track

English

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
  • enPR: trăk, IPA(key): /tɹæk/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æk

Noun

track (plural tracks)

  1. A mark left by something that has passed along.
    Follow the track of the ship.
    Can you see any tracks in the snow?
  2. A mark or impression left by the foot, either of man or animal.
    The fox tracks were still visible in the snow.
  3. The entire lower surface of the foot; said of birds, etc.
  4. A road or other similar beaten path.
    Follow the track for a hundred metres.
  5. Physical course; way.
    Astronomers predicted the track of the comet.
  6. A path or course laid out for a race, for exercise, etc.
    The athletes ran round the track.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.
  7. The direction and progress of someone or something; path.
    • 2009, Kenneth H. Talan, Help Your Child Or Teen Get Back on Track, →ISBN:
      You cannot simply “get” your child back on track; you and others can only help your child with that task.
    • 2010, Randall Lee, Memoirs to My Women, →ISBN, page 242:
      My track record was enough proof that I couldn't use women for medicinal purposes, and even my attempts at casual relationships were not adequate enough to even temporarily release the poisons inside me.
  8. (railways) The way or rails along which a train moves.
    They briefly closed the railway to remove debris found on the track.
  9. A tract or area, such as of land.
    • Fuller
      small tracks of ground
  10. Awareness of something, especially when arising from close monitoring.
    • 2006, James J. Gross & ‎Michael F. Callahan, Money and Divorce: The First 90 Days and After, →ISBN, page 24:
      You will need to keep track of meetings with your lawyer and court deadlines.
    • 2012, Steven Gurgevich & ‎Joy Gurgevich, The Self-Hypnosis Diet, →ISBN:
      We have to formulate what we want, be so concentrated on it, so focused on it, and so aware of it that we lose track of ourselves, we lose track of time, we lose track of our identity.
  11. (automotive) The distance between two opposite wheels on a same axletree (also track width)
  12. (automotive) Short for caterpillar track.
  13. (cricket) The pitch.
  14. Sound stored on a record.
  15. The physical track on a record.
  16. (music) A song or other relatively short piece of music, on a record, separated from others by a short silence
    My favourite track on the album is "Sunshine".
  17. A circular (never-ending) data storage unit on a side of magnetic or optical disk, divided into sectors.
  18. (uncountable, sports) The racing events of track and field; track and field in general.
    I'm going to try out for track next week.
    • 1973, University of Virginia Undergraduate Record
      The University of Virginia belongs to the Atlantic Coast Conference and competes interscholastically in basketball, baseball, crew, cross country, fencing, football, golf, indoor track, lacrosse, polo, soccer, swimming, tennis, track, and wrestling.
  19. A session talk on a conference.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms
  • (distance between two opposite wheels): wheelbase: the distance between the front and rear axles of a vehicle.

Translations
caterpillar track — see caterpillar track
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Verb

track (third-person singular simple present tracks, present participle tracking, simple past and past participle tracked)

  1. To continue observing over time.
    1. (transitive) To observe the (measured) state of a person or object over time.
      We will track the raven population over the next six months.
    2. (transitive) To monitor the movement of a person or object.
      Agent Miles has been tracking the terrorist since Madrid.
    3. (transitive) To match the movement or change of a person or object.
      My height tracks my father's at my age, so I might end up as tall as him.
    4. (transitive or intransitive, of a camera) To travel so that a moving object remains in shot.
      The camera tracked the ball even as the field of play moved back and forth, keeping the action in shot the entire time.
    5. (intransitive, chiefly of a storm) To move.
      The hurricane tracked further west than expected.
    6. (intransitive) To exhibit good cognitive function.
      Is the patient tracking? Does he know where he is?
      • 2004, Catherine Anderson, Blue Skies, Penguin (→ISBN), page 39:
        Bess already knew about the painkillers and alcohol not mixing well.... "I wasn't tracking very well."
      • 2010 October 1, "karimitch" (username), "Memory Loss - Pancreatic Cancer Forums", in cancerforums.net, Cancer Forums:
        My mother in the past couple of days has started to really get confused and lose her train of thought easily.... She isn't tracking very well.
  2. (transitive) To follow the tracks of.
    My uncle spent all day tracking the deer, whose hoofprints were clear in the mud.
    1. (transitive) To discover the location of a person or object.
      I tracked Joe to his friend's bedroom, where he had spent the night.
    2. (transitive) To leave in the form of tracks.
      In winter, my cat tracks mud all over the house.
  3. (transitive or intransitive) To create a musical recording (a track).
    Lil Kyle is gonna track with that DJ next week.
    1. (computing, transitive or intransitive) To create music using tracker software.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Spanish

Etymology

From English

Noun

track m (plural tracks)

  1. (sports) track
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