track
noun
- a course laid out for running or racing.
- the group of sports performed on such a course, as running or hurdling, as distinguished from field events.
- both track and field events as a whole.
- a band of recorded sound laid along the length of a magnetic tape.
- band2(def 6).
- an individual song or segment of a recording: a title track.
- a discrete, separate recording that is combined with other parts of a musical recording to produce the final aural version: a special rhythm track added to the basic track.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
Verb Phrases
Idioms
Origin of track
Synonyms for track
track
noun
- a course for running or racing
- (as modifier)track events
- sports performed on a track
- track and field events as a whole
verb
- to provide with a track
- to run on a track of (a certain width)
Word Origin for track
track
late 15c., "footprint, mark left by anything," from Old French trac "track of horses, trace" (mid-15c.), possibly from a Germanic source (cf. Middle Low German treck, Dutch trek "drawing, pulling;" see trek). Meaning "lines of rails for drawing trains" is from 1805. Meaning "branch of athletics involving a running track" is recorded from 1905. Meaning "single recorded item" is from 1904, originally in reference to phonograph records. Meaning "mark on skin from repeated drug injection" is first attested 1964.
Track record (1955) is a figurative use from racing, "performance history" of an individual car, runner, horse, etc.(1907, but the phrase was more common in sense "fastest speed recorded at a particular track"). To make tracks "move quickly" is American English colloquial first recorded 1835; to cover (one's) tracks in the figurative sense first attested 1898; to keep track of something is attested from 1883. American English wrong side of the tracks "bad part of town" is by 1901. Track lighting attested from 1970.
track
"to follow or trace the footsteps of," 1560s, from track (n.). Related: Tracked; tracking.
off the track
Away from one's objective, train of thought, or a sequence of events, It is often put as get or put or throw off the track, as in Your question has gotten me off the track, or The interruption threw Mom off the track and she forgot what she'd already put into the stew. This term comes from railroading, where it means “derailed.” Its figurative use was first recorded in 1875.
track
In addition to the idioms beginning with track
- track down
- track record
also see:
- cover one's tracks
- drop in one's tracks
- fast track
- follow in someone's footsteps (tracks)
- inside track
- jump the track
- keep (lose) track
- make tracks
- off the beaten track
- off the track
- one-track mind
- on the right tack (track)
- right side of the tracks
- stop cold (in one's tracks)