track1
/trak
/noun
1A rough path or road, typically one beaten by use rather than constructed: follow the track to the farm...
- Older people recall walking directly over the frozen snow from point to point rather than following the track of the road hidden beneath the snow.
- The Park offers the complete day out with an extensive range of waymarked paths, picnic areas, forest roads and tracks.
- He would trace the paths of tracks and highways and railroads, and at night, while he lay waiting for sleep, he would recite the names of maps in his deep, soft voice.
Synonyms
path, pathway, footpath, lane, trail, route, way, course
2A prepared course or circuit for athletes, horses, motor vehicles, bicycles, or dogs to race on: a Formula One Grand Prix track...
- The sale was conducted in a tent on the Saratoga Race Course backstretch with sale horses stabled at the track.
- The action came during Thursday's meeting of the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission when all three of the state's tracks got racing days.
- The October yearling sale will be held during the track's annual fall race meeting.
Synonyms
course, racecourse;
running track, racetrack, speedway, velodrome, piste;
British circuit
2.1 [mass noun] The sport of running on a track: the four running disciplines of track, road, country, and fell...
- Growing up, he loved sports, participating in track and basketball.
- My dad would take her fishing and get her involved in sports like track and basketball.
- Some may say that track is an individual sport, I tend to disagree.
3 (usually tracks) A mark or line of marks left by a person, animal, or vehicle in passing: he followed the tracks made by the cars in the snow...
- We see animal and bird tracks similarly marked, animals and birds themselves, often in outline, infilled, or as stick figures.
- A great stride forward was made in recognising Aboriginal dreaming tracks, marking the journey of spiritual ancestors in central Australia.
- Nearing the border, they left the tarmac of the main road and began to bounce across the rutted sand, following in the tracks of the vehicles which had already passed the same way.
Synonyms
traces, marks, impressions, prints, imprints;
footprints, footmarks, footsteps, trail, spoor;
scent;
wake, slipstream
3.1The course or route followed by someone or something (used especially in talking about their pursuit by others): I didn’t want them on my track...
- And, even if I can't follow his peripatetic tracks around the globe, I can enjoy his travels vicariously.
- I follow his tracks, cursing and grumbling: Where does he think he's going in this weather?
- Complications began to arise as he followed her tracks.
Synonyms
course, path, line, orbit, route, way, trajectory, flight path
3.2A course of action or line of thought: in terms of social arrangements, you are not too far off the track...
- In Western Europe, the defence and revision of the myths have run along different tracks.
- In recent decades, marching band traditions in the United States have evolved along decidedly different cultural tracks.
- The two painters went on very different tracks afterward.
4A continuous line of rails on a railway: commuters had to leave trains to walk along the tracks [mass noun]: 130 kilometres of track...
- Until Beeching there was a twin track railway line along here.
- Why it was sent over the Hudson River bridge onto the single track main line I don't know.
- Motorists watched in amazement as a 30 ft fountain of water caused an explosion on the electricity lines above a railway track.
Synonyms
rail, line;
railway line, tramlines;
metal;
North American railroad
4.1A metal or plastic strip or rail along which a curtain or spotlight may be moved.Spotlights move in a track that's mounted diagonally, following the angle of the stairs overhead....
- The platform was placed on wheels, which were free to move along a level metal track.
- Wax curtain rods and tracks before hanging curtains, as this will help them slide more easily.
4.2 Sailing A strip on the mast, boom, or floor of a yacht along which a slide attached to a sail can be moved, used to adjust the position of the sail.The recent damage to the track on the mast where the mainsail is attached is the main focus of her concern, with some tough miles still to come.
5A recording of one song or piece of music: the CD contains early Elvis Presley tracks...
- They composed the songs, recorded the tracks, edited the music and did all the audio engineering work necessary.
- The next song, the title track, melds another downtempo beat with a gentle guitar melody.
- Last time out, I discovered a cheap way to do a re-mix, or record an extra track overdubbed onto your music.
Synonyms
song, recording, number, piece
Originally denoting a groove on a gramophone record
5.1A lengthwise strip of magnetic tape containing one sequence of signals.High track density magnetic media with pitted optical servo tracks and method for stamping the tracks on the media....
- Multiple digital read channels may be used to read multiple tracks of an optical disk simultaneously.
- A recording surface is segmented into a plurality of radial zones each containing a plurality of concentric tracks on which data may be recorded.
5.2The soundtrack of a film or video.On disc one you get the feature film and commentary tracks....
- I really hate it when you can't select between audio tracks during the film.
- The track for the film is mono, so you're getting about as good as you're gonna get with that kind of mix.
6A continuous articulated metal band around the wheels of a heavy vehicle such as a tank, intended to facilitate movement over rough or soft ground.He entered the circular chamber in a wheelchair, without wheels, instead, tracks like a tank, to push him along....
