Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Trace

Trace (trās), n. [F. trais. pl. of trait. See Trait.] One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whiffletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.

Trace, n. [F. trace. See Trace, v. t. ] 1. A mark left by anything passing; a track; a path; a course; a footprint; a vestige; as, the trace of a carriage or sled; the trace of a deer; a sinuous trace. Milton.

2. (Chem. & Min.) A very small quantity of an element or compound in a given substance, especially when so small that the amount is not quantitatively determined in an analysis; — hence, in stating an analysis, often contracted to tr.

3. A mark, impression, or visible appearance of anything left when the thing itself no longer exists; remains; token; vestige.

The shady empire shall retain no trace Of war or blood, but in the sylvan chase. Pope.

4. (Descriptive Geom. & Persp.) The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.

5. (Fort.) The ground plan of a work or works.

Syn.-Vestige; mark; token. See Vestige.

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.

Trace, v. i. To walk; to go; to travel. [Obs.]

Not wont on foot with heavy arms to trace. Spenser.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.