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Crossword clues for trace

trace
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
trace
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a flash/trace/touch of humour (=a very small amount of humour)
▪ She replied with a rare flash of humour.
a hint/trace of amusement (=a small amount in someone's eyes or voice)
▪ Was there a hint of amusement in her voice?
a hint/trace of an accent
▪ I could detect the hint of a German accent in her voice.
a hint/trace/flicker of emotion (=a very small sign that someone feels an emotion)
▪ I thought I saw a flicker of emotion in his eyes.
a trace of poison (=a small amount of poison that is still present somewhere)
▪ Traces of the poison were found in the family car.
disappear without a trace (also disappear without trace British English) (= completely)
▪ Hundreds of people disappear without trace every year.
hint/trace/edge/touch of sarcasm
▪ There was just a touch of sarcasm in her voice.
trace an outline (=draw the outline of something, usually with your finger or toe)
▪ She traced the outline of his lips with her fingers.
trace element
trace its origins to sth (=used to say that something can find evidence that it began to exist at a particular time or in a particular place)
▪ The Roman Catholic Church traces its origins back to the 4th century.
trace sth's evolution (=find the origins of when an animal, plant etc began or where it came from)
▪ Anthropologists can trace the evolution of plants and animals by examining fossils.
trace sth's evolution (=find the origins of when something began or where it came from)
▪ The show traced the evolution of black American music from gospel through soul to hip-hop
trace the history of sth (=find out what the history of something is)
▪ James traces the history of modern cricket back to its beginnings in the late 1700s.
trace the origin of sth (=find where, when etc something began to exist)
▪ It’s difficult to trace the origin of some words.
trace/hint/touch of irony
▪ Wagner calls his program ‘the worst talk show in America,’ without a hint of irony.
tracing paper
vanish without (a) trace/vanish off the face of the earth (=disappear so that no sign remains)
▪ The youngster vanished without a trace one day and has never been found.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
back
▪ Could the jeopardy you were in be traced back to the school somehow?
▪ A tax on inherited estates began in 1894, though death duties can be traced back much further.
▪ The theory is that the rage and intensity with which he plays can be traced back to his childhood.
▪ The role of auditors can be traced back many hundreds of years.
▪ The money was traced back to the bills missing from the bank, and the man got what was coming to him.
▪ Each word has component parts which can be traced back to one of 800 roots.
▪ Such patterns could be traced back to the original ranchos, five of which once divided up the Los Angeles basin.
■ NOUN
ancestry
▪ Incidentally, this means that we can use mitochondria to trace our ancestry, strictly down the female line.
▪ Different parts of the cells of trees or elephants trace their ancestry to a whole range of ancient beings.
development
▪ Costing about £150,000, the exhibition traces the development of trams in towns and cities throughout Britain from the Victorian era.
▪ The museum's collecting philosophy is to acquire multiple works of individual artists in order to fully trace their development.
▪ This work traces the development of social movement theory and research.
▪ This knowledge allows him to trace the development of Proustian themes and reconstruct how Proust wrote his book, step by step.
▪ The present system of bargaining and control is therefore best understood by tracing its origins and developments.
▪ In the How to series, Hazel Richardson traces the development of scientific ideas and their applications.
▪ Marshall traced the development of a legal status of citizenship in the United Kingdom through a number of historical stages.
▪ The purpose is to trace the development of expertise in the comprehension and use of GIS-generated maps.
evolution
▪ But the task of this chapter, of tracing the evolution of learning and memory-like phenomena in non-human animals, is done.
▪ The result is deeply layered, complex works tracing that evolution in its historical perspective.
family
▪ The Red Cross is often asked to trace family members and friends who have become separated.
▪ He has made queries to newsgroups, keeping an attentive eye out for others who might be tracing the same family.
▪ Newsgroups are also highly popular as a means of tracing family members who may have fled conflict or natural disaster.
▪ He traced his Ulster family with the help of Barnardos and by placing advertisements in Belfast newspapers.
▪ Last night police were trying to trace relatives of the family, who are thought to have lived in Bristol.
▪ Also, is it possible to trace my family records from this?
▪ Much effort went into tracing remote family connections abroad on the off chance of identifying a benefactor.
finger
▪ My finger traces a path down to the peninsula of Grand Isle.
▪ The middle finger traced a heart on her lips.
▪ She could feel his fingers tracing the curve of her neck.
▪ She felt Ferdi's fingers trace the line of her lashes along her cheek and smiled.
▪ Even now, the fist's bud flowers into trembling, the fingers trace each line and see the future then.
▪ I raise my arm, my finger traces a bird on the shape of the moon over the trees in front of me.
▪ With an outstretched finger, she traced the lines of Pascoe's sleeping face.
▪ Then, his aunt, her long cool fingers tracing his features, stroking his hair.
history
