tract

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An area or expanse.

   an unexplored tract of sea

2. 2
   noun

   A brief treatise or discourse on a subject.

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

3. 3
   noun

   Continued or protracted duration, length, extent

   improved by tract of time

4. 4
   noun

   Continuity or extension of anything.

   in tract of speech

5. 5
   noun

   Traits; features; lineaments.

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

6. 6
   noun

   The footprint of a wild animal.

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

7. 7
   noun

   Track; trace.

   Efface all tract of its traduction.

8. 8
   noun

   Treatment; exposition.

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

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.