master n. one who is responsible for the inspection and repair of a section of railway track ( Cent. Dict. 1891).
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1880 P. L. Sclater Jacamars & Puff-birds 75 In 1861 Mr. James M‘Leannan, then track-master of Lion-hill station on the Panama Railway, began to explore the dense tropical forests surrounding his abode.
track-mile n. a mile of ‘track’ or single line.
track-mileage n.
ΚΠ
1909 Q. Rev. Oct. 354 The actual track-mileage of British railways is approximately 53,000 miles.
track-rail n. the rail on which the wheels run, as distinct from a guide-rail or the like.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road laid with parallel planks, slabs, or rails > [noun] > laid with rails > rail
rail?1608
turn-plate1797
gully1800
plate rail1801
plate1807
tram-plate1807
tramway plate1825
track-rail1877
1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Track-rail.
1902 Daily Chron. 18 Oct. 6/7 The tender for the supply of track rails and other accessories.
track-raiser n. a jack for lifting sunken rails, a track-lifter n.
track record n. (a) the record performance in a particular athletics event at a particular track; (b) the performances achieved by a particular athlete in the past; also figurative, known facts about past achievements or behaviour taken as a guide to future performance.
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the world > action or operation > carrying out > [noun] > sum of what has been done or achieved
res gestae1587
record1856
track record1951
1951 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xvi. 66 Track record, the best time made by a horse over a certain distance on a certain track.
1965 Life 15 Jan. 56 a/1 Wilder has had a series of extremely successful pictures... We were betting on his track record that this one would be too.
1972 Observer 30 Apr. 12/5 The airlines have over the years had enough confidence in our track record to be perfectly happy about this procedure.
1974 Spartanburg (S. Carolina) Herald 18 Apr. c 2/5 Charles Mathis..set a new track record at Northwestern with a 149′6″ in the discus.
1976 Milton Keynes Express 25 June 51/3 Houghton Rip..came fourth behind the Irish dog, whose track record was smashed by last year's Derby consolation winner Shamrock Point.
1976 Time 20 Dec. 17/1 A lot of the women candidates..have no management track records to be judged on. So they keep being passed over.
1983 Daily Tel. 23 Mar. 21 The Trustee Savings Banks, which plan to go public towards the end of next year, badly need to establish a good track record on profits.
track rod n. a rod that connects the two front wheels of a motor vehicle and transmits the steering action from the steering column to the stub axle of each wheel.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > steering, suspension, or wheels > transmitters of steering
tie rod1839
steering arm1902
steering pillar1902
steering column1903
steering knuckle1904
steering post1904
steering rod1909
steering axle1912
steering box1913
track rod1926
1926 Amer. Speech 1 686/2 The following list of automobile terms in American and English nomenclature appeared in a ‘special’ from the Boston News Bureau early in the present year... [American] Tie rod [English] Track rod.
1930 Engineering 12 Sept. 326/3 Each pair of steering pivots is connected by a track rod at right angles to the chassis centre line.
1976 Flintshire Leader 10 Dec. 25/10 (advt.) New springs for Land Rovers and most cars, 1935–70, towing brackets,..new kingpins, trackrods.
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track-scale n. a weighbridge for railway vehicles (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. 1877).
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track-scraper n. a snow-scraper attached to a railway car for clearing the line ( Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909).
track-shoe n. (a) a track-brake shoe; (b) = running shoe n.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > shoe > [noun] > types of > for specific purpose > other > shoes
running shoea1666
moccasin1834
cricket shoe1844
cricket boot1853
wading shoes1866
gym-shoe1887
track-shoe1908
1908 Daily Chron. 6 May 5/2 Witness admitted that one of the magnetic track shoes was useless.
1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Track shoe.
1970 G. Jackson Let. 28 May in Soledad Brother (1971) 261 We're wearing track shoes.
1983 ‘J. le Carré’ Little Drummer Girl ii. 45 Kids in summer rig and track shoes.
track-sprinkler n. see quot.
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1860 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 3) Track-sprinkler, a contrivance for sprinkling railroad tracks, in order to lay the dust.
tracksuit n. a loose two-piece garment (elasticized at the wrists and ankles) worn by athletes while training and before and after contests.
Π
1955 R. Bannister First Four Minutes 46 Not having had the importance of warming up explained to me I did not wear a track suit.
1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Nov. 1258/4 His..wife..memorably fetching in her pink towelling track suit.
tracksuited adj.