▪ It is possible to obtain Parliamentary materials and it is possible to trace the history.
▪ Her life traced the social history of women in this century.
▪ Rawcliffe Rawcliffe can trace its history back to 1078, the name of the village undergoing many changes in that time.
▪ We have traced her history from the great goddesses of the pre-patriarchal period, especially Inanna and her handmaiden, Lilith.
▪ Can you help me trace the history of my Land Rover?
▪ The book by Folkwin Wendland, a trained garden- and landscape architect, traces its history since 1450.
▪ After a friend recognised the piece of furniture, Mr Pilkington began tracing its history.
▪ And trace the history of Harry Corbett and his successor Matthew Corbett.
line
▪ Purse-strings, whether tightly or slackly held, tend faithfully to trace lines of power.
▪ And I began tracing the lines of his face.
▪ Water trickled from the brown earth near the roots of the bush and traced a dark line through the tall grass.
▪ It has begun tracing lines, through totally vacant space, between recurrences.
▪ The crimson rivulets were lengthening, tracing lines down his throat and soaking into the collar of his overalls.
▪ I hugged him, then traced lines on his biceps, around his back, a five-finger exercise pianissimo.
▪ She felt Ferdi's fingers trace the line of her lashes along her cheek and smiled.
▪ He traced the heart line from her chin to her forehead and down again.
lines
▪ Purse-strings, whether tightly or slackly held, tend faithfully to trace lines of power.
▪ And I began tracing the lines of his face.
▪ The crimson rivulets were lengthening, tracing lines down his throat and soaking into the collar of his overalls.
▪ It has begun tracing lines, through totally vacant space, between recurrences.
▪ More deflector panels sweep the beam backwards and forwards across the screen to trace out the picture lines.
▪ I hugged him, then traced lines on his biceps, around his back, a five-finger exercise pianissimo.
▪ Cyclists traced greasy lines up and down the tarmac.
▪ With an outstretched finger, she traced the lines of Pascoe's sleeping face.
origin
▪ Their analysis traces the political origins and impact of social movement activity in terms of the protection of individual rights of citizenship.
▪ If today such spending amounts to roughly two-thirds of all economic activity, we can trace its origin back to the 1920s.
▪ The present system of bargaining and control is therefore best understood by tracing its origins and developments.
▪ Cellular technology is not a new concept; some authorities have traced its origins to 1947.
▪ This makes tracing the origin a difficult matter.
▪ Many trace the origin of this crisis to the 1993 advent of free agency, which has sent salaries skyrocketing.
▪ They are a very old family and trace their origins back right through the centuries.
▪ In raising such questions, the intention is to lay warnings about tracing the origins of voluntary collectivism in selected traditions.
outline
▪ Slowly and sensually he traced the outline of her lips with the tip of his tongue.
▪ His hand moved round and round, tracing the outline of a blue ring.
▪ Who will trace in sleep the outline of my hips?
▪ I eased the steel strip out, drawing it downward to trace the outline of what seemed to be a bolt.
▪ The artist then laboriously traces the outline of the image placing anchor points and stretching the curves or lines between them.
▪ It's said that he first traced the outline for his ladylike creation around a tall woman friend.
▪ If it is thin enough you will be able to trace the outlines of a plot originally drawn on graph paper.
▪ Instead his mouth pressed against the soft cotton, tracing the outline of her body and making her shudder.
owner
▪ They would be responsible for reminders when premiums became due, and could trace owners through their records.
▪ Voice over Police are hoping to trace original owners but admit it's an uphill task.
▪ With luck, it would contain enough information to trace its owner.
▪ Washing line: Police in Ripon are trying to trace the owners of stolen washing recovered after four men were arrested.
▪ Despite efforts by the police to trace the original owners, some jewellery has remained unclaimed.
▪ Computerised equipment can trace registered owners and send out hundreds of summonses each day.
▪ They'd attempt to trace the owner and inform him, and that was it.
path
▪ My finger traces a path down to the peninsula of Grand Isle.
▪ That other story, likewise, traced the path from poverty to wealth and obscurity to fame.
▪ Through the binoculars, I traced the path I had taken the night before when following Victor.
▪ On this basis, the possibility can be envisaged of tracing the paths of divergent theistic routes.
pattern
▪ But he sat on the stump, tracing patterns in the earth.
▪ She traced a pattern over the rough-hewn stone of the sill, while behind her there was no sound of retreating footsteps.
▪ Various spirals, therefore, trace the patterns of our most important heavenly bodies.
▪ Idly she traced the pattern of the marble-topped table with a slender finger.
▪ Children can trace animal locomotion patterns on lit-up footprints and use plasma screens to project kaleidoscopic patterns on the wall.
▪ The invisible lines, which traced the patterns of their existence, merged into one.
police
▪ It did not take long for the police to trace Mrs Dyer to Caversham where she was arrested.
▪ Mr Collier was last seen alive on June 6 returning to his flat with another man whom police are trying to trace.
▪ Last night police were trying to trace relatives of the family, who are thought to have lived in Bristol.
▪ It took police four days to trace the couple to Bridgnorth in Ontario.
