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6 dictionary results for: trek
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
trek 
[trek] Pronunciation Key, verb, trekked, trek·king, noun
[trek] Pronunciation Key, verb, trekked, trek·king, noun –verb (used without object)
–verb (used with object)
–noun
| 1. | to travel or migrate, esp. slowly or with difficulty. |
| 2. | South Africa. to travel by ox wagon. |
| 3. | South Africa. (of a draft animal) to draw (a vehicle or load). |
| 4. | a journey or trip, esp. one involving difficulty or hardship. |
| 5. | South Africa. a migration or expedition, as by ox wagon. |
| 6. | South Africa. a stage of a journey, esp. by ox wagon, between one stopping place and the next. |
[Origin: 1815–25; < Afrik < D trek (n.), trekken (v.) to draw (a vehicle or load), migrate]
]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| trek
(trěk) Pronunciation Key
intr.v. trekked, trek·king, treks
n.
[Afrikaans, to travel by ox wagon, from Dutch trekken, to travel, from Middle Dutch trecken, to pull.] trek'ker n. Word History: Though now most familiar to English-speakers and others in the title of the Star Trek television shows and movies, the word trek originally referred to a journey by a much slower mode of transportation than a starship. Trek was borrowed into English in South Africa, where the word was used by the Boers for a journey by ox wagon. A seminal event in the history of South Africa was the "Groot Trek" from 1835-1843, in which more than 10,000 Boers, the Voortrekkers, left the Cape Colony and traveled north and northeast because of economic problems, conflict with the Xhosa, and discontent with British colonial authorities, who had forbidden the slave trade and postulated the equality of whites and non-whites. The British, who seized control of South Africa from the Boers at the turn of the 20th century, seized the word trek during the 19th. Trek is recorded earliest in 1822 in the compound trektow, "a rope joining the wagon pole and the yoke to which oxen were fastened." Trek in this compound is either the noun or the stem of the corresponding verb in Afrikaans, trekken. The earliest recorded use of the noun by itself is found in 1849, where it means "a stage in a journey by ox wagon." |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
trek
trek
1849 (n.); 1850 (v.), "to travel or migrate by ox wagon," from Afrikaans trek, from Du. trekken "to march, journey," originally "to draw, pull," from M.Du. trecken (cf. M.L.G. trecken, O.H.G. trechan "to draw"). Especially in reference to the Groot Trek (1835 and after) of more than 10,000 Boers, who, discontent with the English colonial authorities, left Cape Colony and went north and north-east. Slang Trekkie "fan of the TV series 'Star Trek' " first recorded 1976.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| trek | |
noun | |
| 1. | a journey by ox wagon (especially an organized migration by a group of settlers) |
| 2. | any long and difficult trip |
verb | |
| 1. | journey on foot, especially in the mountains; "We spent the summer trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas" |
| 2. | make a long and difficult journey; "They trekked towards the North Pole with sleds and skis" |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Trek
Trek\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Trekked; p. pr. & vb. n. Trekking.] [Written also treck.] [D. trekken. See Track, n.] [South Africa]1. To draw or haul a load, as oxen. 2. To travel, esp. by ox wagon; to go from place to place; to migrate. [Chiefly South Africa] One of the motives which induced the Boers of 1836 to trek out of the Colony. --James Bryce.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Trek
Trek\, n. [Written also treck.] [D. Cf. Track, n.] The act of trekking; a drawing or a traveling; a journey; a migration. [Chiefly South Africa] To the north a trek was projected, and some years later was nearly carried out, for the occupation of the Mashonaland. --James Bryce. Great Trek, the great emigration of Boers from Cape Colony which began in 1836, and resulted in the founding of the South African Republic and Orange Free State.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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