| 释义 |
▪ I. track, n.|træk|
Forms: 5–6 trak, 6 tracke, 6– track.
[a. OF. trac (1440 in Hatz.-Darm.), traq, F. trac: ulterior derivation uncertain, but generally thought to be from Teutonic. Diez and Scheler would connect it with MLG. and Du. treck, trek draught, drawing, pull, line drawn, etc., f. trecken, trekken to draw, pull, tug, drag, haul (in MDu. rarely tracken): see track v.2
If this be the source, the original sense would appear to have been the line or mark made on the ground by anything hauled or dragged, whence also the mark made or path beaten by the feet of man or beast; the sense-development being parallel to that of trace from L. *tractiāre. It is noticeable that the senses of the verbs trace and track are sometimes identical; also that track and tract were often identified in pronunciation and use.]
I.
1. 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 Geol. a series of fossilized footprints of an animal.
1470–85Malory Arthur x. xiv. 435 Myght I fynde the trak of his hors I shold not fayle to fynde that Knyghte. c15003 Kings' Sons 30 They came on the trakkys of there enmyes. c1595Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 27 Wee discried the track of theire feet in the woodes by the impression of the sandes. 1685Cotton tr. Montaigne (1711) I. xxxviii. 349 Like the Beasts of Chace, who put out the Track at the Entrance into their Den. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), 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. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge viii, The walls and roof..tapestried with the tracks of snails and slugs. 1842Act 5 & 6 Vict. 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. 1912Return 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 sub-atomic particle.
1912Proc. R. Soc. A. LXXXVII. 277 It has now been found possible to photograph the tracks of even the fastest β-particles. 1942J. D. Stranathan Particles 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. 1955Sci. 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. 1973L. J. Tassie Physics Elementary 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.
†b. The pacing of a horse. Obs. rare—1.
1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xliii, I hear the track [F. trac] and beating of the enemies horse feet.
c. Zool. The sole of the foot, esp. in birds.
1891in Cent. Dict. 1911in Webster.
d. A line on the skin made by the repeated injection of an addictive drug. Usu. pl. slang.
1964H. 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. 1965Life 26 Feb. 86/4 In summer, they [sc. addicts] alone wear long sleeves (to cover their ‘tracks’—needle marks). 1972J. Mills Report to Commissioner 104 Whaddya mean, lemme see your tracks? I'm a pros, man, I shoot up in my thighs. 1977Rolling Stone 13 Jan. 14/3 The coroner found four fresh needle marks but no tracks, indicating that Bolan was not a junkie. 1979R. B. Parker Wilderness i. 10 ‘Junkie,’ he said. The white trooper said, ‘Tracks?’.. The black trooper nodded, ‘All up and down her right arm.’
†2. fig. = trace n.1 6, 7. Obs.
1652–62Heylin Cosmogr. Introd. (1674) 11/2 Of Sabteca..I can find no track in any of the Ancient Authors. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 219 Now there is no track to be seen of any such thing. Ibid. 223 In all this Citie, I found not the least track of Antiquity. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. §8 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. 1694Addison Story of Calisto 9 No tracks of heaven's destructive fire remain.
3. A way made or beaten by the feet of men or animals; a path; a rough unmade road.
1643Cromwell Let. 31 July, We..came to the bottom of a steep hill: we could not well get up but by some tracks. 1675N. 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. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest i, The road was only a slight track upon the grass. 1832Act 2 & 3 Will. IV, c. 64 Sched. O. 48 The point at which the same [road] meets the mountain track from Dowlais to Quakers Yard. 1883W. Gardner in Science Gossip May 97 The southern corner is crossed by a mountain track running from Trefriw to Capel Curig.
fig.1656Cowley To Sir W. Davenant 36 Thy Fancy like a Flame its way does make, And leave bright Tracks for following Pens to take.
4. 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).
1570–6Lambarde Peramb. 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. 1671Milton P.R. i. 189 The better to converse With solitude, till far from track of men. 1681Nevile Plato Rediv. 79 Like Horses who know their Track well enough, without considering East or West, or what business they go about. 1748Anson's Voy. 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. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxxiv. 131 We were just in the track of the tremendous hurricane of 1830. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. iii. (1856) 24 The ferry-boats and steamers came out of their track to salute us in the bay.
fig.1565T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 126 After the tracke of Caluins trace.
b. The course of a nerve or blood-vessel, or the like; the course of a wound.
1807–26S. Cooper First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 444 All the surfaces, in contact with each other, and surrounding the track of the wound, become generally so intimately connected together. 1841–71T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 668 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.)
