trail
(trāl)
[Middle English trailen, probably from Old French trailler, to hunt without a foreknown course, from Vulgar Latin* trāgulāre, to make a deer double back and forth, perhaps alteration (influenced by Latin trāgula, dragnet), of Latin trahere, to pull, draw.]
verb: trailed, trail·ing, trails.
transitive verb
- To allow to drag or stream behind, as along the ground: The dog ran off, trailing its leash.
- To drag (the body, for example) wearily or heavily.
- To follow the traces or scent of, as in hunting; track.
- To follow the course taken by; pursue: trail a fugitive.
- To follow behind: several cruisers trailed by an escorting destroyer.
- To lag behind (an opponent): trailed the league leader by four games.
intransitive verb
- To drag or be dragged along, brushing the ground: The queen's long robe trailed behind.
- To extend, grow, or droop loosely over a surface: vines trailing through the garden.
- To drift in a thin stream: smoke trailing from a dying fire.
- To become gradually fainter; dwindle: His voice trailed off in confusion.
- To walk or proceed with dragging steps; trudge.
- To be behind in competition; lag: trailing by two goals in the second period.
noun
- A marked or beaten path, as through woods or wilderness.
- An overland route: the pioneers' trail across the prairies.
- A mark, trace, course, or path left by a moving body.
- The scent of a person or animal: The dogs lost the trail of the fox.
- Something that is drawn along or follows behind; a train: The mayor was followed by a trail of reporters.
- A succession of things that come afterward or are left behind: left a trail of broken promises.
- Something that hangs loose and long: Trails of ticker tape floated down from office windows.
- The part of a gun carriage that rests or slides on the ground.
- The act of trailing.
