tracker 
one lever to another: opposed to sticker, which 
acts by pushing. See cut under organ. 
The tracker attached to the arm, . . . acted on by the 
pipe valve, pulls it shut, and no air is admitted to the pipe. 
Set. Amer., N. S., LV. 83. 
3. nl. See sticker^, 6. 
tracker 2 (trak'er), n. [< track* + -er*.] 1. One 
who or that which pursues or hunts by follow- 
ing the track or trail ; a trailer. 
He . . . followes pretty feet and insteps like a hare 
tracker. Brome, Sparagus Garden, iii. 4. 
And of the trackers of the deer 
Scarce half the lessening pack was near. 
Scott, L. of the L., 1.4. 
The Missourian, an excellent tracker, took up the bloody 
trail. T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXVI. 209. 
2. One who observes and follows. 
The country parson, who is a diligent observer and 
tracker of God's ways, sets up as many encouragements to 
goodness as he can. G. Herbert, Country Parson, xi. 
track-harness (trak'har"nes), . A light, plain, 
breast-collar single harness. E. H. Knight. 
track-hound (trak'hound), n. A dog which 
hunts or tracks by scent, as a sleuth-hound. 
We retraced our steps, intending to return on the mor- 
row with a good track-hound. The Century, XXXVI. 42. 
track-indicator (trak'in"di-ka-tor), n. On a 
railroad, an apparatus for registering the aline- 
ment, level, and general condition of a track 
on which a car containing the apparatus is 
moving. It is used on a dynagraph-car. See 
dynagrapfi. 
track-layer (trak'la"er), n. A workman occu- 
pied in the laying of railroad-tracks, 
trackless (trak'les), a. [< traclft + -less.] Un- 
trodden; without path or track; unmarked by 
footprints or paths : as, trackless deserts. 
Where birds with painted oars did ne'er 
Row through the trackless ocean of the air. 
Couiey, The Muse. 
tracklessly (trak'les-li), adv. So as to leave 
no track. 
Like wind upon the waters tracklessly. George Eliot. 
tracklessness (trak'les-nes), n. The state of 
being without a track or path. 
trackman (trak'man), n. ; pi. trackmen (-men). 
One employed to look after a railway-track. 
The trackmen, in their red overstockings, their many- 
colored blouses, and their brilliant toques, look like 
gnomes. Scribner's Mag., IV. 646. 
trackmaster (trak'mas"ter), n. A railway of- 
ficial who has charge of a track. 
track-pot (trak'pot), n. [Also treck-pot, truck- 
pot; < track* + pot*.] A pot in which tea is 
drawn or infused ; a tea-pot. [Scotch.] 
track-raiser (trak'ra/zer), n. A tool of any 
kind, as a rail-jack or lifting-jack, for raising 
rails which have become sprung below the 
proper level. Sometimes a screw-jack mounted on a 
tripod is used, the hook being pushed below the rail, and 
the screw turned by a handspike. 
track-road (trak'rod), re. [< track* + road.] 
A tow-path. 
track-scale (trak'skal), n. A scale which weighs 
a section of railway-track with the load stand- 
ing on it. E. H. Knight. 
track-scout (trak'skout), n. [< track* + scout*, 
after D. irefc-sc/mii, a draw-boat, < trekken, draw, 
+ schuit, boat: see trekschuit.] Same as trek- 
schuit. 
It would not be amiss If he travelled over England in a 
stage-coach, and made the tour of Holland inatrack-scoute. 
Martinus Scriblerus, i. 11. 
Shallops, track-scouts, and row-boats with one accord 
took place in line. Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 681. 
track-walker (trak'wa/ker), n. A trackman 
who inspects a certain section of railway-track, 
especially before the passage of very fast trains, 
to look for breaks or other defects, and to tight- 
en up wedges and nuts. 
The chapters give a logical account of the origin and 
development of Railways in America, and describe the 
work of the railroad man from president to track-walker. 
Scribner's Mag., VI., p. 29 of adv'ts. 
trackway (trak'wa), n. A tramway. 
tract 1 ! (trakt), v. t. [< L. tractus, pp. of tra- 
here, draw, carry off, draw out, protract, delay, 
retard; prob. not connected with E. draw, 
drag. Hence ult. (from L. trahere) E. tract*, 
n., with its doublets trait, trace 2 , etc., tracft, 
tracfl, etc., attract, contract, detract, etc., ex- 
tray, portray, treat, treatise, treaty, tractate, 
tractable, etc., attrahent, contrahent, subtrahend, 
etc., trace*, (root*, etc. The verb tract*, with 
the noun, has been more or less confused in 
some senses with track* and track'*.] 1. To 
draw ; draw out ; protract ; waste. 
He [CrassusJ tracted time, and gaue them leisure to pre- 
pare to encounter his force. North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 474. 
6414 
Tractarian 
Yet (trading time) he thought he would provide termined connections. Tract of Dowers, the antero- 
No less to keep then coole the Assiegers pride. lateral ascending tract (which see, above). 
T. Hudson, tr. of Du Bartas's Judith, iii. tract 2 t (trakt), c. t. [< L. tractare, handle, 
2. To trace ; track ; follow. 
Well did he tract his steps as he did ryde. 
