From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Trailing \Trail"ing\, a. & vb. n. from {Trail}.
{Trailing arbutus}. (Bot.) See under {Arbutus}.
{Trailing spring}, a spring fixed in the axle box of the trailing wheels of a locomotive engine, and so placed as to assist in deadening any shock which may occur. --Weale.
{Trailing wheel}, a hind wheel of a locomotive when it is not a driving wheel; also, one of the hind wheels of a carriage.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Trail \Trail\ (tr[=a]l), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Trailed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Trailing}.] [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}, verb (used with an object)] 1. (a) To hunt by the track; to track. (b) to follow behind. (c) To pursue. --Halliwell. [1913 Webster +PJC]
2. To draw or drag, as along the ground.
And hung his head, and trailed his legs along. --Dryden.
They shall not trail me through their streets Like a wild beast. --Milton.
Long behind he trails his pompous robe. --Pope.
3. (Mil.) To carry, as a firearm, with the breech near the ground and the upper part inclined forward, the piece being held by the right hand near the middle.
4. To tread down, as grass, by walking through it; to lay flat. --Longfellow.
5. To take advantage of the ignorance of; to impose upon. [Prov. Eng.]
I presently perceived she was (what is vernacularly termed) trailing Mrs. Dent; that is, playing on her ignorance. --C. Bronte.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: having the lower score or lagging position in a contest; "behind by two points"; "the 8th inning found the home team trailing" [syn: {behind(p)}]
noun
1: the pursuit (of a person or animal) by following tracks or marks they left behind [syn: {tracking}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
46 Moby Thesaurus words for "trailing": bugging, chase, chasing, cloak-and-dagger work, consecutive, counterespionage, counterintelligence, dogging, electronic surveillance, espial, espionage, follow, follow-up, following, heeling, hounding, hue and cry, hunting, intelligence, intelligence work, military intelligence, observation, prosecution, pursual, pursuance, pursuing, pursuit, quest, searching, secret police, secret service, seeking, sequel, sequence, series, shadowing, spying, stakeout, stalking, succeeding, surveillance, tailing, tracking, tracking down, wiretap, wiretapping
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Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
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