▪ Voice over Police are hoping to trace original owners but admit it's an uphill task.
▪ But police failed to trace the man.
▪ The driver was certified dead at the scene and police were trying to trace relatives last night.
▪ Despite efforts by the police to trace the original owners, some jewellery has remained unclaimed.
problem
▪ Many patients with severe chemical sensitivity trace their problems back to an incident of this sort.
▪ Partnerships have the same tracing problems as sole proprietorships.
▪ Sometimes it is possible to trace some problems with tempo or balance to the parts the musicians are using.
▪ The issue involved with the tracing of any problem or interest is to identify each nexus where a departure becomes apparent.
route
▪ Wycliffe traced the route the undertaker must have taken.
▪ Some will be fitted with satellite collars, in an effort to trace their migratory route.
▪ She began to divert from the path, tracing a semicircular route round the bonnet of the car.
source
▪ For these reasons it is often difficult in many cases to trace a single primary source.
▪ You set up a money chain that makes it impossible to trace the source.
▪ In fact, however far back I trace the source in a horizontal manner, I never reach an ultimate answer.
▪ This sample is being traced through such sources as the Registrar of Births and Deaths, and was identified again in 1981.
▪ In an impressive dream sequence, Westland traces the source of this business inadequacy to his helicopter childhood and wakes up screaming.
▪ This has shown that the two areas produce distinctive mineral suites that can be used to trace the source of ancient sediments.
▪ Trading standards officers are now trying to trace the source of these videos.
▪ The two women remained motionless, gazing up at the ceiling as if to trace the source and direction of the footsteps.
■ VERB
attempt
▪ Although this road emerges on the eastern side of the town, attempts to trace it much further have failed.
▪ The first task attempted will be to trace the train of thought in this unit.
▪ They'd attempt to trace the owner and inform him, and that was it.
begin
▪ She began to trace circles on the table top with the drops of spilt coffee.
▪ And I began tracing the lines of his face.
▪ After a friend recognised the piece of furniture, Mr Pilkington began tracing its history.
▪ It has begun tracing lines, through totally vacant space, between recurrences.
help
▪ Can you help me trace the history of my Land Rover?
▪ The information will help law enforcement authorities trace ownership of the weapon back to the original gun dealer.
▪ He'd even questioned some of the older members of the Lucy Ghosts in private to help trace the fugitive.
try
▪ Police are still trying to trace the occupants of the house in Labrok Road, Trowbridge.
▪ Rumors battled with fact as authorities tried to trace his flight.
▪ Detectives are now trying to trace the ringleader of what could be a new international racket.
▪ Mr Collier was last seen alive on June 6 returning to his flat with another man whom police are trying to trace.
▪ Police in Herefordshire were last night trying to trace Theresa's relatives, who are believed to be on holiday.
▪ It is always worth trying to trace a specific witness if their testimony is important.
▪ Police are trying to trace a young woman cyclist who passed the victim moments before the attack.
▪ Detectives are still trying to trace people who knew Mr McEvoy.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "Did you draw this yourself?" "No, I traced it."
▪ Keep him on the line so we can trace the call.
▪ Philips hired a private detective to trace his daughter, who had been missing for two months.
▪ Police are still trying to trace the missing child.
▪ Police are trying to trace a red van, which several witnesses reported seeing near the scene of the crime.
▪ Students will trace the development of labor unions in the U.S.
▪ The cash was eventually traced to a prominent Paris lawyer.
▪ The children traced the map of France and then wrote in the names of the places they had visited.
▪ The tradition traces back to medieval Spain.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ It has begun tracing lines, through totally vacant space, between recurrences.
▪ It takes a bit of detective work to trace the symptom back to the cause.
▪ Nor is the manner in which Mumford traces the historical roots of this development much different from that of Wittfogel.
▪ Once again one can trace some continuities of practice with older forms of representation.
▪ The other student has not been traced.
▪ Their ancestry can be traced in the Reading area as far back as 1240.
II.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
faint
▪ There are faint traces of tyre on the road, but no serious skidding.
▪ Actually there is a faint trace of saccharine here.
faintest
▪ Just looked steadily back at him with the faintest trace of a smile.
▪ His own hair was combed out over his shoulders, and for make-up he had used only the faintest trace of kohl.
only
▪ When I examined my own horse's stable I found only traces of hay.
▪ Earlier plot sequences recede into the past of the text; now Slothrop exists only in traces.
▪ Celia perished trying to help some natives dying of pestilence. Only traces of her body have been found.
slight
▪ Never buy a Koi with the slightest trace of fish-pox, for you risk transferring it to your existing fish.
▪ Even if the ship had passed it by, it would not have known the slightest trace of disappointment.
▪ Not the slightest trace of elil no scent or tracks or droppings.
■ NOUN
amount
▪ But there are trace amounts of other elements entrapped within the flint.
▪ The principal immunoglobulin found in secretions is IgA with only trace amounts of IgG present.
