Word: track Part of Speech: verb 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. Pronunciation: /ˈtɹæk/, [ˈt̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷæk], [ˈtɹ̝̊ʷæk] 1. To continue over time. Labels: transitive Example: We will track the raven population over the next six months. Example: Your sleep score is consistently high, you're tracking macros like it's your job, and you've finally got your VO2 max and heart rate variability dialed in. 2. To continue over time. Labels: transitive Example: Agent Miles has been tracking the terrorist since Madrid. Example: I always had a suspicion that Calico, with his blend of simple faith and gipsy blood, had violated a temple, or looted a shrine, to save his son's life, and that the guardians of the relic tracked him and revenged the outrage. 3. To continue over time. Labels: transitive Example: My height tracks my father's at my age, so I might end up as tall as him. 4. To continue over time. Labels: intransitive, transitive Example: The camera tracked the ball even as the field of play moved back and forth, keeping the action in shot the entire time. 5. To continue over time. Labels: intransitive Example: The hurricane tracked further west than expected. 6. To continue over time. Labels: transitive Example: 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; […] 7. To continue over time. Labels: transitive 8. To continue over time. Labels: intransitive Example: Is the patient tracking? Does he know where he is? Example: Bess already knew about the painkillers and alcohol not mixing well.... "I wasn't tracking very well." 9. To follow the tracks of. Labels: transitive Example: My uncle spent all day tracking the deer, whose hoofprints were clear in the mud. 10. To discover the location of a person or object by following traces. Labels: transitive Example: I tracked Joe to his friend's bedroom, where he had spent the night. Example: "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." 11. To make tracks on or to leave in the form of tracks. Labels: transitive Example: In winter, my cat tracks mud all over the house. 12. To create a musical recording (a track). Labels: intransitive, transitive Example: Lil Kyle is gonna track with that DJ next week. 13. To create a musical recording (a track). Labels: intransitive, transitive Example: At the time, tracking chiptunes (i.e. using trackers) was the fundamental method of chipmusic-making. 14. To make sense; to be consistent with known information Labels: colloquial, intransitive Example: Vitron isn't hiding anything. The oil is there, the books are open, everything tracks. Example: 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. 15. To separate into educational tracks, each of which teaches to a different level of ability. Example: Most working class kids are purposely "tracked" through schools, kept uninformed about scholarships and remedial education/vocation programs and shepherded into dead-end jobs.