Π
1965 R. T. Bickers Scent of Mayhem iv. 42 His sweaty, track-suited figure.
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track system n. U.S. Education (see sense 4g).
track-walker n. a man employed to walk along and examine a certain length of railway track regularly.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway worker > [noun] > track maintenance workers
gangman1830
platelayer1836
wayman1840
surfaceman1845
lineman1858
track-layera1861
track-man1881
linesman1883
track-walker1890
lengthman1902
underman1921
gandy dancer1923
snake1929
fluffer1956
1890 B. L. Gildersleeve Ess. & Stud. 127 The solitary track-walker, who turns his lantern on every inch of the road.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 14 Apr. 6/3 The usual precautions were taken.., including a track-walker at every mile on the line.
track-walking n.
track-work n. (a) the construction of a railway track or line; (b) action or use on a racing track.
ΚΠ
1907 Daily Chron. 15 July 6/6 The total cost of the track work from Aldgate to Bow is estimated at about £66,000, which works out at about £11,000 a mile of single track.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 23 Feb. 4/2 To encourage young riders to come..and learn the use of their machines for track-work.
Draft additions January 2005
track list n. a listing of songs, pieces of music, etc., in the order they appear on a particular recording.
ΚΠ
1974 ZigZag Apr.–May 8/2 There is frequent mention, in the bit that explains who plays what, of a track that is nowhere to be found on the track list.
2001 fRoots Oct. 57/2 Initial shock that two of the highest profile names..were missing from the track list soon gave way to listening pleasure.
Draft additions January 2005
track listing n. (also track listings) = track list n. at Additions.
ΚΠ
1976 Sounds 6 Mar. 16/4 I felt there was a passage in ‘Music Of Soul’ (my guess at the titles, no track listings yet) that fell into a gutless kind of prettiness.
2002 Echoes May 28/1 There's even a lovely Old Skool Hip Hop album, the track-listing of which boasts nothing prior to 1990.
Draft additions December 2005
track pants n. (also occasionally in singulartrack pant) originally U.S. the trousers of a tracksuit; a pair of loose-fitting trousers (in early use also short trousers) made in this style; cf. tracksuit n. at Compounds 2.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [noun] > trousers > types of > (suitable) for specific purpose > other
mosquito trousers1785
track pants1910
shifting trousers1913
sweats1956
vorlages1958
1910 Lincoln (Nebraska) Evening News 13 Apr. 10/5 (advt.) Belts... Sweaters... Track Pants 50¢. Jerseys.
1917 E. Ferber Fanny Herself vi. 79 The high school boys..dog-tired and sweaty in their football suits, or their track pants and jersies, on their way from the athletic field.
1946 Zanesville (Ohio) Signal 20 May 12/5 (advt.) Dove skin panties... Track pant style. Small, medium and large 59¢.
2001 Gloucester Citizen (Nexis) 16 May 22 Numbered T-shirts..are teamed up with denim and trackpants for a cool, 80s sporty look..with a new twist.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
trackv.1
/trak/, U.S. /træk/ I. Senses relating to making or following tracks.
1.
a. transitive. To follow up the track or footsteps of; to trace the course or movements of; to pursue by or as by the track left; with down, out, up, to follow up or trace until found or caught. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
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
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
1565 J. Calfhill Aunswere Treat. Crosse f. 89 Ye may tracke hym by ye foote.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis ii. 42 Soon flee, they doe track vs.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis iii. 47 Track owt youre moother.
1590 R. Payne Briefe Descr. Ireland (1841) 8 If you track any stolne goodes into any mans land, he must tracke them from him, or answer them within xl. daies.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxvii. xii. 636 Marcellus tracked him still, and followed him hard at heeles.
1662 J. Davies in tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors To Rdr. sig. A3v Without which [Maps], it were impossible to track the Travellors through all those remote Countries.
1716 B. Church Entertaining Passages Philip's War ii. 90 Capt. Brackit with an Indian Souldier..Track'd them by the bloud about half a Mile.
1815 W. Wordsworth White Doe of Rylstone vii. 119 The White Doe tracked..The Lady to her Dwelling-place.
1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe II. xiv. 275 The misfortunes which track my footsteps like slot-hounds.
1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches viii. 258 The first point was to track the lion to his covert.
1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems xi. 10 Whether o'er high Alps he afoot ascending Track the long records of a mighty Cæsar.
