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trail - 9 dictionary results
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trail

  [treyl]
Use trail in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to drag or let drag along the ground or other surface; draw or drag along behind.
2. to bring or have floating after itself or oneself: a racing car trailing clouds of dust.
3. to follow the track, trail, or scent of; track.
4. to follow along behind (another), as in a race.
5. to mark out, as a track.
6. to tread down or make a path through (grass or the like).
7. to draw out, as speech; protract.
8. Ceramics. to pour (slip) on a biscuit so as to produce a pattern.
–verb (used without object)
9. to be drawn or dragged along the ground or some other surface, as when hanging from something moving: Her long bridal gown trailed across the floor.
10. to hang down loosely from something.
11. to stream from or float after something moving, as dust, smoke, and sparks do.
12. to follow as if drawn along.
13. to fish by trailing a line from a moving boat; troll.
14. to go slowly, lazily, or wearily along.
15. to pass or extend in a straggling line.
16. to change gradually or wander from a course, so as to become weak, ineffectual, etc. (usually fol. by off or away): Her voice trailed off into silence.
17. to arrive or be last: He finally trailed in at 10 o'clock.
18. to be losing in a contest: The home team was trailing 20 to 15.
19. to creep or crawl, as a serpent.
20. to follow a track or scent, as of game.
21. (of a plant) to extend itself in growth along the ground rather than taking root or clinging by tendrils, etc.
–noun
22. a path or track made across a wild region, over rough country, or the like, by the passage of people or animals.
23. the track, scent, or the like, left by an animal, person, or thing, esp. as followed by a hunter, hound, or other pursuer.
24. something that is trailed or that trails behind, as the train of a skirt or robe.
25. a stream of dust, smoke, light, people, vehicles, etc., behind something moving.
26. Artillery. the part of a gun carriage that rests on the ground when the piece is unlimbered.
27. Architecture. a running vine, leaf, or tendril ornament, as in a Gothic molding.
—Idiom
28. trail arms, Military.
a. to hold a rifle in the right hand at an oblique angle, with the muzzle forward and the butt a few inches off the ground.
b. a command to trail arms.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME trailen to draw or drag in the rear; cf. OE træglian to tear off; c. MD traghelen to drag; akin to Latvian dragât to tear off, drag

Related forms:
trail⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
trailless, adjective

Synonyms:
3. trace, hunt. 16. diminish, shrink, dwindle. 22. See path. 23. spoor.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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trail   (trāl)   
v.   trailed, trail·ing, trails

v.   tr.
  1. To allow to drag or stream behind, as along the ground: The dog ran off, trailing its leash.
  2. To drag (the body, for example) wearily or heavily.
    1. To follow the traces or scent of, as in hunting; track.
    2. To follow the course taken by; pursue: trail a fugitive.
  4. To follow behind: several cruisers trailed by an escorting destroyer.
  5. To lag behind (an opponent): trailed the league leader by four games.
v.   intr.
  1. To drag or be dragged along, brushing the ground: The queen's long robe trailed behind.
  2. To extend, grow, or droop loosely over a surface: vines trailing through the garden.
  3. To drift in a thin stream: smoke trailing from a dying fire.
  4. To become gradually fainter; dwindle: His voice trailed off in confusion.
  5. To walk or proceed with dragging steps; trudge.
  6. To be behind in competition; lag: trailing by two goals in the second period.
n.  
    1. A marked or beaten path, as through woods or wilderness.
    2. An overland route: the pioneers' trail across the prairies.
    3. A mark, trace, course, or path left by a moving body.
    4. The scent of a person or animal: The dogs lost the trail of the fox.
    1. A mark, trace, course, or path left by a moving body.
    2. The scent of a person or animal: The dogs lost the trail of the fox.
  3. Something that is drawn along or follows behind; a train: The mayor was followed by a trail of reporters.
  4. A succession of things that come afterward or are left behind: left a trail of broken promises.
  5. Something that hangs loose and long: Trails of ticker tape floated down from office windows.
  6. The part of a gun carriage that rests or slides on the ground.
  7. The act of trailing.

[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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Trail

Trail\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Trailed; p. pr. & vb. n. Trailing.] [OE. trailen, OF. trailler to trail a deer, or hunt him upon a cold scent, also, to hunt or pursue him with a limehound, F. trailler to trail a fishing line; probably from a derivative of L. trahere to draw; cf. L. traha a drag, sledge, tragula a kind of drag net, a small sledge, Sp. trailla a leash, an instrument for leveling the ground, D. treilen to draw with a rope, to tow, treil a rope for drawing a boat. See Trace, v. t.]

1. To hunt by the track; to track. --Halliwell.

2. To draw or drag, as along the ground.

And hung his head, and trailed his legs along. --Dryden.

They shall not trail me through their streets Like a wild beast. --Milton.

Long behind he trails his pompous robe. --Pope.

3. (Mil.) To carry, as 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.

4. To tread down, as grass, by walking through it; to lay flat. --Longfellow.

5. To take advantage of the ignorance of; to impose upon. [Prov. Eng.]

I presently perceived she was (what is vernacularly termed) trailing Mrs. Dent; that is, playing on her ignorance. --C. Bronte.

Trail

Trail\, v. i. 1. To be drawn out in length; to follow after.

When his brother saw the red blood trail. --Spenser.

2. To grow to great length, especially when slender and creeping upon the ground, as a plant; to run or climb.

Trail

Trail\, n. 1. A track left by man or beast; a track followed by the hunter; a scent on the ground by the animal pursued; as, a deer trail.

They traveled in the bed of the brook, leaving no dangerous trail. --Cooper.

How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! --Shak.

2. A footpath or road track through a wilderness or wild region; as, an Indian trail over the plains.

3. Anything drawn out to a length; as, the trail of a meteor; a trail of smoke.

When lightning shoots in glittering trails along. --Rowe.

4. Anything drawn behind in long undulations; a train. "A radiant trail of hair." --Pope.

5. Anything drawn along, as a vehicle. [Obs.]

6. A frame for trailing plants; a trellis. [Obs.]

7. The entrails of a fowl, especially of game, as the woodcock, and the like; -- applied also, sometimes, to the entrails of sheep.

The woodcock is a favorite with epicures, and served with its trail in, is a delicious dish. --Baird.

8. (Mil.) That part of the stock of a gun carriage which rests on the ground when the piece is unlimbered. See Illust. of Gun carriage, under Gun.

9. The act of taking advantage of the ignorance of a person; an imposition. [Prov. Eng.]

Trail boards (Shipbuilding), the carved boards on both sides of the cutwater near the figurehead.

Trail net, a net that is trailed or drawn behind a boat. --Wright.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : trail
Spanish: arrastrar,
German: herunterhängen,
Japanese: 引きずる
More Translations »

trail  (v.)
c.1303, "to drag along behind," from O.Fr. trailler "to tow," ult. from V.L. *tragulare "to drag," from L. tragula "dragnet," probably related to trahere "to pull" (see tract (1)). The meaning "follow the trail of" is first recorded 1590.

trail  (n.)
c.1300, "train of a robe," from the source of trail (v.). The meaning "track or smell left by a person or animal" is also from 1590. Meaning "path or track worn in wilderness" is attested from 1807.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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trail

see blaze a trail.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Trail

city, southeastern British Columbia, Canada. It lies along the Columbia River at the mouth of Trail Creek, adjacent to Rossland, in the Selkirk Mountains, and just north of the U.S.-Canada border and the state of Washington

Learn more about Trail with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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