6 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

trace

noun

1: a just detectable amount; "he speaks French with a trace of an accent" [syn: {hint}, {suggestion}]

2: an indication that something has been present; "there wasn't a trace of evidence for the claim"; "a tincture of condescension" [syn: {vestige}, {tincture}, {shadow}]

3: a suggestion of some quality; "there was a touch of sarcasm in his tone"; "he detected a ghost of a smile on her face" [syn: {touch}, {ghost}]

4: drawing created by tracing [syn: {tracing}]

5: either of two lines that connect a horse's harness to a wagon or other vehicle or to a whiffletree

6: a visible mark (as a footprint) left by the passage of person or animal or vehicle

verb

1: follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something; "We must follow closely the economic development is Cuba" ; "trace the student's progress" [syn: {follow}]

2: make a mark or lines on a surface; "draw a line"; "trace the outline of a figure in the sand" [syn: {draw}, {line}, {describe}, {delineate}]

3: to go back over again; "we retraced the route we took last summer"; "trace your path" [syn: {retrace}]

4: pursue or chase relentlessly; "The hunters traced the deer into the woods"; "the detectives hounded the suspect until they found the him" [syn: {hound}, {hunt}]

5: discover traces of; "She traced the circumstances of her birth"

6: make one's course or travel along a path; travel or pass over, around, or along; "The children traced along the edge of the drak forest"; "The women traced the pasture"

7: copy by following the lines of the original drawing on a transparent sheet placed upon it; make a tracing of; "trace a design"; "trace a pattern"

8: read with difficulty; "Can you decipher this letter?"; "The archeologist traced the hieroglyphs" [syn: {decipher}]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Trace \Trace\, noun [F. trais. pl. of trait. See {Trait}.]

1. One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whiffletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.

2. (Mech.) A connecting bar or rod, pivoted at each end to the end of another piece, for transmitting motion, esp. from one plane to another; specif., such a piece in an organ-stop action to transmit motion from the trundle to the lever actuating the stop slider. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Trace \Trace\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {traced}; p. pr. & vb. n. {tracing}.] [OF. tracier, F. tracer, from (assumed) LL. tractiare, fr.L. tractus, p. p. of trahere to draw. Cf. {Abstract}, {Attract}, {Contract}, {Portratt}, {Tract}, {Trail}, {Train}, {Treat}. ]

1. To mark out; to draw or delineate with marks; especially, to copy, as a drawing or engraving, by following the lines and marking them on a sheet superimposed, through which they appear; as, to trace a figure or an outline; a traced drawing.

Some faintly traced features or outline of the mother and the child, slowly lading into the twilight of the woods. --Hawthorne.

2. To follow by some mark that has been left by a person or thing which has preceded; to follow by footsteps, tracks, or tokens. --Cowper.

You may trace the deluge quite round the globe. --T. Burnet.

I feel thy power . . . to trace the ways Of highest agents. --Milton.

3. Hence, to follow the trace or track of.

How all the way the prince on footpace traced. --Spenser.

4. To copy; to imitate.

That servile path thou nobly dost decline, Of tracing word, and line by line. --Denham.

5. To walk over; to pass through; to traverse.

We do tracethis alley up and down. --Shak.

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Trace \Trace\, noun [F. trace. See {Trace}, verb (used with an object) ]

1. A mark left by anything passing; a track; a path; a course; a footprint; a vestige; as, the trace of a carriage or sled; the trace of a deer; a sinuous trace. --Milton.

2. (Chem. & Min.) A very small quantity of an element or compound in a given substance, especially when so small that the amount is not quantitatively determined in an analysis; -- hence, in stating an analysis, often contracted to tr.

3. A mark, impression, or visible appearance of anything left when the thing itself no longer exists; remains; token; vestige.

The shady empire shall retain no trace Of war or blood, but in the sylvan chase. --Pope.

4. (Descriptive Geom. & Persp.) The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.

5. (Fort.) The ground plan of a work or works.

{Syn}.-Vestige; mark; token. See {Vestige}.