Spenser, F. Q., VI. vii. 3. 
His heart hath wrestled with deaths panes, 
From whose sterne cave none tracts a backward path. 
Marslon and Barksted, Insatiate Countess, i. 
tract 1 (trakt), n. [Early mod. E. tracte; < L. 
tractus, a drawing, train, extent, a district, ex- 
tent of time, in gen. extension, length, ML. a 
treating, handling, doing, business, commerce, 
treat, freq. of trahere, draw: see treat, and cf. 
tract*.] 1. To handle; treat. 
The erle . . . grauously perswaded the magestrates of 
the citees and tonnes, and so gently and familiarly vsed 
and tracted the vulgare people. Hall, Hen. IV., an. 1. 
Hence 2. To discourse or treat of; describe; 
delineate. 
The man [Ulysses] . . . 
Saw many towns and men, and could their manners tract. 
B. Jonson, tr. of Horace's Art of Poetry. 
a song, etc., in a~great variety of uses; < tra- tract 3 (trakt), . [< ML. tractus, a treating, 
here, pp. tractus, draw: see tract*, v. From handling, etc., an anthem, particular uses of L. 
the same L. noun are also ult. E. trait and tractus, a drawing : see tract' 2 , and cf. tractate.] 
trace' 2 .] 1. Extent; a continued passage or 1- A short treatise, discourse, or dissertation ; 
duration; process; lapse: used chiefly in the especially, a brief printed treatise or discourse 
phrase tract of time. 
This In tracte of tyme made hym welthy. 
Faoyan, Chron., Ivi. 
Silly Wormes in tracte of time ouerthrowe . . . statelye 
Townes. Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. no. 
A lifelong tract of time reveal 'd. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xlvi. 
2f. Course or route ; track ; way. 
Vnderstandyng, by reason of the sphere, that if I shulde 
sayle by the way of the northwest wynde I shulde by a 
shorter tracte cooiue to India, I thereuppon caused the 
kynge to bee aduertised of my diuise. 
H. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Cabot (First Books on America, 
[ed. Arber, p. 288). 
3f. Course or movement; action. 
The whole tract of a Comedy shoulde be full of delight, 
as the Tragedy shoulde be still maintained in a well raised 
admiration. Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie. 
4f. Attractive influence; attraction; charm. 
Hell never own me, 
But I am taken ! the fine tract of it 
Pulls me along ! to hear men such professors 
Grown in our subtlest sciences ! 
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, ii. 1. 
5. Extent ; expanse ; hence, a region of indefi- 
nite extent; a more or less extended area or 
on some topic of practical religion. 
The church clergy at that time are allowed to have 
written the best collection of tracts against popery. 
Siirifl, The Presbyterians' Plea of Merit. 
Men . . . who live a recluse and studious life, . . . and 
pore over black-letter tracts. Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 284. 
2. In the Roman and some other Western litur- 
gies, an anthem consisting of verges from Scrip- 
ture (generally from the Psalms), sung instead 
of the Alleluia after the gradual, or instead 
of the gradual, from Septuagesima till Easter 
eve : so called from being sung ' continuously ' 
(tractim) by the cantor without interruption 
of other voices. Also tractus Albertlne tracts. 
See Albertine. Brehon Tracts. See brehun. Oxford 
tracts, a series of ninety pamphlets, entitled Tracts for 
the Times, published at Oxford from 18S3 to 1841, the doc- 
trines of which formed the basis of the Tractarian move- 
ment See Tractarianism. Tract No. 90. See Tractari- 
anism.-Tia.ct society, a society Jor the printing and dis- 
tribution of religious tracts. 
tract 4 t (trakt), n. [An erroneous form of tracJfl, 
simulating tract*.] Track; footprint. 
They lookt about, but nowhere could espye 
Tract of his foot. Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 19. 
They [the English] could not come near them [Indians], 
stretch of land or water : as, a tract of woodland, but followed them by y tracte of their feet sundrie miles. 
All this tract of the Alpes ... was heretofore called 
. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 81. 
Alpes Coctise. 
For heaven hides nothing from thy view, 
Nor the deep tract of hell. 
Coryat, Crudities, I. 90. tractability (trak-ta-bil'i-ti), n. ; pi. tractabili- 
ties (-tiz). [< L. tr'actabilita(t-)s, < tractl>ili*, 
Where Apollo's Fane refulgent stands 
Was heretofore a Tract of Pasture-Lands. 
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
6f. Trait; lineament; feature. 
The discovery of a man's self by the tracts of his coun- 
tenance Is a great weakness and betraying. 
Bacon, Simulation and Dissimulation (ed. 1887). 
Milton, P. L., I. 28. tractable: see tractable.] The state or process 
of being tractable; especially, docility; sub- 
missiveness. 
I trace lines of force in her face which make me scepti- 
cal of her tractabttity. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxix. 
A wild man, not of the woods, but the cloisters, nor yet 
civilized into the tractabilities of home. 
Bulwer, Caxtons, i. 1. (Latham.) 