1874 J. A. Symonds Sketches Italy & Greece (1898) I. xv. 315 The murderer..was at last tracked down and put to death.
b. To find out and follow (a track, course, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > find out, discover [verb (transitive)] > trace or follow up
investigate1623
trace1654
to run up1657
track1681
retrace1697
the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > follow [verb (transitive)] > follow (a track or trail) > find track and follow
to fall to ——c1400
track1799
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel in specific course or direction > direct (one's course, steps, etc.) [verb (transitive)] > follow (a path or course)
treadOE
followOE
embrace1639
solicit1694
pursue1788
to strike a line (also path1867
track1888
1681 E. Hickeringill Vindic. Naked Truth 1 I am oblieged to Track his Methods.
1799 W. Wordsworth Lucy Gray xii Then downwards from the steep hill's edge They tracked the footmarks small.
1888 Mrs. T. McCann Poet. Wks. 70 Through the lonely wilderness brave Howitt tracked his way.
c. intransitive. To follow up a track or trail.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > order of movement > following behind > follow behind [verb (intransitive)] > follow track or trail
track1805
foot1829
spoor1865
1805 Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi (1810) 38 Not knowing how to track, we lost her.
1898 R. Pocock in Westm. Gaz. 12 Sept. 8/2 Henceforth no offer of reward could induce the Indians to continue the hopeless search, and white men cannot track.
d. intransitive. Of the wheels of a vehicle: To run in the same track; hence of a gear-wheel, To be in alinement (with another wheel, etc.). Also (U.S.) of a horse: to walk with the fore and hind feet placed in the same straight line. Of the feet: to be placed thus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > quality or fact of being in a line (with) > be or become in a line (with something) [verb (intransitive)]
even1663
align1781
line1790
track1826
1826 Sporting Mag. 18 390 The wheels had not tracked as they ought.
1838 [see sense 2c]. 1857 R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) xxvii. 382 I observed..that he does not ‘track’ (step his hind foot straight after the fore one).
1879 in Eng. Dial. Dict. (at cited word) The machine does not track nicely.
1897 E. Hough Story of Cowboy 34 His feet, in the vernacular of the range, do not ‘track’, but cross each other weakly.
1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 266/2 Next inspect the frame for twists, and see that the wheels ‘track’.
e. intransitive. Electronics. Of a tunable circuit or component: to vary in frequency in the same way as another circuit or component, so that the frequency difference between them remains constant.
ΚΠ
1932 [implied in: Electronics Aug. 250/1 (caption) Deviation from exact tracking at various intermediate frequencies. (at tracking n.1 3)].
1939 H. J. Hicks Princ. & Pract. Radio Servicing ii. 21 C10, C11, C12 and C13 are the trimmer and padder condensers employed in the oscillator circuit to make it track with the r.f. tuning condenser.
1948 M. Slurzberg & W. Osterheld Essent. Radio vi. 271 In order to obtain the maximum fidelity, selectivity, and sensitivity..it is necessary that all the tuning circuits track together over the entire range of the receiver.
1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. xiii. 40 The tuned circuits must track across the frequency band, and in the case of the superheterodyne, tracking of the local oscillator is necessary so that a constant frequency difference..is maintained.
f. transitive. To follow the course of (a distant object) by means of a telescope, radar, or the like.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical skills and techniques > use optical skills and techniques [verb (transitive)] > use other techniques
project1865
collimate1868
web1883
vignette1945
track1950
1950 in Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Add.
1959 Listener 18 June 1057/2 The Jodrell Bank telescope and the smaller one at Bedford, Massachusetts, were tracking the moon.
1966 M. Woodhouse Tree Frog viii. 64 In order to track it [sc. a pilotless plane]..during flight trials..we've had to fit travelling wave reflection amplifiers under the wings.
1971 Daily Tel. 20 July 8/8 Every commercial and military aircraft flying over Europe can be tracked by radar.
1976 Nature 16 Sept. 216/1 An ITT FW 130 (S20) photomultiplier..was mounted about 40 feet above the ground on a radar dish programmed to track the star.
g. intransitive. To enjoy a rapport or ‘get on’ with another person; to take things in. U.S.
ΚΠ
1972 Newsweek 17 July 22/3 He tracks better with reporters than did his phlegmatic predecessor.
1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) xvi. 38/1 She's practically out of her mind. Like, she isn't even tracking.
1978 J. L. Hensley Killing in Gold ix. 116 Mom didn't track very well after the second stroke... It didn't mean anything to her any more.