1693Congreve To Dryden in D.'s Persius 400 In their room bright Tracks of Light are seen. 1757Gray Bard 103 In yon bright track, that fires the western skies, They melt, they vanish from my eyes.
d. Aeronaut. The projection on the earth's surface of the (actual or intended) course of an aircraft; the representation of this on a chart.
1919S. F. Card Air Navigation i. 6 The straight line on the map or chart joining the two places will be called the desired track. 1943Redpath & Coburn Air Transport Navigation viii. 176 Measurement of the line must give us the groundspeed, since track and groundspeed go hand in hand. 1970Taylor & 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.
1920W. 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. 1948C. 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. 1956W. A. Heflin U.S.A.F. Dict. 81/2 A blade is said to be in, or out of, track.
f. = line n.2 19 c.
1931Flight 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. 1979Daily 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. 1981B. Walsh Live Bait ix. 85 Me and Brian work on the track... The assembly line.
g. U.S. Educ. = stream n. 6 d. Usu. attrib.
1959Washington 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. 1964B. 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). 1968Economist 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). 1983N.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. fig.
a. A course of action or conduct; a method of proceeding; ‘way’, ‘path’. the beaten track, the ordinary (quasi well-worn) way.
1638Junius Paint. Ancients 242 They..propound unto us the right way, and not one usually beaten track onely. 1658–9in Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 54 You are in a track, and cannot go back or forwards. 1714Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. (1887) I. 96 The world never believes it possible for people to act out of the common track. 1742Young Nt. Th. iii. 332 To..Pace the Round Eternal?.. To beat and beat The beaten Track? 1785G. A. Bellamy Apology II. 166 You see me now entered into a new track of life. 1864Skeat Uhland's Poems 56 Would ye have me wish to wander From the tracks of daily care? 1906P. Kropotkin Mem. Rev. (1908) IV. viii. 254 Austria and Hungary followed in the same track.
b. A train or sequence of events, thoughts, etc.
1681J. Owen Spiritual Mindedness Wks. 1852 VII. 307 A continual track of fruitless impertinent thoughts about their own concerns. 1693Dryden Disc. Orig. & Progr. Sat. Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 29 When he is got into a track of Scripture. 1725Watts Logic iv. i. §2 In writing the Lives of Men, which is called Biography, some Authors follow the Track of their Years. 1793Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 199 My pen goes in the track of my thoughts. 1827R. Pollok Course T. x. ad fin., 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 connexions 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 26 b). Hence (U.S.) with following number, denoting the line served by a particular platform or gate. (Cf. trackage2.) 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 fig.
1805Rees Cycl. VI. s.v. Canal, Surrey Iron Rail-Way... The width of each track is about 5½ 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. a1824[see railway 3]. 1860Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3), Track, the line of a railroad, or rather between the rails. ‘A man walking on the track was run over and killed’. 1869Bradshaw's Railway Man. XXI. 390 The length of this line is 94 miles... Of the whole only 33 are ‘double track’. 1875Lowell Spenser Prose Wks. 1890 IV. 277 A series of jolts and jars, proving that the language had run off the track. 1894Times 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. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXII. 820/2 The Stockton & Darlington railway... This line..was in the first instance laid with a single track. 1955J. L. Austin How to do Things with Words (1962) v. 57 Passengers are warned to cross the track by the bridge only. 1967[see double-tracked s.v. double a. C. 1]. 1978R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant i. 12 He had learned before the announcement that the train for Zurich would leave from track twelve. 1984Financial 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: often in comb., as cinder-track, race-track, racing-track, running-track.
1836Spirit 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. 1851Fraser'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’. 1887Field 20 Aug. 328/2 The six-lap grass track on which the above sports were held. 1912Throne 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.
1850Western Jrnl. IV. 96 This distance will, therefore, vary in different sections of the country according to the usual ‘track’ of wagons. 1910J. Gunn Practical Design Motor Cars viii. 219 The wheel base and wheel track of a motor car require consideration. 1928[see roadability]. 1948J. 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. 1969Gloss. 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 1 b.
1884Patent 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. 1926Encycl. 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. 1931G. 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. 1971Power 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 attrib.), athletics in general. orig. U.S.
