Tract
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ækt
Origin 1
From tractus, the perfect passive participle of Latin trahÅ.
Full definition of tract
Noun
tract
(plural tracts)- An area or expanse.an unexplored tract of sea
- Miltonthe deep tract of hell
- Addisona very high mountain joined to the mainland by a narrow tract of earth
- A series of connected body organs, as in the digestive tract.
- A small booklet such as a pamphlet, often for promotional or informational uses.
- A brief treatise or discourse on a subject.
- Jonathan SwiftThe church clergy at that writ the best collection of tracts against popery that ever appeared.
- A commentator's view or perspective on a subject.
- Continued or protracted duration, length, extent
- Miltonimproved by tract of time
- 1843, Thomas_Carlyle, , book 2, ch. XIV, 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 , involved us in travellings and innumerable expenses, vexing the servants of St. Edmund for a long tract of time ...
- 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.
- (obsolete) Continuity or extension of anything.the tract of speech
- (obsolete) Traits; features; lineaments.
- Francis BaconThe discovery of a man's self by the tracts of his countenance is a great weakness.
- (obsolete) The footprint of a wild animal.
- (obsolete) Track; trace.
- Sir Thomas BrowneEfface all tract of its traduction.
- ShakespeareBut flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on,
Leaving no tract behind. - (obsolete) Treatment; exposition.
Related terms
- tractate noun
Origin 2
From tractus, the participle stem of Latin trahere.