analysis
▪ Quantification procedures for micro and trace analysis as well as for surface and thin film analysis are summarized.
▪ A major difficulty is in achieving reliable trace analysis results.
▪ Chapter one discusses the approach to achieving valid trace analysis.
▪ The range comprises the 759A UV/Vis detector, the 785A for trace analysis and the 1000S photodiode array detector.
element
▪ Other minerals required by the body are selenium, manganese, sodium, and other trace elements.
▪ I built up my soil, added trace elements, made compost, never used herbicides or chemical insecticides.
▪ Combinations of other trace elements may also be associated with cobalt-bearing minerals and may be detected in ancient blue glass.
▪ The resin removes the calcium bicarbonate, leaving behind all the essential trace elements.
▪ These deposits also contain various other mineral trace elements.
▪ These days everyone is becoming an expert in the nutritional value of different foods and the importance of vitamins and trace elements.
▪ Or pellets impregnated with trace elements could improve the diets of cattle in impoverished pastures similar pellets would protect cattle from parasites.
▪ While decreasing your energy intake, you must continue to eat enough essential nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals and trace elements.
metal
▪ The movement of trace-elements through the environment A large number of chemical reactions take place when trace metals move through the environment.
▪ Continued secretion of cations into gastrointestinal fluids may therefore be important in influencing the absorption of dietary trace metals.
▪ Contamination and poor analytical techniques presumably explain why previous values for trace metals in gastric juice were so high.
■ VERB
bear
▪ At all times, he claims, linen bears the traces of the war between the partners.
▪ Every landscape bears the traces of this continuous and cumulative labour, generation after generation contributing to the whole.
▪ However, her play bore no trace of diminished strength, even at the end.
▪ Let it not bear the traces of work, the traces of time.
▪ His blue eyes beneath the shock of white hair bore a trace of irony.
▪ The sleeve had been carefully spread out and the cuff bore a trace of what could have been blood.
contain
▪ Recent work on the silver coinage has revealed a complex system of which even Domesday contains little trace.
▪ The result is a fine-grained rock containing small traces of metallic iron.
▪ It contains traces of people who are among the first to be photographed in city streets anywhere in the world.
▪ It is located throughout the grains of minerals that contain traces of uranium and thorium, not on grain surfaces.
▪ The flattened rectangular section behind the neck contains traces of a large iron blade, possibly a double-edged dagger or short sword.
▪ These deposits also contain various other mineral trace elements.
▪ Government figures showed that in 1987, 1.6 million people were supplied with water containing too-high traces of nitrates.
▪ Unknown to her, it contained tiny traces of nuts.
detect
▪ He thought that here and there in the slaves he could detect traces of an old lineage.
disappear
▪ Without radio play, a record can disappear without trace.
▪ In 1926, mystery writer Agatha Christie suddenly disappeared without a trace from her native Devon.
▪ The Kershaw Worm had disappeared without a trace.
▪ Two months later, when the researchers went back to look for the megaplume, it had disappeared without a trace.
▪ That way they would disappear without trace.
▪ Hundreds of people disappeared without trace every year.
▪ Just about everyone hoped they would disappear without trace when that tide ebbed and frenetic buying and selling ground to a halt.
▪ It is a bit more surprising, however, when that dealer disappears without a trace.
find
▪ But they found no trace of the highly profitable illegal cargo that it was supposed to be carrying.
▪ Navy planes and ships in abundance combed that area but found no trace.
▪ They found the jacket had been bleached - forensic laboratories could find no trace of blood.
▪ The moment I read it I knew I had found the traces of the primal spirituality I was looking for.
▪ When I examined my own horse's stable I found only traces of hay.
▪ Much later, I learn that he had an artificial leg and limped, but I never find a trace of him.
▪ Although Dundalk is supposed to be a seaside town, I could find no trace of a harbour.
▪ Suppose he went in somewhere above Teddington - you'd almost certainly find traces of fresh water in the clothes.
kick
▪ The poor little thing was kicking against the traces, but she would have to be broken in.
▪ They fall down and get up again; they educate themselves and kick over the traces.
▪ But perhaps even misogynists can kick over the traces.
▪ If one of them kicked over the traces, there was hell to pay until he fell obediently back into line.
leave
▪ Whoever had worked on the case in the laboratory would have been smarter than to leave any traces of the implant visible.
▪ In a sense the Earth was reborn without leaving a trace of its early history.
▪ Not surprisingly the temporary structures erected in these areas have left few archaeological traces.
▪ Three or four shooters would vanish completely, leaving scant traces of their affiliation.
▪ It is curious that a much-employed binder, as he obviously was, should have left no trace in the records.
▪ These narrators know they will go on to leave no trace of their existence.
▪ After a moment the impact vanished, leaving no trace.
▪ I eliminated the primary target and left no traces.
lose