1905Outing XLVI. 490/1 Track and field sport has been working out its own spontaneous solution. 1934T. Wilder Heaven's My Destination 66, I was captain of track and basket-ball. 1936Nat. Geogr. Mag. LXIX. 799/2, I progressed the next year to my class squads in football and track. 1964A. Wykes Gambling iv. 102 As for athletics, or ‘track and field’ sports, there are practically no places where public betting..flourishes to any extent. 1972N.Y. Times 4 June 4/3 The Oregon Track Club is very active in promoting track in the area. 1978G. 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. 1979R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. viii. 265 ‘Do you have a favorite sport?’ ‘Track.’
f. A ballroom or dance-hall. U.S. slang.
1945L. Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. 19/2 Track, hall for dancing. 1960Wentworth & 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. 1972T. 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 in sense 14 below.
1971Guardian 18 Aug. 9/6 Curtain tracks and pelmets. 1976N.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. 1979D. Brierley Cold War iv. 39, I checked plugs, sockets..the track for the curtain across the window.
h. Cricket. = wicket 3 c.
1976J. Snow Cricket Rebel 102 Deliveries..that pitched half way down the track and went through above head high. 1977Grimsby Even. 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. 1983Daily 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. Her. A longitudinal division of an ordinary or sub-ordinary, or in the representation of certain furs.
1868Cussans Her. iii. 53 The Furs Vair, Countervair, Potent, and Counterpotent... They are usually represented as of four rows, heraldically termed Tracks. Ibid. iv. (1882) 67 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. [from track v.1] The action of tracking; the pursuit of a criminal or fugitive.
[1542–3: see tract n.3 10 b.] 1617Carte Papers LXII. 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. 2 c (now rare or Obs.); 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.
1904S. 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’. 1949Playback Oct.–Nov. 4/2 This took the form of a 10{pp} record with two ‘tracks’ or ‘grooves’ impressed on each side. 1956Gramophone Dec. 265/1 None of the tracks lives up to the promise of the star-studded personnel. 1957[see band n.2 9 b]. 1958Observer 28 Dec. 6/7 All the tracks had been released as singles in the era of seventy-eight r.p.m. 1967A. Diment Dolly Dolly Spy xii. 160, I wandered over to the juke box and selected a Dylan track for relaxation. 1970Honey June 53/4 Their first LP is so polished. There are some great original tracks. 1980Oxford 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. Cinemat. = sound track s.v. sound n.3 8 b.
1931B. Brown Talking Pictures x. 226 To a certain extent surface noise is due to irregularities in the sensitive film used for recording the track. 1976Oxf. 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.
Orig. identical with prec. sense.
1947Jrnl. Soc. Motion Picture Engineers XLVIII. 9 A magnetic recording track..on 16-mm film. 1951Audio 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. 1951Proc. Inst. Electr. Engineers XCVIII. 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. 1957Practical Wireless XXXIII. 697/1 Rotation of VR1 should cause it to click in and out as a certain point on the track is passed. 1962Times 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. 1969P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 305 Data are addressed on a drum by specifying the track number and word number within the drum. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing iii. 57 Readers and punches for paper tape can easily be adjusted to different numbers of tracks. 1977Time 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. 1983Austral. 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 (orig. 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 (Austral.), 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 4 c. to jump the track: see jump v. 6 c.
1824T. D. Arnold in M. James A. Jackson (1937) 156 He failed to shoot ‘Jackson dead in his tracks’. 1835–40Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 30 I'd a made him make tracks, I guess. 1843R. Carlton New Purchase xvii. I. 130 The rifle was fired..and he fell dead in his tracks. 1866Lowell Biglow P. ii. Introd., Poems 1890 II. 189 In his tracks for immediately has acquired an American accent, and passes where he can for a native. 1871Farrar Witn. Hist. ii. 49 Not on the false track of myths, artificially elaborated. 1873J. C. F. Johnson Christmas on Carringa 19 'Tis Christmas Eve again to day, and I am on ‘the track’. 1878Masque Poets 244 Whatever else he lacks, He has the art of covering up his tracks. 1883Gilmour Mongols (1884) 251 The noise of the two crowds..made it difficult to keep track of what was going on. 1886E. Marshall Tower on Cliff xii, The men are on the track. 1886C. 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. 1889J. 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. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIII. 387/1 Day after day passes in precisely the same manner.., until one loses all track of the days of the week. 1896H. Lawson While the 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. 1902Munsey's Mag. XXVI. 569/1 Theater-goers who have kept close track of the dramatic tastes of New York and London. 1915A. 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. [1929T. 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.] 1945S. Lewis C. 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. 1954I. Murdoch Under Net xi. 141 What I saw as I opened the door made me stop dead in my tracks. 1956W. H. Whyte Organization Man xxi. 269 The boy from Shanty⁓town was going to have less chance than ever of crossing over the tracks. 1965E. 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. 1973Times 19 May 6/6 ‘The Government may fall,’ Mr Caulfield reportedly said, complaining: ‘Everybody else is on track but you.’ 1977Listener 13 Oct. 478/2 Eva Duarte Peron..came from the wrong side of the tracks. 1978Detroit 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. 1978Time 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. 1979B. L. C. Johnson Pakistan xiii. 199/1 The whole area has something of a ‘beyond the tracks’ character about it. 1984Gainesville (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. Sc. Obs. rare.
