Sentence:  The Fisher Body division , long controlled by the Fisher brothers under a voting trust even though General Motors owned a majority of its stock , <WSD>followed</WSD> an independent course for many years , but by 1947 and 1948 `` resistance had collapsed '' and its purchases from du Pont `` compared favorably '' with purchases by other General Motors divisions . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  travel along a certain course