trail
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: broadcasting
government
graph-theory
mathematics
media
military
politics
sciences
television
war
Etymology: From Middle English trailen, from Old French trailler (“to tow; pick up the scent of a quarry”), from Vulgar Latin *tragulāre (“to drag”), from Latin tragula (“dragnet, javelin thrown by a strap”), probably related to Latin trahere (“to pull, drag along”).
Inflected forms:
form: trails
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: trailing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: trailed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: trailed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: trails
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To follow behind (someone or something); to tail (someone or something).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The hunters trailed their prey deep into the woods.
gloss: To drag (something) behind on the ground.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: You'll get your coat all muddy if you trail it around like that.
Our little life is but a gust That bends the branches of thy tree, And trails its blossoms in the dust!
"I saw your brother—I saw your brother," he said, nodding his head, as Archer lagged past him, trailing his spade, and scowling at the old gentleman in spectacles.
gloss: To leave (a trail of).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He walked into the house, soaking wet, and trailed water all over the place.
gloss: To show a trailer of (a film, TV show etc.); to release or publish a preview of (a report etc.) in advance of the full publication.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: His new film was trailed on TV last night.
There were no surprises in this morning's much-trailed budget statement.
gloss: To hang or drag loosely behind; to move with a slow sweeping motion.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The bride's long dress trailed behind her as she walked down the aisle.
Even now I behold a sign, A threatening of wrath divine, A watery, wandering star, through whose streaming hair, and the white Unfolding garments of light, That trail behind it afar, The constellations shine!
Cumberland sausage is about half as thick as your wrist and extends in a single rope several feet long, so that Mistrootchinson [Mister Hutchinson, the butcher], having weighed you one end while the other trailed over the edge of the scale, would then cut it for you like a draper selling a length of tape.
gloss: To run or climb like certain plants.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.
gloss: To drag oneself lazily or reluctantly along.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Our parents marched to church and we trailed behind.
gloss: To be losing, to be behind in a competition.
pos: verb
examples: Neil Lennon and his players have, in almost no time at all, roared back from trailing Rangers by 15 points in November to ending the year two points clear.
gloss: To carry (a firearm) with the breech near the ground and the upper part inclined forward, the piece being held by the right hand near the middle.
pos: verb
gloss: To create a trail in.
pos: verb
examples: The sun shone on burnished bodies and arm-bands, and robes of beaver trailed the grass as majestic fellows trod back and forth in the passion of eloquence.
[…] was no mean judge of racing and, having a suspicion of the possible result, she secreted a lemon in the commodious recesses of a dress which, while the height of fashion in those times, nevertheless trailed the grass.
Because of the potential damages caused by social trailing, regulations stipulate that all permits are void when a group obtains multiple permits for the same campground or use area for the same night.
The monument would use the floowing indicators to determine when and where visitor allocations need to be made: (1) resource damage (e.g., proliferation of campsites, human waste problems, social trailing or vandalism to historical, archaeological, paleontological sites, or destruction of biological soil crusts), […]
In my mind's eye, I looked down at the toes of high-topped, lace-up leather boots, peeking from under a long brown skirt that bent the grass sideways as it trailed the ground and tented gently outward with every step.
gloss: To travel by following or creating trails.
pos: verb
examples: Trailed three miles down the North side and encamped early, making thirteen miles trailed to-day.
In accordance with the treaty of 1842 they crossed the Missouri River to a reservation in Kansas. Poor crops, however, and a feverish climate made them unhappy in their new home: they trailed back to Iowa.
But we did not see him and now, in the big heat of noon, we made three long circles around some hills and finally came out into a meadow full of little, humpy Masai cattle and, leaving all shade behind, trailed back across the open country under the noon sun to the car.
That control became visible each spring when they trailed back out of the low country to summer range.
gloss: To transport (livestock) by herding it along a trail.
pos: verb
examples: One operator on the Boise Forest in Idaho reports that where he formerly marketed 80-pound lambs after trailing them 10 days from the allotment, his lambs now often tip the scales at 100 pounds or better, mainly because only one day is required to transport an entire shipment to the railroad through the use of truck pullmans.