1513Douglas æneis xii. xiii. 135 And all elike wympillit and cled thir trakis With eddris thrawin, and haris full of snakis. 1808–18Jamieson, Track, feature, lineament.
12. An extent of land; also, a space of time, a period; also, † a sequence or succession of actions or events (obs.); cf. tract n.3 1 c, 2, 3.
1687Burnet Trav. iii. (1750) 166 All the Way to Florence this Track of Hills continues, tho' there are several Bottoms. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 43 Their conquest or seizure of any track of country. 1765Museum Rust. IV. lxii. 268 Very large tracks, of two or three thousand acres. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 132 The track of land inundated was lower than the Ocean. 1835I. Taylor Spir. Despot. iii. 91 During a much longer track of time. 1851Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. i. 127 If a track of dry weather sets in. 1893,1901in Eng. Dial. Dict. (of weather). 1896W. B. Wildman Hist. Sherborne i. 1 A track of country won for England from the West-Welsh.
†13. An attraction, enticement; = tract n.3 4. Obs. rare—1.
1673O. Walker Educ. i. 6 Since we find great tracks and encouragements in the way of pleasure.
III. 14. attrib. and Comb., as track-chart, track-cutting, track-side; in sense 6 a (mainly U.S.), track-cleaner, track construction, track elevation, track material; in 6 b or 6 e, track athlete, track athletics, track coach, track event, track-measuring, track meet (U.S.), track meeting, track-racing n. and adj., track shirt, track shorts, track team; track-mounted adj.; track-bed = bed n. 12 e; track-brake, 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; track-channeler, in quarrying, a groove-cutting tool mounted on a rail truck (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909); track-chisel, a plate-layer's hammer with a flat cutting peen (ibid.); track circuit, 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; so track-circuit v. trans., to equip with or make into a track circuit; track circuiting vbl. n.; track-clearer, a cross-bar 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; track-edge, the abrupt edge of a millstone furrow; track-harness (U.S.), light harness for trotting-races (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877); track-hound, a hound capable of following a track, a sleuth-hound; track-in, the movement of a film or television camera towards the subject; track-iron Golf: see quot. 1908 and iron n. 4 e; track-layer, (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 6 d above); so 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; track-laying a., (a) that lays railway track; (b) (of a vehicle) having endless tracks (sense 6 e above); track-leveller, 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); track-lifter, 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 (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877); track lighting, lighting in which the lights are fitted on to tracks, allowing variable positioning (see sense 6 g above); track-line, the line of a (former) track or path: see quot. 1889; track-man, (a) a workman employed in the construction or maintenance of a railway or tramway; (b) a track athlete; track-master, one who is responsible for the inspection and repair of a section of railway track (Cent. Dict. 1891); track-mile, a mile of ‘track’ or single line; hence track-mileage; track-rail, the rail on which the wheels run, as distinct from a guide-rail or the like; track-raiser, a jack for lifting sunken rails, a track-lifter; track record, (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 fig., known facts about past achievements or behaviour taken as a guide to future performance; track rod, 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; track-scale, a weigh-bridge for railway vehicles (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877); track-scraper, a snow-scraper attached to a railway car for clearing the line (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909); track-shoe, (a) a track-brake shoe; (b) = running shoe s.v. running vbl. n. 17 a; track-sprinkler: see quot.; track suit, a loose two-piece garment (elasticized at the wrists and ankles) worn by athletes while training and before and after contests; hence track-suited a.; track system U.S. Educ. (see sense 4 g above); track-walker, a man employed to walk along and examine a certain length of railway track regularly; so track-walking; track-work, (a) the construction of a railway track or line; (b) action or use on a racing track. Also trackway.
1888Pall Mall G. 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.
1890W. Camp in Century 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.
1962Mod. Railways Apr. 278/2 The jack, which had been left projecting from the *track bed, did considerable damage to the gear underneath the cars. 1978W. Hjortsberg Falling Angel xliv. 217, I followed the trackbed of the downtown express, measuring my pace to the spacing of the ties.
1903Science 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. 1906Westm. 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.