2.
a. transitive. To mark out, trace (a path); to indicate the path or course of; esp. to mark out (a path) by repeatedly traversing it; to mark (a way) with tracks; to tread, beat.
ΚΠ
1589 [see tracked adj. at Derivatives].
1603 M. Drayton Barrons Wars i. xxxii. 12 When the straight course to her desire is tract [rhymes act, backt].
a1713 T. Ellwood Hist. Life Pref. (1765) 4 But also gain some Direction from the Path so fairly tract out.
1815 A. Plumptre tr. H. Lichtenstein Trav. S. Afr. II. 76 The way was smooth and well tracked.
1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey I. 36 The Mendere..tracked through all its..windings by the willow-trees on its banks.
b. To make one's way through; to traverse. to track the dancers, to go upstairs (slang); cf. quots. 1667, 1785 at sense 3a.
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
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > rise or go up [verb (intransitive)] > ascend stairs
to track the dancers1823
1823 W. Scott Peveril III. vii. 166 His surprise..was increased by the rapidity and ease with which she seemed to track the dusty and decayed mazes of the dilapidated Savoy.
1858 E. Bulwer-Lytton What will he do with It? iii. xvi Come, my Hebe; track the dancers, that is, go up the stairs.
1871 J. R. Macduff Memories of Patmos xx. 275 When white-winged commerce is tracking..the highway of the nations.
c. U.S. To leave a track or trail of footprints upon (a floor); to make a track with (dirt or snow) carried on one's feet. Also, to track up (a floor, etc.); to bring in (dirt, etc.) on one's feet (also const. prepositions). Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [verb (intransitive)] > leave a track or trail of footprints
track1869
1838 C. Gilman Recoll. Southern Matron xviii. 127 Miss Neely, one buckra woman want for track up all de clean floor.
1866 Harper's Mag. Jan. 271/2 The snow had been tracked in till it lay pretty thick on the floor.
1869 H. B. Stowe Oldtown Folks iii. 21 ‘Stand still there!’ she called to me..‘and don't come in to track my floor’.
1878 H. B. Stowe Poganuc People i. 9 Sweep out that snow you've tracked in.
1901 S. Merwin & H. K. Webster Calumet ‘K’ vi. 117 There's going to be a law passed about tracking mud inside the railing.
1915 Cent. Mag. Aug. 496/2 A good live boy..is a drug in the market. There seems to be a general feeling that they track in dirt.
1919 J. Reed Ten Days that shook World i. 11 The mud underfoot was deep, slippery and clinging, tracked everywhere by heavy boots.
1944 S. Bellow Dangling Man 100 Tracked your mat up. I'm sorry.
1950 M. Mead Male & Female xvi. 338 Floors do not need to be polished so often when there are no children's feet to track them up.
1980 R. Hill Killing Kindness ix. 87 I was trying not to track my work into the house too much.
1981 Farmstead Mag. Winter 50/2 Birds really use the trees to nest in, and small rabbits revel in tracking up fresh snow.
d. To lay a track on or for (a railway); to furnish with a line of rails. Only in compounds, as to double-track, four-track, single-track. U.S.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > furnish with railway [verb (transitive)] > lay track on or for
track1874
1874 Bay State Transp. League, Bill (Boston, U.S.) 8 It will cost to single track the Massachusetts Central..$3,000,000. It will cost to double track the same an additional $2,000,000.
3. 1950 Audio Engin. Aug. 15/2 In ordinary recorded music, the inability of the stylus to track at high groove curvatures leads to objectionable high-frequency distortion.1957 Records & Recording Nov. 20 It is these grooves which must be tracked with absolute accuracy by the pickup needle.1977 Gramophone June 10/2 (advt.) This cartridge successfully tracks all types of records at forces even lighter than one gram.1978 Gramophone June 128/3 There is a solo flute passage which could only just about be tracked at 1 gram.1981 Popular Hi-Fi Mar. 7/4 The DT1 tracks exceptionally well and retrieves more informations from the grooves.
a. intransitive. To follow a track or path; to make one's way, pass, go, travel. Now U.S. slang.
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
1590 R. Greene Neuer too Late i. 1 Downe the valley gan he tracke, Bagge and bottle at his backe.
1667 R. Head & F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue (rev. ed.) I. i. iv. 52 Track up the Dancers, go up the stayres.
1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. Track, to go.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Track, to go; track up the dancers, go up stairs (cant).
1843 ‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase I. xxvii. 254 I'll track round a little—I wants any how to go over to the post-office.