Genesis, the first book of the Holy Bible, relates the earliest known instance of cattle being trailed to better grass lands (unless Noah's trip with the ark is one).
The most impressive long-distance traders, however, were the backcountry drovers, who trailed herds of livestock up the wagon road to Philadelphia (Merrens 1964:135; Bridenbaugh 1971:138).
In all areas where trails are present, stock must remain on the trails. Free trailing or loose herding is not permitted.
gloss: To take advantage of the ignorance of; to impose upon.
pos: verb
tags: dated
examples: I presently perceived she was (what is vernacularly termed) trailing Mrs. Dent; that is, playing on her ignorance.
gloss: The track or indication marking the route followed by something that has passed, such as the footprints of animal on land or the contrail of an airplane in the sky.
pos: noun
examples: trail of blood
condensation trail
data trail, paper trail
gloss: A route for travel over land, especially a narrow, unpaved pathway for use by hikers, horseback riders, etc.
pos: noun
gloss: A route or circuit generally.
pos: noun
examples: Politicians are on the campaign trail in preparation for this year's election.
gloss: A trailer broadcast on television for a forthcoming film or programme.
pos: noun
gloss: A walk in which all the edges are distinct.
pos: noun
gloss: The horizontal distance from where the wheel touches the ground to where the steering axis intersects the ground.
pos: noun
Related words: path
track
Derived words: mistrail
trail away
trail behind
trailer
trailing
trail net
trail off
untrailed
audit trail
backtrail
betrail
blaze a trail
blazoned trail
bridle trail
bunny trail
chemtrail
condensation trail
contrail
cross-trail
cybertrail
data trail
dissipation trail
distrail
entrail
Eulerian trail
firetrail
happy trail
hash trail
hike the Appalachian Trail
hippie trail
hit the trail
hoot owl trail
hot on the trail
light trail
monkey trail
nature trail
off-trail
owl hoot trail
paper trail
paper-trail
rabbit trail
rail trail
rail-trail
sawdust trail
skid trail
snail trail
star trail
throw off the trail
trailable
trail angel
trail bike
trailblazer
trail-blazing
trailblazing
trail boat
trail braking
trailbreaker
trailcam
trail camera
trailery
trail hand
trailhand
trailhead
trail head
trail hitter
trail hunt
trailless
trailmaker
trailmaking
trail map
trailmaster
trail mix
trail name
trail of tears
trail ridge scrub grasshopper
trail rope
trailside
trailsman
trailway
trailwear
traily
treasure trail
trim trail
vapor trail
vapo(u)r trail
wombat trail
Translations:
lang: Arabic
word: جَرَّ
roman: jarra
lang: Bulgarian
word: влача
roman: vlača
lang: Catalan
word: arrossegar
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 拖
roman: tuō
lang: Czech
word: vláčet
lang: Czech
word: vléci
lang: Czech
word: táhnout
lang: Finnish
word: raahata
lang: French
word: traîner
lang: Galician
word: arrousar
lang: Galician
word: ransir
lang: Galician
word: restrexar
lang: Galician
word: arrastrar
lang: German
word: schleppen
lang: German
word: schleifen
lang: German
word: ziehen
lang: Hungarian
word: húz
lang: Hungarian
word: von
lang: Hungarian
word: vontat
lang: Italian
word: trascinare
lang: Italian
word: trainare
lang: Italian
word: strascicare
lang: Māori
word: kitō
lang: Māori
word: kitō
lang: Portuguese
word: arrastar
lang: Russian
word: тяну́ть
roman: tjanútʹ
lang: Russian
word: волочи́ть
roman: voločítʹ
lang: Russian
word: тащи́ть
roman: taščítʹ
lang: Scottish Gaelic
word: slaod
lang: Spanish
word: arrastrar
lang: Ukrainian
word: тягти
roman: tjahty