▪ His fitness and determination ensured that he survived a journey on which a lesser man could have been lost without trace.
▪ All sociologists have noted this desire, on the part of immigrants' children, to lose the traces of their origin.
remain
▪ Eighteenth-century maps of historic towns often show elaborate formal gardens behind the houses, but very few traces of these remain.
▪ The epidermis degenerates and little trace of its cells remains in the fully hardened wings.
▪ Despite desperate attempts to revive her, the trace remained stubbornly flat, until in the end they had to give up.
▪ Lyonshall Station was, and I very much doubt that any trace of it remains today, in a very dangerous condition.
▪ His hair was grey but with a trace of red hair remaining in his bushy eyebrows.
▪ Dioxins from the process may be discharged in factory effluent and some traces remain in the paper goods themselves.
▪ When no trace of hair remained visible, he applied strips of newspaper and a warmed towel to complete the process.
▪ Afterwards it vanished without trace and the buyer remains unknown.
remove
▪ She puts them in the washing machine, on long soak, and removes every trace.
▪ He followed all her movements with dreamlike detachment; an all-engulfing numbness seemed to have removed every trace of feeling from him.
▪ They went to considerable lengths to remove all traces of her from the offices and rooms she had used at the Palace.
▪ Once you have dismantled all the loose joints, carefully remove all traces of the old adhesive.
▪ Wipe the wood with a cloth moistened with white spirit to remove any traces of grease or dust.
▪ Although he had removed all trace of labelling from the cassette the Duty Men were not fooled.
▪ When dealing with windows, remove all traces of rust and apply a neutralising agent to badly affected areas.
▪ Both are more refreshing than a toner - and more effective methods of removing the last traces of make-up and oil.
reveal
▪ The bat wing membrane still reveals traces of an apparatus originally constructed for gliding.
▪ Careful scrutiny by telescopes and space probes reveals no trace of any such object.
show
▪ Two tissues discovered in the vicinity showed traces of her mucus and her saliva.
▪ From the start, she ran with authority, showing not a trace of her shyness.
▪ I asked myself how it was that no exhibition had ever shown any trace of eroticism in his work.
▪ Which I did, showing the trace of a distinguished limp.
▪ Tests both in New York and London showed traces of cocaine on over 70 % of bank notes.
▪ Within an hour, 7794 was a dwindling star, showing no trace of a disk.
▪ Salome's blood sample showed no trace of alcohol.
▪ The quotation from Sir William Jones at the beginning of this section shows traces of this prejudice.
sink
▪ Early attempts - including putting a ping-pong ball inside a soap bar - sank without trace.
▪ Now that has all been sunk without trace.
▪ Then the shipyards sank without trace, and it was three years on the dole.
▪ But unlike the Titanic, the story of the Tek Sing and its passengers sank without trace.
▪ If he possessed mind-reading powers, she was sunk without a trace.
▪ It was even tried years ago by Olivetti among others, but those products sank without trace.
▪ Seven singles were to be released from the album, all sinking without a trace.
vanish
▪ After a moment the impact vanished, leaving no trace.
▪ Most of these fireballs burn up or explode in the atmosphere and vanish without a trace.
▪ Well, Poppy vanished without trace.
▪ Many more vanished without a trace.
▪ The relationship lasted for almost three months; then Lavinia vanished without trace.
▪ How can an entire house vanish without a trace.
▪ Moira Anderson vanished without trace in a snow storm while running an errand for her grandmother on 23 February 1957.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
kick over the traces
▪ But perhaps even misogynists can kick over the traces.
▪ If one of them kicked over the traces, there was hell to pay until he fell obediently back into line.
▪ They fall down and get up again; they educate themselves and kick over the traces.
sink without trace
▪ But unlike the Titanic, the story of the Tek Sing and its passengers sank without trace.
▪ Early attempts - including putting a ping-pong ball inside a soap bar - sank without trace.
▪ It was even tried years ago by Olivetti among others, but those products sank without trace.
▪ Many small labels have sunk without trace.
▪ Now that has all been sunk without trace.
▪ The Labour government broke up and the report of the Macmillan Committee sank without trace.
▪ Then the shipyards sank without trace, and it was three years on the dole.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Hans speaks English beautifully, without a trace of a foreign accent.
▪ Many local people were very eager to get rid of the last traces of their town's shameful past.
▪ The thief was careful not to leave any trace of his activities.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But this time she couldn't help feeling a trace, just a whisper of his elation.
▪ Celestine was scraping the last traces from her bowl when Lufkin walked over to the cabinet holding his record collection.
▪ Early attempts - including putting a ping-pong ball inside a soap bar - sank without trace.
▪ In 1928 and 1931, two large earthquakes in New Zealand produced strong traces on Seismographs throughout the world.
▪ It contains traces of people who are among the first to be photographed in city streets anywhere in the world.
▪ The flattened rectangular section behind the neck contains traces of a large iron blade, possibly a double-edged dagger or short sword.
▪ The job involves tracking packages, running traces.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Trace

