[f. TRACK sb.: cf. F. traquer (c. 1440) f. trac.]
I. 1. trans. To follow up the track or footsteps of; to trace the course or movements of; to pursue by or as by the track left; with down, out, up, to follow up or trace until found or caught. Also fig.
1565. Calfhill, Answ. Treat. Crosse, 89. Ye may tracke hym by ye foote.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 67. Soon fle, they doe track vs. Ibid., III. 73. Track owt youre moother.
1590. R. Payne, Descr. Irel. (1841), 8. If you track any stolne goodes into any mans land, he must tracke them from him, or answer them within xl. daies.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXVII. xii. 636. Marcellus tracked him still, and followed him hard at heeles.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., A iij b. Without which [Maps], it were impossible to track the Travellors through all those remote Countries.
1716. B. Church, Hist. Philip’s War (1867), II. 104. An Indian Souldier … track’d them by the bloud about half a Mile.
1814. Wordsw., White Doe, VII. 136. The White Doe tracked … The Lady to her dwelling-place.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xxviii. The misfortunes which track my footsteps like slot-hounds.
1834. Pringle, Afr. Sk., viii. 258. The first point was to track the lion to his covert.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, xi. 10. Whether o’er high Alps he afoot ascending Track the long records of a mighty Cæsar.
1874. Symonds, Sk. Italy & Gr. (1898), I. xv. 315. The murderer … was at last tracked down and put to death.
b. To find out and follow (a track, course, etc.).
1681. Hickeringill, Vind. Naked Truth, II. 1. I am oblieged to Track his Methods.
1799. Wordsw., Lucy Gray, xii. Then downwards from the steep hill’s edge They tracked the footmarks small.
1888. Mrs. McCann, Poet. Wks., 70. Through the lonely wilderness brave Howitt tracked his way.
c. intr. To follow up a track or trail.
1805. Pike, Sources Mississ. (1810), 38. Not knowing how to track, we lost her.
1898. R. Pocock, in Westm. Gaz., 12 Sept., 8/2. Henceforth no offer of reward could induce the Indians to continue the hopeless search, and white men cannot track.
d. intr. Of the wheels of a vehicle: To run in the same track; hence of a gear-wheel, To be in alinement (with another wheel, etc.).
1826. Sporting Mag., XVIII. 390. The wheels had not tracked as they ought.
1838. [see tracking vbl. sb. below].
1879. in Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v., The machine does not track nicely.
1898. H. Graves, etc., Cycling, 10. Next inspect the frame for twists, and see that the wheels ‘track.’
2. trans. To mark out, trace (a path); to indicate the path or course of; esp. to mark out (a path) by repeatedly traversing it; to mark (a way) with tracks; to tread, beat.
1589. [see tracked ppl. adj. below].
1603. Drayton, Bar. Wars, I. xxxii. When the straight Course to her Desire was tract [rhymes act, backt].
a. 1713. Ellwood, Autobiog., Pref. (1765), 4. But also gain some Direction from the Path so fairly tract out.
1815. Anne Plumtre, trans. Lichtenstein’s S. Africa, II. 76. The way was smooth and well tracked.
1869. Tozer, Highl. Turkey, I. 36. The Mendere … tracked through all its … windings by the willow-trees on its banks.
b. To make one’s way through; to traverse.
To track the dancers, to go upstairs (slang); cf. quots. 1671, 1785 in 3.
1823. Scott, Peveril, xxx. His surprise … was increased by the rapidity and ease with which she seemed to track the dusky and decayed mazes of the dilapidated Savoy.
1858. Lytton, What will He do? III. xvi. Come, my Hebe; track the dancers, that is, go up the stairs.
1871. Macduff, Mem. Patmos, xx. 275. When white-winged commerce is tracking … the highway of the nations.
c. To leave a track or trail of footprints upon (a floor); to make a track with (dirt or snow) carried on one’s feet. U.S.
1869. Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, iii. ‘Stand still there!’ she called to me … ‘and don’t come in to track my floor.’ Ibid. (1878), Poganuc P., i. Sweep out that snow you’ve tracked in.
d. To lay a track on or for (a railway); to furnish with a line of rails. Only in compounds, as to double-track, four-track, single-track. U.S.
1874. Bay State Transp. League, Bill (Boston, U.S.), 8. It will cost to single track the Massachusetts Central … $3,000,000. It will cost to double track the same an additional $2,000,000.
3. intr. To follow a track or path; to make one’s way, pass, go, travel. Now U.S. slang.
1590. Greene, Never too late (1600), 1. Downe the valley gan he tracke, Bagge and bottle at his backe.
1671. [see DANCER 4].
1676. Coles, Dict., Track, to go.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. T., Track, to go; track up the dancers, go up stairs (cant).
1897. Kipling, Captains Courageous, i. ‘The West don’t suit her. She just tracks around with the boy and her nerves, trying to find out what’ll amuse him, I guess.’
b. Path. To make a track or path for itself; to find its way.
1903. Lancet, 18 April, 1102/2. The effused blood had tracked down between the coats of the œesophagus into the wall of the stomach.
1905. H. D. Rolleston, Dis. Liver, 20. The resulting peritonitis unfortunately is rarely localized, and may then contain gas as well as pus, or track [mispr. tract] up from perforation of an inflamed appendix.
II. Erroneously used for TRACT v.2
† 4. trans. To put off, delay; = TRACT v.2 2.
1524. Hen. VIII., in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1721), I. App. xiii. 28. By delaies the matier was alwaies tracked, and put over without any fruteful determination.
Hence Tracked (also 6 tract, 7 trackt) ppl. a., Tracking vbl. sb. (also attrib.): in various senses of the vb.
1524. in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1721), I. App. xiii. 30. The delaying and tracking of this matier may do moche harme.
1589. Nashe, Anat. Absurd., Wks. (Grosart), I. 32. The tract path of theyr treacherie.
1653. R. Robinson, Christ all, II. (1656), 28. It’s a trackt way. Prophets, Apostles … have by their walking made this way smooth and even.
1838. Arcana of Science, 49. The friction arising from the unequal tracking of ordinary carriages is avoided.
1888. in Times, 13 Oct., 7/6. Testing their [bloodhounds’] tracking powers.
1894. H. Nisbet, Bush Girl’s Rom., 49. The tracking down of escaped convicts and bushrangers.
1895. Wood-Martin, Pagan Irel., 400. Oval pebbles of quartzite, with a score … in the North of Ireland … are styled ‘tracked-stones.’
1902. Daily Record & Mail, 7 Oct., 4. Tracked pathways have long ago given place to good roads.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 30 Sept., 10/2. The double tracking of the line from coast to coast will be completed in a few years.
1908. Daily Chron., 28 Aug., 7/4. Tracking dogs are kept in readiness at certain centres.
