English Dictionary: tracing | by the DICT Development Group |
3 results for tracing | |
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
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From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Trace \Trace\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {traced}; p. pr. & vb. n. {tracing}.] [OF. tracier, F. tracer, from (assumed) LL. tractiare, fr.L. tractus, p. p. of trahere to draw. Cf. {Abstract}, {Attract}, {Contract}, {Portratt}, {Tract}, {Trail}, {Train}, {Treat}. ] 1. To mark out; to draw or delineate with marks; especially, to copy, as a drawing or engraving, by following the lines and marking them on a sheet superimposed, through which they appear; as, to trace a figure or an outline; a traced drawing. Some faintly traced features or outline of the mother and the child, slowly lading into the twilight of the woods. --Hawthorne. 2. To follow by some mark that has been left by a person or thing which has preceded; to follow by footsteps, tracks, or tokens. --Cowper. You may trace the deluge quite round the globe. --T. Burnet. I feel thy power . . . to trace the ways Of highest agents. --Milton. 3. Hence, to follow the trace or track of. How all the way the prince on footpace traced. --Spenser. 4. To copy; to imitate. That servile path thou nobly dost decline, Of tracing word, and line by line. --Denham. 5. To walk over; to pass through; to traverse. We do tracethis alley up and down. --Shak. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Tracing \Tra"cing\, n. 1. The act of one who traces; especially, the act of copying by marking on thin paper, or other transparent substance, the lines of a pattern placed beneath; also, the copy thus producted. 2. A regular path or track; a course. {Tracing cloth}, {Tracing paper}, specially prepared transparent cloth or paper, which enables a drawing or print to be clearly seen through it, and so allows the use of a pen or pencil to produce a facsimile by following the lines of the original placed beneath. |