Trace \Trace\, n. [F. trais. pl. of trait. See Trait.]

  1. 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.

  2. (Mech.) A connecting bar or rod, pivoted at each end to the end of another piece, for transmitting motion, esp. from one plane to another; specif., such a piece in an organ-stop action to transmit motion from the trundle to the lever actuating the stop slider.

Trace

Trace \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

Trace \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

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

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

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
trace

late 14c., "follow (a course); draw a line, make an outline of something," also figurative; "ponder, investigate," from Old French tracier "look for, follow, pursue" (12c., Modern French tracer), from Vulgar Latin *tractiare "delineate, score, trace" (source also of Spanish trazar "to trace, devise, plan out," Italian tracciare "to follow by foot"), a frequentative form from Latin tractus "track, course," literally "a drawing out," from past participle stem of trahere "to pull, draw" (see tract (n.1)).\n

\nMeaning "move along, pass over" (a path, etc.) is attested from c.1400; that of "track down, follow the trail of" is early 15c. Meaning "copy a drawing on a transparent sheet laid over it" is recorded from 1762. Related: Traced; tracing.

trace

"track made by passage of a person or thing," c.1300, from Old French trace "mark, imprint, tracks" (12c.), back-formation from tracier (see trace (v.)). Scientific sense of "indication of minute presence in some chemical compound" is from 1827. Traces "vestiges" is from c.1400.

trace

"straps or chains by which an animal pulls a vehicle," c.1300, from earlier collective plural trays, from Old French traiz, plural of trait "strap for harnessing, act of drawing," from Latin tractus "a drawing, track," from stem of trahere "to pull, draw" (see tract (n.1)). Related: Traces.

Wiktionary
trace

Etymology 1 n. 1 An act of tracing. 2 An enquiry sent out for a missing article, such as a letter or an express package. 3 A mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal. 4 A very small amount. Etymology 2

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To follow the trail of. 2 To follow the history of.

Related phrases:
WordNet
trace

  1. v. follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something; "We must follow closely the economic development is Cuba" ; "trace the student's progress" [syn: follow]

  2. make a mark or lines on a surface; "draw a line"; "trace the outline of a figure in the sand" [syn: draw, line, describe, delineate]

  3. to go back over again; "we retraced the route we took last summer"; "trace your path" [syn: retrace]

  4. pursue or chase relentlessly; "The hunters traced the deer into the woods"; "the detectives hounded the suspect until they found the him" [syn: hound, hunt]

  5. discover traces of; "She traced the circumstances of her birth"

  6. make one's course or travel along a path; travel or pass over, around, or along; "The children traced along the edge of the drak forest"; "The women traced the pasture"

  7. copy by following the lines of the original drawing on a transparent sheet placed upon it; make a tracing of; "trace a design"; "trace a pattern"

  8. read with difficulty; "Can you decipher this letter?"; "The archeologist traced the hieroglyphs" [syn: decipher]

trace

  1. n. a just detectable amount; "he speaks French with a trace of an accent" [syn: hint, suggestion]

  2. an indication that something has been present; "there wasn't a trace of evidence for the claim"; "a tincture of condescension" [syn: vestige, tincture, shadow]

  3. a suggestion of some quality; "there was a touch of sarcasm in his tone"; "he detected a ghost of a smile on her face" [syn: touch, ghost]

  4. drawing created by tracing [syn: tracing]

  5. either of two lines that connect a horse's harness to a wagon or other vehicle or to a whiffletree

  6. a visible mark (as a footprint) left by the passage of person or animal or vehicle

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Trace (linguistics)

In transformational grammar, a trace is an empty (phonologically null) category that occupies a position in the syntactic structure. In some theories of syntax, traces are used in the account of constructions such as wh-movement and passive. Traces are important theoretical devices in some approaches to syntax.

Trace (semiology)

The trace in semiotics is a concept developed by Jacques Derrida in Writing and Difference to denote the history that a sign carries with it as the result of its use through time. Words like "black", for example, carry the trace of all their previous uses with them, making them sensitive, loaded words when used in any context. The trace then reveals the possibility for alternative interpretation of concepts, regardless of how carefully articulated they may be, whenever they are expressed in language.

Trace (tack)

In transport, a trace is one of two, or more, straps, ropes or chains by which a carriage or wagon, or the like, is drawn by a harness horse or other draught animal. The once popular idiom: "kick over the traces" comes from a frisky animal kicking one or both feet outside a trace. Unable to understand the entanglement, the animal may become wildly confused and out of control, possibly even breaking away. Hence, to "kick over the traces", when referencing a person, means to become wild and uncontrollable.

Trace (linear algebra)

In linear algebra, the trace of an n-by-n square matrix A is defined to be the sum of the elements on the main diagonal (the diagonal from the upper left to the lower right) of A, i.e.,


tr(A) = a + a + … + a = ∑a
where a denotes the entry on the ith row and ith column of A. The trace of a matrix is the sum of the (complex) eigenvalues, and it is invariant with respect to a change of basis. This characterization can be used to define the trace of a linear operator in general. Note that the trace is only defined for a square matrix (i.e., ).

The trace (often abbreviated to "tr") is related to the derivative of the determinant (see Jacobi's formula).

