verb. (old cant).—1. To go: hence TO TRACK UP THE DANCERS = ‘to whip upstairs’ (HEAD, 1671; B. E., c. 1696; GROSE, 1785). Also (modern) TO MAKE TRACKS = to go (or run) away: see BUNK; TO MAKE TRACKS FOR = (1) to proceed towards; and (2) to attack, TO GO FOR (q.v.).
1847. BULWER-LYTTON, Lucretia, II. vii. ‘Bob, TRACK THE DANCERS. Up like a lark—and down like a dump.’ Bob grinned … and scampered up the stairs. Ibid. (1858), What Will He Do With it? III. xvi. Come, my Hebe, TRACK THE DANCERS.
1857. C. KINGSLEY, Two Years Ago, xiv. You will be pleased TO MAKE TRACKS, and vanish out of these parts for ever.
1887. The Field, 28 Feb. On joining my friend, we at once MADE TRACKS FOR the camp, ready for what was to follow.
1888. M. A. WARD, Robert Elsmere, xiii. I MADE TRACKS for that lad…. I found him in the fields one morning.
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes. He said he was a banker, did our smart Teutonic Max, And many a quid he’d given her, before he MADE HIS TRACKS.
2. (modern).—In various phrases: e.g., IN ONE’S TRACKS = on the spot, as one goes, then and there; OFF THE TRACK = discursive, out of one’s reckoning, at sea; INSIDE TRACK = the truth, BEDROCK (q.v.).
1890. O. THANET, Trusty, No. 49, in The Century Magazine, xl. June, 224. [The boy] was in for stealing horses, but I think the real thief swore it off on him. If he did, God forgive him; he had better have shot the boy IN HIS TRACKS.