- A vehicle equipped with band tracks will weigh about a ton less than a similar vehicle equipped with metal tracks, which will make it easier to transport by air.
- Though other tracked vehicles can tear up soft terrain, our tracks steer much the same as a tire-equipped vehicle.
6.1 Electronics A continuous line of copper or other conductive material on a printed circuit board, used to connect parts of a circuit: extremely thin tracks are not able to withstand much heat when soldering...
- Woven into the jacket are electrically conductive fabric tracks which connect the chip module to a fabric keyboard and built-in speakers in the helmet.
- In addition, the printed circuit board comprises a flat flexible support on which the conductor tracks run from the stator to the rotor.
- We connect them together with wires or copper tracks to make circuits, but it's the components that do all the work.
7The transverse distance between a vehicle’s wheels: the undercarriage was fully retractable inwards into the wing, with a 90 inch track...
- Several suggestions were made by Ford engineers to improve its stability, including widening the track width of the vehicle.
- The footprint of a vehicle will be calculated by multiplying its wheelbase by its track width.
- It also has a wider track by two inches, although the body width is not much different.
8 US term for stream (sense 4 of the noun).
verb [with object]
1Follow the trail or movements of (someone or something), typically in order to find them or note their course: secondary radars that track the aircraft in flight he tracked Anna to her room...
- Alexander does it on foot, following meandering game trails and tracking the animals.
- Researchers have found a way to track people's mouse movements in a bid to see how they behave when using the Internet.
- I want something that tracks my eye movement on screen, and a key combination which will jump the cursor to where I am looking.
Synonyms
follow, trail, trace, pursue, shadow, stalk, dog, spoor, hunt (down), chase, hound, course, keep an eye on, keep in sight
informal tail, keep tabs on, keep a tab on
1.1Note the progress or course of: City have been tracking the striker since the summer...
- The agency has created a linked system that connects its careers service with school and social services so that an individual's progress can be tracked and mapped more efficiently.
- You can also find programs to monitor and track your child's online activity.
- The progress of various dust control initiatives can be tracked against these on-site measurements.
1.2 [no object, with adverbial of direction] Follow a particular course: the storm was tracking across the ground at 30 mph...
- The gallery is a short walk from campus - just follow the train tracks southbound.
- The tropical storm is tracking toward the Gulf of Mexico.
- It could be days, for all we know, as far as what the storm is tracking at this point.
1.3(Of a stylus) follow (a groove in a record): the pickup’s stylus must faithfully track undulations [no object]: the DT1 tracks exceptionally well
1.4 [no object, with adverbial of direction] (Of a film or television camera) move in relation to the subject being filmed: the camera eventually tracked away...
- A line of description at the bottom of the last page that sends the camera slowly tracking back… so the audience can catch its breath gather its thoughts, and leave the cinema with dignity.
- Move with your camera and take tracking or dollying shots.
- Suppose the camera is tracking in, following a bad guy's footsteps.
With reference to early filming when a camera was mobile by means of a track
2 [no object] (Of wheels) run so that the back ones are exactly in the track of the front ones.I've just had my wheels tracked 'cause I thought that was the problem....
- Oh my car has stopped oversteering after I got my wheels tracked.
- They balanced and tracked the wheels to no avail.
3 [no object] Electronics (Of a tunable circuit or component) vary in frequency in the same way as another circuit or component, so that the frequency difference between them remains constant.The system will contain a more sophisticated heading sensor as well as more advanced tracking and stabilizing circuits....
- For nearly four decades chips have tracked Moore's Law, doubling their transistor count every two years.
Phrases
in one's tracks
keep (or lose) track of
make tracks (for)
off the beaten track
on the right (or wrong) track
on track
the wrong side of the tracks
Phrasal verbs
track someone/thing down
track something up
track something in
Origin
Late 15th century (in the sense 'trail, marks left behind'): the noun from Old French trac, perhaps from Low German or Dutch trek 'draught, drawing'; the verb (current senses dating from the mid 16th century) from French traquer or directly from the noun.
A 15th-century word that perhaps came from the same Dutch source as trek. The first meaning was ‘a mark or trail left by a person, animal or vehicle’—the sort of tracks used by trains was first described in 1805. The expression the wrong side of the tracks, ‘a poor or less prestigious part of a town’, originated in America from the idea of a town divided by a railroad track and dates from the early 20th century.
Rhymes
track2
/trak/verb [with object and adverbial of direction]
Tow (a canoe) along a waterway from the bank: he was going to track the canoe up the ice-hung rapids
Origin
Early 18th century: apparently from Dutch trekken 'to draw, pull, or travel'. The change in the vowel was due to association with track1.