Traces
Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to Traces: income tax, NSDL
trace 1
(trās)n.
1.
a. A visible mark, such as a footprint, made or left by the passage of a person, animal, or thing.
b. Evidence or an indication of the former presence or existence of something; a vestige: left without a trace of having been there.
2.
a. An extremely small amount or barely perceivable indication: spoke with a trace of sarcasm.
b. A constituent, such as a chemical compound or element, present in quantities less than a standard limit.
3. A path or trail that has been beaten out by the passage of animals or people.
4. An act of researching or ascertaining the origin or location of something: put a trace on the phone call; asked for a trace on a lost package.
5. A line drawn by a recording instrument, such as a cardiograph.
6. Mathematics
a. The point at which a line, or the curve in which a surface, intersects a coordinate plane.
b. The sum of the elements of the principal diagonal of a matrix.
7. An engram.
v. traced, trac·ing, trac·es
v.tr.
1.
a. To go along or follow (a path, for example): We traced the trail up the mountain.
b. To follow the course or trail of: trace a wounded deer.
2.
a. To ascertain the successive stages in the development or progress of: tracing the life cycle of an insect; trace the history of a family.
b. To discover or determine by searching or researching evidence: trace the cause of a disease.
c. To locate or ascertain the origin of: traced the money to a foreign bank account.
3.
a. To draw (a line or figure); sketch; delineate.
b. To form (letters) with special concentration or care.
4.
a. To copy by following lines seen through a sheet of transparent paper.
b. To follow closely (a prescribed pattern): The skater traced a figure eight.
5.
a. To imprint (a design) by pressure with an instrument on a superimposed pattern.
b. To make a design or series of markings on (a surface) by such pressure on a pattern.
6. To record (a variable), as on a graph.
v.intr.
1. To make one's way along a trail or course: We traced along the ridge.
2. To have origins; be traceable: linguistic features that trace to West Africa.
adj.
Occurring in extremely small amounts or in quantities less than a standard limit.
[Middle English, track, from Old French, from tracier, to trace, from Vulgar Latin *tractiāre, from Latin tractus, a dragging, course, from past participle of trahere, to draw.]
trace′a·bil′i·ty n.
trace′a·ble adj.
trace′a·bly adv.
trace 2
(trās)n.
Idiom: 1. One of two side straps or chains connecting a harnessed draft animal to a vehicle or whiffletree.
2. A bar or rod, hinged at either end to another part, that transfers movement from one part of a machine to another.
kick over the traces
To act in a way that contravenes social expectations or propriety: "As soon as the opportunity presented itself, [he] kicked over the traces and threw himself into a life of pleasure" (K.D. Reynolds).
[Middle English trais, from Old French, pl. of trait, a hauling, harness strap, from Latin tractus, a hauling, from past participle of trahere, to haul.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Traces
Either heavy laminated leather straps, or sections of chain, used to connect harness hames to Singletrees.
1001 Words and Phrases You Never Knew You Didn’t Know by W.R. Runyan Copyright © 2011 by W.R. Runyan
Translations