1911Encycl. 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. 1931E. 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. 1983Internat. Railway Jrnl. May 8/1 The Landskut box controls 125 signals, 83 points and 110 track circuits.
1935Economist 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.
1931Times 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. 1956Railway Mag. Nov. 793/1 Track circuiting at both home and starting signals can be used to give additional safeguards.
1900Daily 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].
1877Knight 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.].
1962A. Lurie Love & Friendship x. 199 Hal Humphrey, the *track coach. 1977J. 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.
1890Goldfields of Victoria 27 *Track-cutting..enables parties to proceed into the jungle country, which would otherwise be unknown.
1874Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Furrow, The steep edge of the furrow [in a millstone] is called the *track-edge; the more inclined edge is called the feather-edge.
1912Times 29 June 13/1 In the *track events, all of which must be held in the Stadium..there are 95 entries. 1928Daily Sketch 10 Aug. 2/4 There are bound to be fine finishes in the international track events. 1973C. 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.
1888Century Mag. May 42/2 Intending to return on the morrow with a good *track hound.
1954Encounter Aug. 53/1 Her abject jealous misery has been..conveyed by the camera's slow *track-in to close-up of her anguished face. 1961Listener 2 Nov. 716/1 A track-in suggests an increase in intensity.
1883Standard 16 Nov. 5/2 He..is ready with..the *track-iron [at golf]. 1908Daily 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.
a1861T. Winthrop Life in Open Air (1863) 234 ‘Wanted, experienced *track-layer!’ was the word along the files. 1877Knight Dict. Mech., Track-layer, a carriage provided with apparatus for placing the rails in their proper positions..as the machine advances. 1888Pall Mall G. 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. 1909Lightkeeper June 14/2 The track-layer..is useful in making ‘skid-roads’, over which the heavy logs are hauled. 1928Daily Express 19 Sept. 2 Coastguards..acted as track⁓layers for the open police dog trials. 1934Webster s.v., The tracklayer is used especially where tractive conditions are poor. 1952J. W. Day New Yeomen of England viii. 96 In all there are 45 tractors (including 6 track-layers), 4 moto-carts for hauling and odd jobs, and 8 combine harvesters. 1971Power 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.
1857R. G. Payne Rep. Condition Railroads Tennessee 7 The *track-laying is progressng from the southern end of the road. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Track-laying machine. 1900Engineering Mag. XIX. 797/2 Tracklaying by Machinery on the Canadian Pacific Ry. 1920Sci. Amer. 2 Oct. 335 (caption) Typical tractors of the wheeled and track⁓laying species now employed for agricultural and other purposes. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Dec. 781/3 They resemble (as it says on driving licences) a ‘track-laying vehicle steered by its tracks’. 1957Manvell & 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). 1962A. 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.
1972Times 30 Nov. 18/1 Ceiling mounted spotlights and..*track lighting systems. 1980D. Francis Reflex iii. 41 In the sitting room, white walls..track lighting.
1848S. Rowe Peramb. Dartmoor 47 Greatly similar..are the *Tracklines, or Boundary Banks, which are invariably observed in connexion with aboriginal dwellings and sepulchral remains. 1889Page Explor. Dartmoor iii. 43 Oftentimes low banks of earth and stone are observed among the traces of ancient settlements. These are tracklines.
1881Chicago Times 30 Apr., *Track men and mechanics now in employment on the road. 1893Labour Commission Gloss., Trackmen, men who clean the groove of tramway rails with scoops, and when necessary sand or salt the track between the metals. 1901Westm. Gaz. 18 June 8/3 The engineers will..refuse to run trains over a system not properly examined by trackmen. 1972N.Y. Times 4 June 4/2 An illegal water-jump area has impaired the credibility of the three fastest steeplechase performances by American trackmen. 1977Evening 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.
1880P. 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.
1904Cap & Gown (Chicago) IX. 215 *Track Meets and Scores, 1903... Second Annual Interscholastic Meet, at Marshall Field. 1976Columbus (Montana) News 27 May 1/4 Absarokee and Columbus scored first and second respectively in the Southern C Divisional track meet on May 20.
1909Q. Rev. Oct. 354 The actual *track-mileage of British railways is approximately 53,000 miles.
1977Time 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).
1896Daily News 28 Dec. 5/2 One of the earliest and most notable of *track-racing cyclists.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Track-rail. 1902Daily Chron. 18 Oct. 6/7 The tender for the supply of track rails and other accessories.