1868 Putnam's Mag. June 670/1 We tracked through the dirty streets till we got to the house.
1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous i ‘The West don't suit her. She just tracks around with the boy and her nerves, trying to find out what'll amuse him, I guess’.
b. Pathology. To make a track or path for itself; to find its way.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > characteristics > characterize a disease [verb (intransitive)] > spread or invade
strike1843
to strike in1887
track1903
metastasize1907
1903 Lancet 18 Apr. 1102/2 The effused blood had tracked down between the coats of the œsophagus into the wall of the stomach.
1905 H. D. Rolleston Dis. Liver 20 The resulting peritonitis unfortunately is rarely localized, and may then contain gas as well as pus, or tract [sic] up from perforation of an inflamed appendix.
c. Australian. To keep company with (a person of the opposite sex, esp. a woman); to track square (see quot. 1919).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > courtship or wooing > court or woo [verb (transitive)] > keep company with as a lover
to go with ——c1330
to go rounda1867
trot1888
to go around1904
track1916
1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke (new ed.) 51 I swear I'll never track wiv 'er no more.
1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 50 Track square, to pursue an amorous enterprise with honorable intentions.
1926 K. S. Prichard Working Bullocks 47 Combo's what they call a man tracks round with a gin in the nor'-west.
1933 N. Lindsay Saturdee 239 Who are you trackin' with now?
1949 A. Marshall How Beautiful are thy Feet 64 He wants me to track square with him. To look at him you'd never think he could talk seriously.
1954 T. A. G. Hungerford Sowers of Wind 270 I bet it's that cross-eyed harlot he's been tracking with.
1964 G. Johnston My Brother Jack 161 He's been at me for years about how irresponsible I am, and the first time I come back with a girl I'm tracking square with, I get hoisted!
d. Of a stylus or pick-up: to follow the wave-form of a record groove. Also transitive, with the record, the groove, or the sound represented as object.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > make recording [verb (transitive)] > of a stylus or pick up
track1929
1929 P. Wilson & G. W. Webb Mod. Gramophones vi. 129 As the needle tracks in the groove it is gradually worn to a chisel point.
1937 Electronics Nov. 21/2 The test was stopped when the records had been played 185 times each and the quality had become very bad indeed. The needles still would track the grooves, however, showing that complete breakdown of the walls had not yet occurred.
e. Of a film or television camera, or its operator: to move (esp. back or in) in relation to the subject being filmed.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > production of television broadcast > produce television broadcast [verb (intransitive)] > camera movement
dolly1939
crane1957
track1959
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > filming > camera movements > [verb (intransitive)]
panoram1914
pan1928
truck1929
dolly1939
zoom1944
crane1957
track1959
whip-pan1960
1959 Listener 30 Apr. 772/1 After we had seen Mac in close-up, the camera suddenly tracked right away.
1960 N. Kneale Quatermass II ii. 61 Track in on him fast. Fade in end music.
1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production iii. 26 If..he is tracking backwards through an archway at too high an elevation, he might severely injure himself, as more than one cameraman has found.
1962 Movie June 5/2 Track into close-up of irrelevant detail; cut to close-up irrelevant detail of new setting; track out and begin sequence.
1975 Radio Times 22 May 66/3 Tufano starts a close shot on the broken walls of a bombed house. He then tracks back and pans across the blitzed street.
II. Erroneously used for tract v.2† 4. transitive. To put off, delay; = tract v.2 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > untimeliness > delay or postponement > delay [verb (transitive)]
forslowc888
eldc897
forsita940
gele971
lengOE
drilla1300
delayc1300
onfrestc1300
tarryc1320
jornc1330
dretchc1380
defer1382
forbida1387
to put offa1387
to put (also set) (something) in (or on) delaya1393
dilate1399
fordrawa1400
to put overc1410
latch?c1422
adjournc1425
prolongc1425
proloynec1425
rejournc1425
to put in respite1428
sleuthc1430
respitea1450
prorogue1453
refer1466
sleep1470
supersede1482
respectc1487
postpone1496
overseta1500
respett1500
enjourna1513
relong1523
retract1524
tarde1524
track1524
to fode forth1525
tract1527
protract1528
further1529
to make stay of1530
surcease1530
prorogate1534
to fay upon longc1540
linger1543
retard?1543
slake1544
procrastine1548
reprieve1548
remit1550
suspense1556
leave1559
shiftc1562
suspend1566
procrastinate1569
dally1574
post1577
to hold off1580
drift1584
loiter1589
postpose1598
to take one's (own) timea1602
flag1602
slug1605
elong1610
belay1613
demur1613
tardya1616
to hang up1623
frist1637
disjourn1642
future1642
off1642
waive1653
superannuate1655
perendinate1656
stave1664
detard1675
remora1686
to put back1718
withhold1726
protract1737
to keep over1847
to hold over1853
laten1860
to lay over1885
hold1891
back-burner1975
1524 King Henry VIII Instruct. Pace in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. App. xiii. 28 By delaies the matier was alwaies tracked, and put over without any fruteful determination.
