track1
n.
- a rough path or minor road.
- a prepared course or circuit for racing.
- a mark or line of marks left by a person, animal, or vehicle in passing.
▸the course followed by someone or something.
- a continuous line of rails on a railway.
- a strip or rail along which something (e.g. a curtain) may be moved.
- a continuous articulated metal band around the wheels of a heavy vehicle such as a tank, facilitating movement over difficult ground.
- Electronics a continuous line of conductive material on a printed circuit board, connecting parts of a circuit.
- a section of a record, compact disc, or cassette tape containing one song or piece of music.
[orig. denoting a groove on a gramophone record.]
▸a lengthwise strip of magnetic tape containing one sequence of signals.
- the transverse distance between a vehicle's wheels.
- US term for stream (in sense 3).
v.
- follow the course or movements of.
▸
(track someone/thing down)
find someone or something after a lengthy search.
▸follow a course.
▸(of a stylus) follow (a groove in a record).
▸(of a film or television camera) move in relation to the subject being filmed.
[with ref. to early filming when a camera was mobile by means of a track.]
- (of wheels) run so that the back ones are exactly in the track of the front ones.
- Electronics (of a tunable circuit or component) vary in frequency in the same way as another circuit or component.
-
(track something up)
N. Amer. leave a trail of dirty footprints on a surface.
▸
(track something in)
leave a trail of dirt or snow from one's feet.
Phrase
- keep
(or lose)
track of
keep (or fail to keep) fully aware of or informed about. - make tracks
(for)
informal leave (for a place). - on the right
(or wrong)
track
following a course likely to result in success (or failure). - on track
following a course likely to achieve what is required. - stop
(or be stopped)
in one's tracks
informal be brought to a sudden and complete halt. - the wrong side of the tracks
informal a poor or less prestigious part of town.
[with ref. to the railway tracks of American towns, once serving as a line of demarcation between rich and poor quarters.]
Derivative
- trackage n. (N. Amer.).
- trackless adj.
Etymology
C15: the noun from OFr. trac, perh. from Low Ger. or Du. trek ‘draught, drawing’; the verb from Fr. traquer or directly from the noun.
track2
v.
tow (a canoe) along a waterway from the bank.
Etymology
C18: appar. from Du. trekken ‘to pull or travel’; the change in the vowel was due to assoc. with track1.