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View synonyms for trail

trail

[ treyl ]

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.

    Synonyms: hunt, trace

  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)

  1. 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.

  2. to hang down loosely from something.
  3. to stream from or float after something moving, as dust, smoke, and sparks do.
  4. to follow as if drawn along.
  5. to fish by trailing a line from a moving boat; troll.
  6. to go slowly, lazily, or wearily along.
  7. to pass or extend in a straggling line.
  8. to change gradually or wander from a course, so as to become weak, ineffectual, etc. (usually followed by off or away ):

    Her voice trailed off into silence.

    Synonyms: dwindle, shrink, diminish

  9. to arrive or be last:

    He finally trailed in at 10 o'clock.

  10. to be losing in a contest:

    The home team was trailing 20 to 15.

  11. to creep or crawl, as a serpent.
  12. to follow a track or scent, as of game.
  13. (of a plant) to extend itself in growth along the ground rather than taking root or clinging by tendrils, etc.

noun

  1. a path or track made across a wild region, over rough country, or the like, by the passage of people or animals.
  2. the track, scent, or the like, left by an animal, person, or thing, especially as followed by a hunter, hound, or other pursuer.

    Synonyms: spoor

  3. something that is trailed or that trails behind, as the train of a skirt or robe.
  4. a stream of dust, smoke, light, people, vehicles, etc., behind something moving.
  5. Artillery. the part of a gun carriage that rests on the ground when the piece is unlimbered.
  6. Architecture. a running vine, leaf, or tendril ornament, as in a Gothic molding.

trail

/ treɪl /

verb

  1. to drag or stream, or permit to drag or stream along a surface, esp the ground

    she trailed her skipping rope

    her skirt trailed

  2. to make (a track or path) through (a place)

    to trail a jungle

    to trail a way

  3. to chase, follow, or hunt (an animal or person) by following marks or tracks
  4. whenintr, often foll by behind to lag or linger behind (a person or thing)
  5. intr (esp of plants) to extend or droop over or along a surface
  6. intr to be falling behind in a race or competition

    the favourite is trailing at the last fence

  7. tr to tow (a boat, caravan, etc) behind a motor vehicle
  8. tr to carry (a rifle) at the full length of the right arm in a horizontal position, with the muzzle to the fore
  9. intr to move wearily or slowly

    we trailed through the city

  10. tr (on television or radio) to advertise (a future programme) with short extracts
  11. trail one's coat
    to invite a quarrel by deliberately provocative behaviour
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


noun

  1. a print, mark, or marks made by a person, animal, or object
  2. the act or an instance of trailing
  3. the scent left by a moving person or animal that is followed by a hunting animal
  4. a path, track, or road, esp one roughly blazed
  5. something that trails behind or trails in loops or strands
  6. the part of a towed gun carriage and limber that connects the two when in movement and rests on the ground as a partial support when unlimbered
  7. engineering the distance between the point of contact of a steerable wheel and a line drawn from the swivel pin axis to the ground
  8. (on television or radio) an advertisement for a future programme
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˈtrail-less, adjective
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Other Words From

  • trailing·ly adverb
  • trailless adjective
  • non·trailing adjective
  • un·trailed adjective
  • un·trailing adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of trail1

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English trailen “to draw or drag in the rear”; compare Old English træglian “to tear off”; cognate with Middle Dutch traghelen “to drag”; akin to Latvian dragât “to tear off, drag”
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Word History and Origins

Origin of trail1

C14: from Old French trailler to draw, tow, from Vulgar Latin tragulāre (unattested), from Latin trāgula dragnet, from trahere to drag; compare Middle Dutch traghelen to drag
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. trail arms, Military.
    1. 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.
    2. a command to trail arms.

More idioms and phrases containing trail

see blaze a trail .
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Synonym Study

See path.
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Example Sentences

Once Lazarus has successfully hacked a target and taken control of the money, the group attempts to cover up its trail to throw off investigators.

Nearby, 1,000-acre Cambalache State Forest has eight miles of hiking trails.

Even though it didn’t necessarily take me a long time to do the trail, I still put my life in Portland on pause and set aside this time to do this.

Astronomers are now faced with the possibility that they might lose as much as two-thirds of their data to these satellite trails.

I was born on that mountain, and I’ve spent most of my 44 years riding these trails on my mountain bike and my dirt bike, trail-running, and exploring with my wife and daughters.

Recall how Clinton returned to Arkansas from the campaign trail to preside over the execution of a mentally disabled man.

To break her self-destructive cycle and heal, she decides to hike 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail solo.

Mothers pushed their children's heads down and they sped through town, leaving a trail of machine-gun shells in their wake.

One seemed particularly promising, by a trail with a big pile of natural brush to furnish a screen.

Instead, that trail seems to lead to another Spinal Solutions contractor, Ryan Zavilenski.

No trail was so obtuse, no thicket so dense that members of that regiment would not track them to their lair.

If it should ever be my lot to take the Long Trail at short notice, I hope it will be under a blue sky and a blazing sun.

When we got down into the bottom Mac turned aside to the deep-worn trail and glanced sharply down at the ruts.

She had been walking alone with her arms hanging limp, letting her white skirts trail along the dewy path.

By using his walking stick he discovered that they formed a trail to a point in the wall.

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Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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