trailing - Definitions from Dictionary.com

5 results for: trailing

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

trail Audio Help   (trāl) Pronunciation Key
v.   trailed, trail·ing, trails

v.   tr.

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.
1. To follow the traces or scent of, as in hunting; track.
2. 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.

v. intr.

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.

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.
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.

[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.]

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trailing

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

trailing
noun
the pursuit (of a person or animal) by following tracks or marks they left behind

Investopedia - Cite This Source - Share This

Trailing

A term used to describe the most recent time period.

Investopedia Commentary

Most often you will hear the term 'trailing twelve months', and, from time to time, 'trailing three months' or 'trailing six months'. The term may also modify the a reported metric. For example, the earnings in a trailing price-to-earnings ratio refers to the past earnings per share over a certain period - usually 12 months. Trailing 12 months is denoted by the acronym "TTM".

Related Links

Understanding the P/E Ratio
Target Prices Vs Ratings

Also spelled: traling, trialing, trail-ing, trail

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Trailing

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.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

trailing

trailing: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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