TRAIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does trail mean? 

• TRAIL (noun)
  The noun TRAIL has 3 senses:

1. a track or mark left by something that has passed

2. a path or track roughly blazed through wild or hilly country

3. evidence pointing to a possible solution

  Familiarity information: TRAIL used as a noun is uncommon.

• TRAIL (verb)
  The verb TRAIL has 5 senses:

1. to lag or linger behind

2. go after with the intent to catch

3. move, proceed, or walk draggingly or slowly

4. hang down so as to drag along the ground

5. drag loosely along a surface; allow to sweep the ground

  Familiarity information: TRAIL used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRAIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A track or mark left by something that has passed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

a tear left its trail on her cheek

Hypernyms ("trail" is a kind of...):

course; path; track (a line or route along which something travels or moves)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trail"):

slot (the trail of an animal (especially a deer))

spoor (the trail left by a person or an animal; what the hunter follows in pursuing game)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A path or track roughly blazed through wild or hilly country

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("trail" is a kind of...):

cart track; cartroad; track (any road or path affording passage especially a rough one)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trail"):

cattle trail (a trail over which cattle were driven to market)

deer trail (a trail worn by the passage of deer)

horse-trail (a trail for horses)

Indian trail (a trail through the wilderness worn by Amerindians)

mountain trail (a trail through mountainous country)

ski run; ski trail (trail or slope prepared for skiing)

Instance hyponyms:

Iditarod Trail (a trail that extends 1,100 miles from Anchorage over the Alaska Range to Nome)

Santa Fe Trail (a trail that extends from Missouri to New Mexico; an important route for settlers moving west in the 19th century)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Evidence pointing to a possible solution

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

lead; track; trail

Context example:

the trail led straight to the perpetrator

Hypernyms ("trail" is a kind of...):

evidence; grounds (your basis for belief or disbelief; knowledge on which to base belief)

• TRAIL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they trail    ... he / she / it trails   
Past simple: trailed   
Past participle: trailed   
-ing form: trailing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To lag or linger behind

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

drag; drop back; drop behind; get behind; hang back; trail

Context example:

But in so many other areas we still are dragging

Hypernyms (to "trail" is one way to...):

dawdle; fall back; fall behind; lag (hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

trailer (someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Go after with the intent to catch

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

chase; chase after; dog; give chase; go after; tag; tail; track; trail

Context example:

the dog chased the rabbit

Hypernyms (to "trail" is one way to...):

follow; pursue (follow in or as if in pursuit)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "trail"):

tree (chase an animal up a tree)

quest (search the trail of (game))

hound; hunt; trace (pursue or chase relentlessly)

run down (pursue until captured)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They trail the car down the avenue

Derivation:

trailing (the pursuit (of a person or animal) by following tracks or marks they left behind)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Move, proceed, or walk draggingly or slowly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

shack; trail

Context example:

The Mercedes trailed behind the horse cart

Hypernyms (to "trail" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

trailer (someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Hang down so as to drag along the ground

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The bride's veiled trailed along the ground

Verb group:

trail; train (drag loosely along a surface; allow to sweep the ground)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Drag loosely along a surface; allow to sweep the ground

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

trail; train

Context example:

She trained her long scarf behind her

Hypernyms (to "trail" is one way to...):

drag (pull, as against a resistance)

Verb group:

trail (hang down so as to drag along the ground)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

trailer (a wheeled vehicle that can be pulled by a car or truck and is equipped for occupancy)

trailer (a large transport conveyance designed to be pulled by a truck or tractor)

 Context examples 

And strange Buck was to him, for of the many Southland dogs he had known, not one had shown up worthily in camp and on trail.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He began to accompany his mother on the meat-trail, and he saw much of the killing of meat and began to play his part in it.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The idea was to follow the trail of these phosphorus-bearing compounds.

(Astronomers Reveal Interstellar Thread of One of Life’s Building Blocks, ESO)

Calpain2 (M-calpain) is believed to be membrane bound and functions at the trailing edge of the migrating cell to cleave the integrins in response to growth factor receptor signals.

(Calpain-2 Cell Motility Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

I knew that it was the mark made by Brunton in his measurements, and that I was still upon his trail.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You see how easy it was for me to lay my hands upon you when once I had started upon the right trail.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He started the dogs along the Yukon trail.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Skinsky took it—and here we lose the trail.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“I am on the trail of my life now, Mr. Holmes,” said he.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"By George, this must be the trail of the father of all birds!"

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)