trail
/tɹeɪl/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms trails trailing trailed
- verb (transitive) To follow behind (someone or something); to tail (someone or something). “The hunters trailed their prey deep into the woods.”
- verb (transitive) To drag (something) behind on the ground. “You'll get your coat all muddy if you trail it around like that.”
- verb (transitive) To leave (a trail of). “He walked into the house, soaking wet, and trailed water all over the place.”
- verb (transitive) To show a trailer of (a film, TV show etc.); to release or publish a preview of (a report etc.) in advance of the full publication. “His new film was trailed on TV last night.”
- verb (intransitive) To hang or drag loosely behind; to move with a slow sweeping motion. “The bride's long dress trailed behind her as she walked down the aisle.”
- verb (intransitive) To run or climb like certain plants.
- verb (intransitive) To drag oneself lazily or reluctantly along. “Our parents marched to church and we trailed behind.”
- verb To be losing, to be behind in a competition.
- noun The track or indication marking the route followed by something that has passed, such as the footprints of animal on land or the contrail of an airplane in the sky. “The trail has gone cold.”
- noun A route for travel over land, especially a narrow, unpaved pathway for use by hikers, horseback riders, etc.
- noun A route or circuit generally. “Politicians are on the campaign trail in preparation for this year's election.”
- noun (television) A trailer broadcast on television for a forthcoming film or programme.
- noun (graph theory) A walk in which all the edges are distinct.
- noun The horizontal distance from where the wheel touches the ground to where the steering axis intersects the ground.
- proper noun A city in British Columbia, Canada.
- proper noun A city in Polk County, Minnesota, United States.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Jackson County, Oregon, United States.
Synonyms
spoor sign dirt track footpath path track lead drag get behind hang back drop behind drop back chase chase after tail tag give chase dog go after shack train
Etymology
From Middle English trailen, from Old French trailler (“to tow; pick up the scent of a quarry”), from Vulgar Latin *tragulāre (“to drag”), from Latin tragula (“dragnet, javelin thrown by a strap”), probably related to Latin trahere (“to pull, drag along”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To hunt by the track; to track. Halliwell.
- verb To draw or drag, as along the ground.
- verb To be drawn out in length; to follow after.
- verb To grow to great length, especially when slender and creeping upon the ground, as a plant; to run or climb.
Etymology [OE. trailen, OF. trailler to trail a deer, or hunt him upon a cold scent, also, to hunt or pursue him with a limehound, F. trailler to trail a fishing line; probably from a derivative of L. trahere to draw; cf. L. traha a drag, sledge, tragula a kind of drag net, a small sledge, Sp. trailla a leash, an instrument for leveling the ground, D. treilen to draw with a rope, to tow, treil a rope for drawing a boat. See Trace, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “trail”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details