1951Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xvi. 66 *Track record, the best time made by a horse over a certain distance on a certain track. 1965Life 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. 1972Observer 30 Apr. 12/5 The airlines have over the years had enough confidence in our track record to be perfectly happy about this procedure. 1974Spartanburg (S. Carolina) Herald 18 Apr. c 2/5 Charles Mathis..set a new track record at Northwestern with a 149′6{pp} in the discus. 1976Milton 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. 1976Time 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. 1983Daily 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.
1926Amer. Speech I. 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. 1930Engineering 12 Sept. 326/3 Each pair of steering pivots is connected by a track rod at right angles to the chassis centre line. 1976Flintshire Leader 10 Dec. 25/10 (Advt.), New springs for Land Rovers and most cars, 1935–70, towing brackets,..new kingpins, trackrods.
1977J. 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. 1978Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. a19/1 (Advt.), Juvenile to teen male track shirts, hooded sweatshirts.
1908Daily Chron. 6 May 5/2 Witness admitted that one of the magnetic *track shoes was useless. 1961Webster, Track shoe. 1970G. 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.
1946C. McCullers Member of Wedding i. 4 She wore a pair of blue *track shorts. 1974Index-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.’
1886Stevenson Kidnapped i, He..lighted on a big boulder under a birch by the *trackside.
1860Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3), *Track-sprinkler, a contrivance for sprinkling railroad tracks, in order to lay the dust.
1955R. Bannister First Four Minutes 46 Not having had the importance of warming up explained to me I did not wear a *track suit. 1980Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Nov. 1258/4 His..wife..memorably fetching in her pink towelling track suit.
1965R. T. Bickers Scent of Mayhem iv. 42 His sweaty, *track-suited figure.
1907St. Nicholas (N.Y.) XXXIV. 693/2 Hammond has a *track team, but we have n't. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 30 June 7-e/1 Aams was also an outstanding performer on the basketball and track teams at East Bay.
1890Gildersleeve Ess. & Stud. 127 The solitary *track-walker, who turns his lantern on every inch of the road. 1905Westm. Gaz. 14 Apr. 6/3 The usual precautions were taken.., including a track-walker at every mile on the line.
1907Daily Chron. 15 July 6/6 The total cost of the *track work from Aldgate to Bow is estimated at about {pstlg}66,000, which works out at about {pstlg}11,000 a mile of single track. 1909Westm. Gaz. 23 Feb. 4/2 To encourage young riders to come..and learn the use of their machines for track-work.
▸ track list n. a listing of songs, pieces of music, etc., in the order they appear on a particular recording.
1974ZigZag 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. 2001fRoots Oct. 57/2 Initial shock that two of the highest profile names..were missing from the track list soon gave way to listening pleasure.
▸ track listing n. (also track listings) = track list n. at Additions.
1976Sounds 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. 2002Echoes May 28/1 There's even a lovely Old Skool Hip Hop album, the track-listing of which boasts nothing prior to 1990.
▸ track pants n. (also occas. in sing.track pant) orig. U.S. the trousers of a tracksuit; a pair of loose-fitting trousers (in early use also short trousers) made in this style; cf. track suit n. at Compounds 2.
1910Lincoln (Nebraska) Evening News 13 Apr. 10/5 (advt.) Belts... Sweaters... *Track Pants 50¢. Jerseys. 1946Zanesville (Ohio) Signal 20 May 12/5 (advt.) Dove skin panties... Track pant style. Small, medium and large 59¢. 1975E. 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. 2001Gloucester 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.
▪ II. track, v.1
[f. track n.: cf. F. traquer (c 1440) f. trac.]
I.
1. a. trans. 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 fig.
1565J. Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse 89 Ye may tracke hym by y⊇ foote. 1582Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 67 Soon fle, they doe track vs. Ibid. iii. 73 Track owt youre moother. 1590R. Payne Descr. Irel. (1841) 8 If you track any stolne goodes into any mans land, he must tracke them from him, or answer them within xl. daies. 1600Holland Livy xxvii. xii. 636 Marcellus tracked him still, and followed him hard at heeles. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. A iij b, Without which [Maps], it were impossible to track the Travellors through all those remote Countries. 1716B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1867) II. 104 An Indian Souldier..track'd them by the bloud about half a Mile. 1814Wordsw. White Doe vii. 136 The White Doe tracked..The Lady to her dwelling-place. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxviii, The misfortunes which track my footsteps like slot-hounds. 1834Pringle Afr. Sk. viii. 258 The first point was to track the lion to his covert. 1871R. Ellis Catullus xi. 10 Whether o'er high Alps he afoot ascending Track the long records of a mighty Cæsar. 1874Symonds Sk. Italy & Gr. (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.).