Compounds
track-ball n. Computing an input device in the form of a small ball that is rotated in a holder to move a cursor on the screen; = tracker ball n. at tracker n.1 Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > hardware > peripherals > [noun] > control devices > mouse
mouse1965
rollerball1966
track-ball1969
tracker ball1969
1969 M. H. Mehr in Internat. Symposium Man-Machine Systems V Positioning to 0·1% of the screen diameter could be accomplished in 3–4 seconds which compares favorably with the published track ball data.
1972 Acta Crystallogr. A. 28 S 253/2 The operator can interact with the display by means of a track-ball cursor.
1983 Austral. Personal Computer Aug. 60/2 Lisa's engineers are sometimes criticised for selecting the mouse rather than other quick data input devices—notably the trackball, touch-screen and light-pen.
Derivatives
tracked adj. (also 1500s tract, 1600s trackt).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > track, trail, or path > [adjective] > beaten or well-trodden
berrieda1382
well-beaten?c1425
forbeatc1430
well-trodden?1566
traded?1567
trodden1576
well-traded1576
tracked1589
pathed1597
trite1601
beaten1748
paddered1789
well-travelled1797
padded1821
over-beaten1873
1589 T. Nashe Anat. Absurditie sig. Biiiv The tract path of theyr treacherie.
a1655 R. Robinson Christ All (1656) ii. 28 It's a trackt way. Prophets, Apostles..have by their walking made this way smooth and even.
1895 W. G. Wood-Martin Pagan Irel. 400 Oval pebbles of quartzite, with a score..in the North of Ireland..are styled ‘tracked-stones’.
1902 Daily Record (Glasgow) 7 Oct. 4 Tracked pathways have long ago given place to good roads.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
trackv.2
/trak/, U.S. /træk/ a. transitive. To tow (a vessel), esp. from the bank or tow-path. Also absol. Cf. tract v.2 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > propelling other than by sail or oars > propel boat other than by sail or oars [verb (transitive)] > tow
tow1391
track1727
1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies II. xxxiv. 21 They [vessels] come down..before the Stream of the River, but [they] are obliged to track them up again, with Strength of Hand, about 1000 Miles.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Transl. French Terms Chemin du halage, a path on the side of a river, or canal, for horses to track..vessels along the stream.
1817 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 101/2 The Tug..tracks these vessels between Leith and Grangemouth.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. iv. 41 They can generally find room to track their vessels along its solid margin.
1887 J. Gibson Great Waterfalls 165 They made their way..through miles of rapids, over which they were tracked, poled, rowed, and portaged.
b. intransitive. To proceed by towing. Said of a boat or of those in it.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > propelling other than by sail or oars > propel boat other than by sail or oars [verb (intransitive)] > proceed by being towed
tow1612
track1854
1854 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity II. iv. v. 116 They tracked in their boats along some of the rivers.
1880 A. E. Moule Chinese Stories v. 74 Our boat tracked slowly against the stream.
1888 C. D. Bell Winter on Nile (1889) viii. 83 You may have to ‘track’ at a slow pace.
Derivatives
ˈtracking n.2 (also attributive) and adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > propelling other than by sail or oars > [noun] > towing
towagea1327
towing1611
tracking1839
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. x. 214 The party,..was divided into two spells, each of which hauled at the tracking line alternately.
1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 24 Boats are got up against the stream chiefly by tracking, being towed by the crew.
1873 Routledge's Young Gentleman's Mag. Aug. 524 The channel was too wide to permit of ‘tracking’, as it is called in Arctic language—that is, towing with ropes along a margin of ice.
ˈtrackable adj. such as to admit of tracking or towing.
ΚΠ
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xii. 88 A single whale-line will sometimes force the brig into a barely perceptible crevice, enlarging it into a ‘trackable’ canal.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> see also
also refers to : track-comb. form
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n.1470v.11524
v.21727see also