track
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: trăk
ipa: /tɹæk/
rhymes: -æk
Forms: form: tracks
form: tracking
form: tracked
form: tracked
Etymology: From Middle English trak, tracke, from Old French trac (“track of horses, trail, trace”), of uncertain origin. Likely from a Germanic source, either Old Norse traðk ("a track; path; trodden spot"; > Icelandic traðk (“a track; path; tread”), Faroese traðk (“track; tracks”), Norwegian tråkke (“to trample”)) or from Middle Dutch trec, *trac, treck ("line, row, series"; > Dutch trek (“a draft; feature; trait; groove; expedition”)), German Low German Treck (“a draught; movement; passage; flow”). See tread, trek.
Senses: examples: We will track the raven population over the next six months.
glosses: To continue over time.
To observe the (measured) state of a person or object over time.
examples: text: Agent Miles has been tracking the terrorist since Madrid.
text: Vlad says there is an American drone the Russians can't track. He wants a lot more of those.
ref: 2022 May 5, Erin Burnett, 3:37 from the start, in See how gamers are outwitting and helping to kill Russian soldiers, CNN, archived from the original on 13 May 2022:
glosses: To continue over time.
To monitor the movement of a person or object.
examples: My height tracks my father's at my age, so I might end up as tall as him.
glosses: To continue over time.
To match the movement or change of a person or object.
examples: The camera tracked the ball even as the field of play moved back and forth, keeping the action in shot the entire time.
glosses: To continue over time.
To travel so that a moving object remains in shot.
raw_tags: of a camera
examples: The hurricane tracked further west than expected.
glosses: To continue over time.
To move.
raw_tags: of a storm
examples: text: I've swept o'er the mountain, the forest and fell, / I've played on the rock where the wild chamois dwell; / I have tracked the desert so dreary and rude, / Through the pathless depths of its solitude; […]
ref: 1837, Elizabeth Parker, Popular Poems. Selected by E. P., page 228:
glosses: To continue over time.
To traverse; to move across.
glosses: To continue over time.
To tow.
examples: text: Is the patient tracking? Does he know where he is?
text: Bess already knew about the painkillers and alcohol not mixing well.... "I wasn't tracking very well."
ref: 2004, Catherine Anderson, Blue Skies, Penguin, →ISBN, page 39:
text: My mother in the past couple of days has started to really get confused and lose her train of thought easily.... She isn't tracking very well.
ref: 2010 October 1, "karimitch" (username), "Memory Loss - Pancreatic Cancer Forums", in cancerforums.net, Cancer Forums
glosses: To continue over time.
To exhibit good cognitive function.
examples: text: My uncle spent all day tracking the deer, whose hoofprints were clear in the mud.
glosses: To follow the tracks of.
examples: text: I tracked Joe to his friend's bedroom, where he had spent the night.
text: "She could be at any hospital...she could be ill. It's not clear whether she has fled," he told reporters. "Yingluck has many homes and many cars. It is difficult to track her."
ref: 2017 August 25, Aukkarapon Niyomyat & Panarat Thepgumpanat, "Thai junta seeks Yingluck's arrest as former PM skips court verdict", in reuters.com, Reuters
glosses: To discover the location of a person or object by following traces.
examples: text: In winter, my cat tracks mud all over the house.
glosses: To make tracks on or to leave in the form of tracks.
examples: text: Lil Kyle is gonna track with that DJ next week.
glosses: To create a musical recording (a track).
examples: text: At the time, tracking chiptunes (i.e. using trackers) was the fundamental method of chipmusic-making.
ref: 2018, Dafni Tragaki, Made in Greece: Studies in Popular Music:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To create a musical recording (a track).
To create music using tracker software.
examples: text: Vitron isn't hiding anything. The oil is there, the books are open, everything tracks.
ref: 1988, “The Rifle”, in Dynasty, season 8, episode 15:
text: Before he took off, our guy went online... to transfer all his personal accounts into his checking account. CDs, money market funds, everything. That tracks. According to Nick, he was trying to sell the dry cleaners.
ref: 2002, “Midnight Sun”, in Without a Trace, season 1, episode 10:
text: There was an electrical storm in the center of this blizzard, Ben. It's extremely rare, but it can happen. Dark lightning? I can't prove it, but it tracks.
ref: 2019, “Cleared for Approach”, in Manifest, season 1, episode 13:
glosses: To make sense; to be consistent with known information
examples: text: Most working class kids are purposely "tracked" through schools, kept uninformed about scholarships and remedial education/vocation programs and shepherded into dead-end jobs.
ref: 1990 February 4, Leonard Tirado, “Privatized 'Recovery' Versus Collective Action”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 19:
glosses: To separate into educational tracks, each of which teaches to a different level of ability.
Synonyms: sense: observe the state of an object over time
word: monitor
sense: monitor the movement of a person or object
word: follow
sense: discover the location of a person or object
word: find
sense: discover the location of a person or object
word: locate
sense: discover the location of a person or object
word: trace
sense: discover the location of a person or object
word: track down
sense: be consistent with known information
word: make sense
sense: be consistent with known information
word: check out
Derived terms: double-track
slab-track
track down
tracking shot
track with
Related terms: tracker