1681Hickeringill Vind. Naked Truth ii. i, I am oblieged to Track his Methods. 1799Wordsw. Lucy Gray xii, Then downwards from the steep hill's edge They tracked the footmarks small. 1888Mrs. McCann Poet. Wks. 70 Through the lonely wilderness brave Howitt tracked his way.
c. intr. To follow up a track or trail.
1805Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 38 Not knowing how to track, we lost her. 1898R. 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. intr. 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.
1826Sporting Mag. XVIII. 390 The wheels had not tracked as they ought. 1838[see tracking vbl. n. below]. 1857R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) xxvii. 382, I observed..that he does not ‘track’ (step his hind foot straight after the fore one). 1879in Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., The machine does not track nicely. 1897E. Hough Story of Cowboy 34 His feet, in the vernacular of the range, do not ‘track’, but cross each other weakly. 1898H. Graves, etc. Cycling 10 Next inspect the frame for twists, and see that the wheels ‘track’.
e. intr. 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.
1932[implied at tracking vbl. n.1 3]. 1939[see padder n.2 3]. 1948Slurzberg & 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. 1975D. 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. trans. To follow the course of (a distant object) by means of a telescope, radar, or the like.
1950in Webster Add. 1959Listener 18 June 1057/2 The Jodrell Bank telescope and the smaller one at Bedford, Massachusetts, were tracking the moon. 1966M. 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. 1971Daily Tel. 20 July 8/8 Every commercial and military aircraft flying over Europe can be tracked by radar. 1976Nature 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. intr. To enjoy a rapport or ‘get on’ with another person; to take things in. U.S.
1972Newsweek 17 July 22/3 He tracks better with reporters than did his phlegmatic predecessor. 1977C. McFadden Serial (1978) xvi. 38/1 She's practically out of her mind. Like, she isn't even tracking. 1978J. 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. trans. 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.
1589[see tracked ppl. adj. below]. 1603Drayton Bar. Wars i. xxxii, When the straight Course to her Desire was tract [rimes act, backt]. a1713T. Ellwood Autobiog. Pref. (1765) 4 But also gain some Direction from the Path so fairly tract out. 1815Anne Plumtre tr. Lichtenstein's S. Africa II. 76 The way was smooth and well tracked. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl 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. 1671, 1785 in 3.
1823Scott Peveril xxx, His surprise..was increased by the rapidity and ease with which she seemed to track the dusky and decayed mazes of the dilapidated Savoy. 1858Lytton What will he do iii. xvi, Come, my Hebe; track the dancers, that is, go up the stairs. 1871Macduff Mem. 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. preps.). Also fig.
1838C. Gilman Recoll. Southern Matron xviii. 127 Miss Neely, one buckra woman want for track up all de clean floor. 1866Harper's Mag. Jan. 271/2 The snow had been tracked in till it lay pretty thick on the floor. 1869Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Folks iii, ‘Stand still there!’ she called to me..‘and don't come in to track my floor’. 1878― Poganuc P. i, Sweep out that snow you've tracked in. 1901Merwin & Webster Calumet ‘K’ vi. 117 There's going to be a law passed about tracking mud inside the railing. 1915Century 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. 1919J. Reed Ten Days that shook World i. 11 The mud underfoot was deep, slippery and clinging, tracked everywhere by heavy boots. 1944S. Bellow Dangling Man 100 Tracked your mat up. I'm sorry. 1950M. 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. 1980R. Hill Killing Kindness ix. 87, I was trying not to track my work into the house too much. 1981Farmstead 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.
1874Bay 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. a. intr. To follow a track or path; to make one's way, pass, go, travel. Now U.S. slang.
1590Greene Never too late (1600) 1 Downe the valley gan he tracke, Bagge and bottle at his backe. 1671[see dancer 4]. 1676Coles Dict., Track, to go. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Track, to go; track up the dancers, go up stairs (cant). 1843R. Carlton New Purchase xxvii. 254 I'll track round a little—I wants any how to go over to the post-office. 1868Putnam's Mag. June 670/1 We tracked through the dirty streets till we got to the house. 1897Kipling Capt. Cour. 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. Path. To make a track or path for itself; to find its way.
1903Lancet 18 Apr. 1102/2 The effused blood had tracked down between the coats of the œsophagus into the wall of the stomach. 1905H. D. Rolleston Dis. Liver 20 The resulting peritonitis unfortunately is rarely localized, and may then contain gas as well as pus, or track [mispr. tract] up from perforation of an inflamed appendix.
c. Austral. To keep company with (a person of the opposite sex, esp. a woman); to track square (see quot. 1919).
