trail

TRAYL/tɹeɪl/

19 meanings of trail

1
nouncountable
A narrow, unpaved path over land, used by hikers, horseback riders, and others.
The hikers spent the morning climbing a steep mountain trail.
A network of trails crisscrosses the national park.
Similarpath, track, footpath
2
nouncountable
The track or mark showing the route something took after passing, such as animal footprints on the ground or a plane's contrail in the sky.
Detectives followed a trail of blood to the back room.
The comet left a glowing trail across the night sky.
Similarsign, spoor
Note
Figurative compounds carry much of the modern weight. A paper trail or data trail is the record someone's actions leave behind, followed much as a tracker follows marks on the ground. A condensation trail is the sky's version. Spoor and sign are trackers' words for the physical marks themselves, while trail covers both the marks and the route they reveal.
3
verbtransitive
To follow closely behind someone or something, often quietly keeping track of where they go.
Wolves will trail a wounded animal for miles.
The agent trailed the smuggler from the airport to the hotel.
Similarfollow, tail, shadow, track, stalk
Note
Hunting is built into this verb's history. Old French trailler meant both "to tow" and "to pick up the scent of a quarry," and English kept both strands. Behind it stands Latin tragula, a dragnet, probably kin to trahere, "to pull." The hunter who trails prey and the dragging meaning are two halves of one old verb. It takes a direct object: you trail someone rather than trail after them.
4
verbintransitive
To be behind an opponent in a competition; to be losing.
With minutes left, the defending champions still trailed by two goals.
Candidates who trail early often drop out of the race.
Similarlag
Oppositelead
5
verbtransitive
To drag something along behind you on the ground.
The bride trailed her veil along the marble steps.
Fishermen trail nets behind their boats to catch shrimp.
Similardrag, tow, pull, haul
6
verbintransitive
To move in a slow sweep, or hang down or drag loosely behind something.
Her gown trailed gracefully across the ballroom floor.
Ribbons trail from the back of the kite.
Similarsweep, drag, stream, dangle, hang
7
nouncountable
A route or circuit that someone follows from one place to the next.
The senator returned to the campaign trail after a brief illness.
Lecturers on the speaking trail visit a dozen cities each spring.
Similarcircuit, route, road
8
verbtransitive
To leave a trail of something behind as you move along.
The leaking can trailed paint across the driveway.
Snails trail a glistening slime wherever they crawl.
Similarleave, drip
9
verbintransitive
To travel by following existing paths or by making new ones.
The expedition trailed north along the frozen river for weeks.
Settlers who trail across the plains face many dangers.
Similartrek, travel, journey
Note
Travel-diary English measures progress with it: a party trailed three miles down a slope and made "thirteen miles trailed to-day." It pairs readily with back. A displaced people trailed back to Iowa, and hunters trailed back across open country. The verb suits overland journeys on foot or horseback through rough or open land.
10
verbintransitive
To move along slowly and wearily, as if dragging yourself reluctantly.
She trailed wearily up the stairs after the long shift.
Latecomers trail into the hall long after the lecture begins.
Similartrudge, plod, traipse, straggle, drift

11
verbintransitive
To grow by spreading along the ground or climbing upward, as certain plants do.
Ivy will trail along the fence if it is left alone.
The vines trailed across the old stone wall as the years passed.
Similarcreep, spread, climb, ramble, sprawl
12
nouncountable
A short promotional clip broadcast on television to preview an upcoming film or program.
The channel ran a thirty-second trail for its upcoming drama series.
Viewers complained that the trail gave away too much of the plot.
Similartrailer, preview, promo, teaser
Note
A broadcaster's word for its own advertising: the short promo a channel runs for a coming film or program. Trailer is the general term, and trail is the shorter industry word, produced and scheduled by the channel itself. It pairs with the verb for previewing, so a new drama can be trailed by its own trail.
13
verbtransitive
To broadcast a preview of a film or show, or to release part of a report ahead of its full publication.
The broadcaster trailed its fall lineup across several prime-time slots.
The agency chose to trail the key findings a week ahead of the full report.
Similarpreview, promote, advertise
Note
Advance publicity is the territory here: a film is trailed on television, and a budget statement is trailed before it is delivered. The verb is most at home in the passive and in the compound much-trailed. That compound implies the content was previewed so thoroughly that the event itself held no surprises. Its noun partner is the television promo.
14
verbtransitive
To form a path or track through an area by passing across it repeatedly.
Generations of walkers had trailed a clear route over the ridge.
Wild animals trail well-worn paths through the forest.
Similartread, wear, beat
Note
Land managers have made a technical noun of it: social trailing means the informal paths visitors wear into ground where no trail was built. Park and monument plans list it with vandalism and spreading campsites as resource damage. Older writing uses the verb more loosely, for robes or dresses that trailed the grass, where it blurs into the loosely hanging meaning.
15
verbtransitive
To move livestock between places by herding the animals along a trail.
Cowboys once trailed huge herds north toward the railroad towns.
Each spring the family would trail their cattle to higher ground.
Similardrive, herd, move
Note
Ranching and frontier history use it with the herd as object: backcountry drovers trailed herds of livestock up the wagon road to Philadelphia, and lambs were trailed ten days from their allotment. The passive is common, as in cattle being trailed to better grass. Park rules set it against free trailing or loose herding, where stock stray from the established route.
16
nouncountable
The horizontal distance between the point where a wheel meets the ground and the point where the steering axis reaches the ground.
Increasing the fork offset reduces the trail and makes the steering quicker.
Designers chose a longer trail to keep the motorcycle stable on the highway.
17
nouncountable
In graph theory, a walk through a graph in which no edge is repeated.
The student traced a trail across the network without repeating any edge.
Every path is a trail, but not every trail is a path.
Note
Graph theory ranks walks by what they may repeat, and a trail sits in the middle. It may pass through the same vertex more than once but never reuses an edge. A path is stricter and forbids repeated vertices as well. The idea underlies Euler's characterization of traversable graphs, those that can be covered by a single trail running through every edge.
18
verbtransitive
To carry a firearm with the breech close to the ground and the barrel inclined forward, holding it by the middle with the right hand.
The squad trailed their muskets while moving quickly through the brush.
Recruits learn to trail a rifle when speed matters more than ceremony.
Note
A term from military drill, and the name fits the posture. With the breech lowered toward the ground and the muzzle leaning ahead, the weapon rides low beside the soldier, an echo of the dragging meaning. The position served rapid movement rather than ceremonial display, which is why it belongs to the field more than to the parade ground.
19
verbdatedtransitive
To take advantage of someone's ignorance; to impose upon or deceive them.
The swindlers trailed every greenhorn who wandered into town.
I presently perceived she was (what is vernacularly termed) trailing Mrs. Dent; that is, playing on her ignorance.
1847, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Jane Eyre. An Autobiography.
Similardupe, fleece, con, cheat, swindle
Note
Now dated, this use already counted as slang when Charlotte Brontë wrote Jane Eyre (1847). Her narrator flags it as "what is vernacularly termed" trailing Mrs. Dent and explains it as playing on her ignorance. Readers will meet it in older fiction. In modern writing it would be misread as following someone, so impose upon or take advantage of are the safer choices.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English trailen, from Old French trailler ("to tow; pick up the scent of a quarry"), from Vulgar Latin *tragulāre ("to drag"), from Latin tragula ("dragnet, javelin thrown by a strap"), probably related to Latin trahere ("to pull, drag along").