7. In anat., an area or expanse; the extension tractable (trak'ta-bl), a. [In other use treata- 
of an organ or a system: as, the digestive or ble (q. v.); OF. traitable, traictable, F. traitable 
alimentary tract; the optic tract. Also called = Pr. tractable = Sp. tratable = Pg. tratavel = 
tractus (which see). 8. In ornith., a pteryla, 
or feathered place : distinguished from space. 
The former places are called tracts or pteryhe. 
Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 87. 
9. In her., same as treasure Anterolateral as- 
cending tract, a somewhat comma-shaped tract occupy- 
ing the periphery of the anterolateral column of the spinal 
cord, extending from the anterior extremity of the cere- 
bellar tract nearly or quite to the anterior roots. The 
fibers are of medium size, and degenerate upward. Also 
called tract of Sowers. Anterolateral descending 
tract, a tract of white fibers in the anterolateral column 
of the spinal cord, bordering the anterolateral ascending 
tract on its inner side, and extending from the crossed 
pyramidal tract nearly or quite to the anterior fissure. It 
is marked by many fibers which degenerate downward 
but these are so mingled with other fibers that it is far 
from being a pure tract See cut under spinal Cere- 
bellar tract, a tract in the lateral column of the spinal 
cord and medulla, extending from the lumbar enlarge- 
ment of the cord to the superior vermiform process of the 
cerebellum. Ciliated tracts. See ciliate. Descend- 
ing comma tract, a somewhat comma-shaped group of 
fibers in the central section of the external posterior col- 
umn of the spinal cord, which degenerates downward for 
a short distance. It has been made out only in the cervical 
and upper thoracic regions. Direct cerebellar tract 
Same as cerebellar tract. Intermediolateral tract, the 
so-called lateral gray cornu of the spinal cord, most con- 
It, trattabile, < L. tractabilis, that maybe touch- 
ed, handled, or managed, < tractare, take in 
hand, handle, manage, freq. of trahere, draw: 
see tract*, tract 2 , and treat.] If. Capable of 
being touched, handled, or felt; palpable. 
But they [the angels] had palpable and tractable bodies 
for the time, as appears plainly, ver. 4, by washing their 
feet. Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. S12. 
2. Easily handled or wrought. 
This metall [gold] is a body tractable and bryght, of col- 
oure lyke vnto the soonne. And, . . . beinge scene, it 
greatly disposeth the myndes of men to desyre it and es- 
teme it as a thyng most precious. 
JL Eden, tr. of Vannuccio Biringuccio (First Books on 
[America, ed. Arber, p. 362). 
Hence 3. Manageable; governable; easily 
led; docile; pliant. 
It Is seldome sene that frendship is betwene these par- 
sones : a man sturdie, of oppinion inflexible, . . . with him 
that is tractable, and with reason persuaded. 
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, ii. 11. 
The reason of these holy maids will win her ; 
You! find her tractable to any thing 
For your content or his. 
Massinger and Dekker, Virgin-Martyr, iii. 
When England . . . shall meet with Princes tractable 
SsskueV's a c 0r *s CiC [,f "^ ff OTt ^SMT t.M^-riJKSOTSSr" 
teWS&SS feTO33 SSff ** Ee " ion in K - " 
formed by the ascending fibers of the lateral sections of tractablenCSS (trak ta-bl-nes), n. Tracta- 
the lateral bundles of the posterior roots of the spinal bility. 
nerves, which appear thus to pass upward for some dis- TA ' 
tance before they terminate in the posterior gray cornu J,' wl11 b , e _ b .J5 cted . that whatsoever I fancy of the trac- 
Also called posterior marginal tract or zone, or Lissauer's taol ? ne ^ of children . . there are many who will never 
zone. See cut under spinal.- Olfactory tract, the rhin- ap P^ themselves to their books. Locke, Education, 86. 
encepnalon, or olfactory process of the prosencephalon, tractably (trak'ta-bli), adv. In a tractable 
especially when, as in man and the higher vertebrates manner with comnlianpp or docilitv 
generally, it is comparatively small and of simple band- , ' llu "' ,. , 
like character, whence it is also erroneously called olfac- Tractarian (trak-ta ri-an), a. and n. [< tract* 
tory nerve. Optic tract. See optic &nA tractus. Pedun- "" -arian.] I. a. Pertaining to the Traetarians 
cular tract. Same as pyramidal tract. Posterior mar- or their doctrines. 
ginal tract. Same as Lissauer's tract. Powder-down 
tracts. See powder-down. Pyramidal tract. See 
pyramidal Respiratory tract, (a) The middle column 
of the spinal marrow, whence, according to Sir Charles 
Bell, the respiratory nerves originate, (b) The air-passages 
collectively. Semilunar tract, a tract of white fibers, 
in the lateral part of the cerebellar hemisphere, of mule- 
II. n. One of the promoters or adherents of 
Tractarianism. 
His religious opinions, . . . said the clergyman, were 
those of a sound Churchman ; by which he meant, I rather 
suspect, that he was a pretty smart tractarian. 
H. Kingsley, Geoffry Hamlyu, xlviii. 