TRACE

Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) was a NASA heliophysics and solar observatory designed to investigate the connections between fine-scale magnetic fields and the associated plasma structures on the Sun by providing high resolution images and observation of the solar photosphere, the transition region, and the corona. A main focus of the TRACE instrument is the fine structure of coronal loops low in the solar atmosphere. TRACE is the fourth spacecraft in the Small Explorer program, launched on April 2, 1998, and obtained its last science image in 2010.

The satellite was built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Its telescope was constructed by a consortium led by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center. The optics were designed and built to a state-of-the-art surface finish by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). The telescope has a aperture and 1024×1024 CCD detector giving an 8.5 arc minute field of view. The telescope is designed to take correlated images in a range of wavelengths from visible light through the Lyman alpha line to far ultraviolet. The different wavelength passbands correspond to plasma emission temperatures from 4,000 to 4,000,000 K. The optics use a special multilayer technique to focus the difficult-to-reflect EUV light; the technique was first used for solar imaging in the late 1980s and 1990s, notably by the MSSTA and NIXT sounding rocket payloads.

Trace (novel)

Trace is a crime fiction novel by Patricia Cornwell.

Trace (magazine)

Trace is a quarterly, internationally distributed magazine with the tagline, "transcultural styles + ideas". It focuses on urban culture and has featured on its cover some of the most significant black artists and models of the last decade, including Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Biggie Smalls, Diddy, Iman, and Naomi Campbell - many of them before they were household names. It was founded in 1996 by Claude Grunitzky, who is still the chairman and editor in chief.

TRACE (psycholinguistics)

TRACE is a connectionist model of speech perception, proposed by James McClelland and Jeffrey Elman in 1986. TRACE was made into a working computer program for running perceptual simulations. These simulations are predictions about how a human mind/brain processes speech sounds and words as they are heard in real time.

Trace (band)

Trace was a Dutch progressive rock trio founded by Rick van der Linden in 1974 after leaving Ekseption. They released three albums before merging back into Ekseption.

Trace (album)

Trace is the first album by Son Volt, released in 1995. The band was formed the previous year by Jay Farrar after the breakup of the influential alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. The album reached #166 on the Billboard 200 album chart and received extremely favorable reviews. According to Allmusic, "Throughout Son Volt's debut, Trace, the group reworks classic honky tonk and rock & roll, adding a desperate, determined edge to their performances. Even when they rock out, there is a palpable sense of melancholy to Farrar's voice, which lends a poignancy to the music." The album was in the top 10 of Rolling Stone's 1995 critics' list.

"Drown" was a minor college and rock radio hit. It charted at #10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #25 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It remains their only single to chart on either of the charts.

Trace (deconstruction)

Trace is one of the most important concepts in Derridian deconstruction. In the 1960s, Derrida used this word in two of his early books, namely Writing and Difference and Of Grammatology. In French, the word "trace" has a range of meanings similar to those of its English equivalent, but also suggests meanings related to the English words "track", "path", or "mark". In the preface to her translation of Of Grammatology, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak wrote “I stick to ‘trace’ in my translation, because it 'looks the same' as Derrida’s word; the reader must remind himself of at least the track, even the spoor, contained within the French word”. Because the meaning of a sign is generated from the difference it has from other signs, especially the other half of its binary pairs, the sign itself contains a trace of what it does not mean. One cannot bring up the concepts of woman, normality, or speech without simultaneously evoking the concepts of man, abnormality, or writing. The trace is the nonmeaning that is inevitably brought to mind along with the meaning. Derrida does not positively or strictly define trace, and denies the possibility of such a project. Indeed, words like “ différance”, “ arche-writing”, “ pharmakos/pharmakon”, and especially “specter”, carry similar meanings in many other texts by Derrida. His refusal to apply only one name to his concepts is a deliberate strategy to avoid a set of metaphysical assumptions that, he argues, have been central to the history of European thought.

Trace can be seen as an always contingent term for a "mark of the absence of a presence, an always-already absent present", of the ‘originary lack’ that seems to be "the condition of thought and experience". Trace is a contingent unit of the critique of language always-already present: “language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique”. Deconstruction, unlike analysis or interpretation, tries to lay the inner contradictions of a text bare, and, in turn, build a different meaning from that: it is at once a process of destruction and construction. Derrida claims that these contradictions are neither accidental nor exceptions; they are the exposure of certain “metaphysics of pure presence”, an exposure of the “transcendental signified” always-already hidden inside language. This “always-already hidden” contradiction is trace.

Trace (manhwa)

The Trace is a South Korean webcomic series written and illustrated by manhwa artist Go Yeong-hun or known as his pen name, "Nasty Cat". Envy, jealousy, and selfishness, such dark sides of humans can be seen in the work. The artist said that he wants to create the world of heroes with Korean identity.

It won the first prize and Netizen's Choice Award at the 1st SICAF International Digital Cartoon Competition held in 2006. Mr. Go was awarded with ten million won. The panel stated that they easily reached to choose it as the grand prix because not only it scored the highest point in the netizens' recommended works but also it fully meets the required criteria; characteristics of web manhwa technique, and artistic features.