1916C. J. Dennis Songs of Sentimental Bloke 51, I swear I'll never track wiv 'er no more. 1919W. H. Downing Digger Dialects 50 Track square, to pursue an amorous enterprise with honorable intentions. 1926K. S. Prichard Working Bullocks 47 Combo's what they call a man tracks round with a gin in the nor'-west. 1933N. Lindsay Saturdee 239 Who are you trackin' with now? 1949A. 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. 1954T. A. G. Hungerford Sowers of Wind 270, I bet it's that cross-eyed harlot he's been tracking with. 1964G. 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 trans., with the record, the groove, or the sound represented as obj.
1929Wilson & Webb Mod. Gramophones vi. 129 As the needle tracks in the groove it is gradually worn to a chisel point. 1937Electronics 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.
1950Audio 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. 1957Records & Recording Nov. 20 It is these grooves which must be tracked with absolute accuracy by the pickup needle. 1977Gramophone June 10/2 (Advt.), This cartridge successfully tracks all types of records at forces even lighter than one gram. 1978Ibid. June 128/3 There is a solo flute passage which could only just about be tracked at 1 gram. 1981Popular Hi-Fi Mar. 7/4 The DT1 tracks exceptionally well and retrieves more informations from the grooves.
e. Of a film or television camera, or its operator: to move (esp. back or in) in relation to the subject being filmed.
1959Listener 30 Apr. 772/1 After we had seen Mac in close-up, the camera suddenly tracked right away. 1960N. Kneale Quatermass II ii. 61 Track in on him fast. Fade in end music. 1961G. 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. 1962Movie June 5/2 Track into close-up of irrelevant detail; cut to close-up irrelevant detail of new setting; track out and begin sequence. 1975Radio 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. trans. To put off, delay; = tract v.2 2.
1524Hen. VIII in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) I. App. xiii. 28 By delaies the matier was alwaies tracked, and put over without any fruteful determination.
III. 5. Comb. track-ball Computers, a VDU input device in the form of a small ball that is rotated in a holder to move a cursor on the screen; = tracker ball s.v. tracker1 2.
1969M. 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. 1972Acta Crystallogr. A. XXVIII. S 253/2 The operator can interact with the display by means of a track-ball cursor. 1983Austral. 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.
Hence tracked (also 6 tract, 7 trackt) ppl. a.
1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. Wks. (Grosart) I. 32 The tract path of theyr treacherie. 1653R. Robinson Christ all ii. (1656) 28 It's a trackt way. Prophets, Apostles..have by their walking made this way smooth and even. 1895W. G. Wood-Martin Pagan Irel. 400 Oval pebbles of quartzite, with a score..in the North of Ireland..are styled ‘tracked-stones’. 1902Daily Record & Mail 7 Oct. 4 Tracked pathways have long ago given place to good roads.
▪ III. track, v.2
[app. ad. Du. trekken to draw, pull, tug, drag, tow (see trek), assimilated in form to track v.1]
trans. To tow (a vessel), esp. from the bank or tow-path. Also absol. Cf. tract v.2 1.
1727Hamilton New Acc. 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. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Chemin de halage, a path on the side of a river, or canal, for horses to track..vessels along the stream. 1817Chron. in Ann. Reg. 101/2 The Tug..tracks these vessels between Leith and Grangemouth. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. iv. 41 They can generally find room to track their vessels along its solid margin. 1887J. Gibson Gt. Waterfalls 165 They made their way..through miles of rapids, over which they were tracked, poled, rowed, and portaged.
b. intr. To proceed by towing. Said of a boat or of those in it.
1854Milman Lat. Chr. iv. v. (1864) II. 304 They tracked in their boats along some of the rivers. 1880A. E. Moule Chinese Stor. v. 74 Our boat tracked slowly against the stream. 1888C. D. Bell Winter on Nile viii. (1889) 83 You may have to ‘track’ at a slow pace.
Hence ˈtracking vbl. n.2 (also attrib.) and ppl. a.; also ˈtrackable a., such as to admit of tracking or towing.
1839Darwin Voy. Nat. ix. (1879) 178 The party..was divided into two spells, each of which hauled at the tracking line alternately. 1849E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 24 Boats are got up against the stream chiefly by tracking, being towed by the crew. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xii. (1856) 88 Enlarging it [a crevice] into a ‘trackable’ canal. 1873Routledge's Yng. Gentl. 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. |