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Vinony

tract

noun

  1. type of literary work
L28945 on Wikidata ↗

verb

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L28946 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /tɹækt/

noun

Etymology: From Middle English tract, tracte, traht (“a treatise, exposition, commentary”), from Old English traht, tract (“a treatise, exposition, commentary, text, passage”); and also from Middle English tract, tracte (“an expanse of space or time”); both from Latin tractus (“a haul, drawing, a drawing out”), the perfect passive participle of trahō. Doublet of trait.

  1. An area or expanse.

    “an unexplored tract of sea”

    “the deep tract of hell”

  2. A series of connected body organs, such as the digestive tract.
  3. A small booklet such as a pamphlet, often for promotional or informational uses.
  4. A brief treatise or discourse on a subject.

    “The church clergy at that writ the best collection of tracts against popery that ever appeared.”

  5. A commentator's view or perspective on a subject.
  6. Continued or protracted duration, length, extent

    “improved by tract of time”

    “Nay, in another case of litigation, the unjust Standard bearer, for his own profit, asserting that the cause belonged not to St. Edmund’s Court, but to his in Lailand Hundred, involved us in travellings and innumerable expenses, vexing the servants of St. Edmund for a long tract of time […]”

  7. Part of the proper of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations, used instead of the alleluia during Lenten or pre-Lenten seasons, in a Requiem Mass, and on a few other penitential occasions.
  8. Continuity or extension of anything.

    “in tract of speech”

  9. Traits; features; lineaments.

    “The discovery of a man's self by the tracts of his countenance is a great weakness.”

  10. The footprint of a wild animal.

    “The Prophet Telemus […]mark'd the Tracts of every Bird that flew”

  11. Track; trace.

    “Efface all tract of its traduction.”

    “But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on, / Leaving no tract behind.”

  12. Treatment; exposition.

    “The tract of every thing Would, by a good discourser, lose some life Which action's self was tongue to.”

verb

Etymology: From Latin tractāre, from tractō, from trahō + -tō.

  1. To treat, discourse, negotiate.