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Trace \Trace\, verb (used without an object) To walk; to go; to travel. [Obs.]

Not wont on foot with heavy arms to trace. --Spenser.

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

400 Moby Thesaurus words for "trace": CRT spot, DM display, Doppler signal, IF signal, IM display, Photostat, RF echoes, Xerox, account, afterglow, afterimage, annals, aroma, ascertain, balance, beam, beat signal, bit, blaze, blaze a trail, blemish, blips, block in, block out, blotch, bounces, brand, breath, brief, butt, butt end, candle ends, cartoon, cast, catalog, catch a likeness, catchword, chaff, chalk, chalk out, chalk up, character, characterize, charcoal, chart, check, check off, chronicle, cicatrize, clone, clue, color, companion, condensation trail, contrail, copy, copy out, correspondence, course, crayon, crosshatch, cue, cue word, dapple, dash, dash off, daub, dead ringer, debris, define, definite odor, delimit, delineate, demarcate, depict, design, detect, detectable odor, determine, detritus, diagram, discolor, discover, display, ditto, documentation, dog, doodle, dot, double, double-dot display, draft, draw, draw up, drop, dupe, duplicate, echo, echo signal, edit, effigy, effluvium, emanation, end, enface, engrave, engross, essence, evidence, exact likeness, exhalation, facsimile, fag end, fellow, filings, find, find out, flavor, fleck, follow, follow a clue, follow up, footprints, fossil, fragrance, freckle, fume, gash, get, gleam, hatch, hectograph, hint, history, hit, hit off, holdover, hot lead, hunt down, hunt up, husks, icon, idea, idol, image, impress, imprint, indication, infusion, inkling, inscribe, intimation, invent, inventory, investigate, iota, jot, key, key word, lead, leavings, leftovers, letters, lick, likeness, limn, line, list, living image, living picture, local oscillator signal, locate, look, make a mark, make a recension, make out, manifold, map, mark, mark off, mark out, match, mate, memento, memorial, microcopy, microfilm, mimeo, mimeograph, miniature, mirroring, model, mottle, multigraph, nick, nose, nose out, notate, notch, odds and ends, odor, offscourings, orts, outline, output signal, paint, paint a picture, parings, path, pen, pencil, pepper, photograph, picture, picturize, pipe roll, pips, piste, point, portrait, portray, prick, print, prints, proof, punch, punctuate, puncture, pursue, push the pen, put in writing, quadruplicate, radar signal, rags, reading, recense, record, recording, rediscover, redolence, reduplicate, reflection, refuse, register, registry, relic, relics, remainder, remains, remnant, render, replicate, represent, reproduce, resemblance, residue, residuum, rest, return, return signal, revise, rewrite, riddle, roach, roll, rolls, roster, rota, rough in, rough out, rub, rubbing, rubbish, ruins, rump, run down, run to earth, sauce, savor, sawdust, scar, scarify, scent, schematize, scintilla, score, scotch, scourings, scraps, scratch, scrive, scroll, scumble, seal, seam, search for, seasoning, seek, semblance, shade, shadow, shavings, sign, signal, signal display, signs, similitude, simulacrum, sip, sketch, smack, smattering, smell, smell out, sniff out, soupcon, spark, speck, speckle, spice, spill ink, spit and image, spitting image, splotch, spoil paper, spoor, spot, sprinkling, stain, stalk, stamp, stat, stench, stencil, stigmatize, strain, straw, streak, striate, strike, stripe, stubble, stump, subtle odor, suggestion, sup, superscribe, survival, suspicion, sweepings, symbolize, table, tail, taint, take a rubbing, target image, taste, tattoo, telltale, tempering, thought, tick, tick off, tinct, tincture, tinge, tint, tip-off, token, touch, trace down, trace out, trace over, traces, tracing, track, track down, tracks, trail, transcribe, transmitter signal, tread, trifle, triplicate, twin, type, underline, underscore, unearth, vapor trail, very image, very picture, vestige, video signal, wake, waste, whiff, write, write down, write out

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