Since April 2007 this manhwa had been featured on Daum, one of major internet portals of South Korea that is being considered a birthplace of many hit webtoons.

TRACE (computer program)

TRACE is a high-precision orbit determination and orbit propagation program. It was developed by The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California. An early version is known to have run on the IBM 7090 computer in 1964. The Fortran source code can be compiled for any platform with a Fortran compiler.

When Satellite Tool Kit's high-precision orbit propagator and parameter and coordinate frame transformations underwent an Independent Verification and Validation effort in 2000, TRACE v2.4.9 was the standard against which STK was compared.

As of 2013, TRACE is still used by the U.S. Government and some of its technical contractors.

Trace (Died Pretty album)

Trace is the fifth album by Australian rock band Died Pretty. It was released in 1993. The album was the most commercially successful of the band's career, peaking at No.11 on the ARIA album charts, while a single, "Harness Up" (August 1993), peaked at No.35. A four-track EP, "Caressing Swine" (June), and two other singles, "Headaround" (November) and "A State of Graceful Mourning" (December), failed to chart.

Despite its commercial success, singer and songwriter Ron Peno has expressed disappointment with it. In a 1995 interview he said: "There were some nice moments on Trace, and there were some moments that fell short of the mark. Some songs that just didn't quite get there. It was a valiant attempt, but it didn't make it. Out of all the songs that came from Trace, we only perform one with any regularity, and that's 'Harness Up'. Occasionally we have been doing 'State of Graceful Mourning'—to me, they're the two highlights of the album." Peno acknowledged the production of Trace might have been too polished. "I think we're were getting a bit soft in the sound department. We were losing that hard edge."

In 2011 Peno was still distancing himself from the record. He said that after signing to Sony Records on the strength of 1991's Doughboy Hollow, the band delivered Trace, which turned out to be their weakest album. He told Mess+Noise: "I never liked the album at all. I was weak in my decision-making in saying yes or no to songs. We had (producer) Hugh Jones coming back out to do the album, but it was a bit too soon for him to come out. But I don’t think the songs were strong enough—there were some good songs, but there were some very weak songs, and I should’ve said that at the time, but I didn’t. I took a weak-arsed approach. I could’ve said, 'Stop, right now', whether Hugh Jones was coming or not. We could’ve pushed it out a month or so, but we didn’t.

"People love Trace, but for me personally I thought it was some of my weakest songwriting, and some of Brett (Myers)' weakest songs. Unfortunately for us, it was our first album on a minor label—although it did really well overseas. I wish we could have cut out Trace and gone straight to Sold and Using My Gills as a Roadmap."

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "trace".

Trace evidence on the body includes fibers and microscopic debris under the fingernails and adhering to blood and to abraded skin and hair.

Conal now sat on its sculpted door, and absently traced a slender finger along an air intake, glowering at the envelope.

Why has the Primal not remained self-gathered so that there be none of this profusion of the manifold which we observe in existence and yet are compelled to trace to that absolute unity?

We will return to this topic in later chapters, when we trace the rise of this metabiological absolutizing back to its source in the Enlightenment paradigm.

The computerized response lacked any trace of personality, quite unlike the acerbic tone Seven expected from his own Beta 5 computer.

As for drinking, I am something of a chemist and I have yet to find a liquor that is free from traces of a number of poisons, some of them deadly, such as fusel oil, acetic acid, ethylacetate, acetaldehyde and furfurol.

This Dionysian pleasure in the release of bestiality and evil, begun by the Viennese Actionists, can be traced through every succeeding decade.

Johnson, inferior to none in philosophy, philology, poetry, and classical learning, stands foremost as an essayist, justly admired for the dignity, strength, and variety of his style, as well as for the agreeable manner in which he investigates the human heart, tracing every interesting emotion, and opening all the sources of morality.

You may trace a common motive and force in the pyramid-builders of the earliest recorded antiquity, in the evolution of Greek architecture, and in the sudden springing up of those wondrous cathedrals of the twelfth and following centuries, growing out of the soil with stem and bud and blossom, like flowers of stone whose seeds might well have been the flaming aerolites cast over the battlements of heaven.

He noted distances from friendly forts, fuel supplies, possible landing areas and traced the known route of the escaping Afghanis to the last known point nearly half-way along the Khyber.

His finger traced the route the Afghanis had taken from the fort up towards the Khyber.

This is noticed as the first trace of the Agrarian division by Niebuhr, i.

All right, the autopsy will show the heart ailment and it will show his system having traces of the medicine, and nobody is going to be suspicious about that.

With contracted eyebrows, the airman would watch the intricate designs she traced on the floor with her small, pretty feet.

The disastrous period of the Hyksos domination in Egypt has left but one trace at Knossos, but that is of peculiar interest, for it is the lid of an alabastron bearing the name of the Hyksos King Khyan.