trackman

[Eng. track, s., and man.] A man employed to look after the track or permanent way of a railway. "The trackmen on the railroads constantly find them with broken necks lying along the track."- Scribner's Magazine, Aug., 1887, p. 425. trăck-scout, * track-scoute, subst . [Dutch trekschuit, from trekken to draw, and schuit =a boat.] A boat or ve el employed on the canals in Holland, and usually drawn by a horse. "It would not be ami if he traveled over England in a stage-coach, and made the tour of Holland in a track scoute."- Arbuthnot & Pope; Martimus Scriblerus. track'-way, subst. [Eng. track, s., and way.] A beaten path; an open track or road. "Their anxious followers commenced to ride the broad trackways."- Field , Jan. 23, 1886. tract (1), *trackt, *tracte, s . [Lat. tractus =a drawing out, the course of a river, a tract or region; prop. pa. par. of traho to draw. Tract was often confused both with trace and track ; it is really related to the former only.) [TRAIT.] *1. A protracting or extending. "By tract of time to wear out Hannibal's force and power."- North : Plutarch , p. 152. *2. Continued duration; proce , length, extent. "This in tracte of tyme made hym welthy."-Fabyan: Chronycle, ch. lvi. *3. Continuity or extension of anything. "In tract of speech a dubious word is easily known by the coherence with the rest." - Holder . (Todd.) 4. Something drawn out or extended; extent, expanse. "The deep tract of Hell."- Milton : P. L., i. 28. 5. A region or quantity of land or water of an undefined extent. IMG:content-1295.png:[blocks in formation] "The tract of everything Would by a good discourser lose some life." Shakesp.: Henry VIII ., i. 1. *8. Track, trace, footprints. "The tracts averse, a lying notice gave, And led the searcher backward from the cave." Dryden: Virgil's Aneid , viii. 277. *9. Traits, features, lineaments. "The discovery of a man's self by the tract of his countenance is a great weakne ."-Bacon. (1) Olfactory tract: Anat .: A nerve-like proce extending from the front of the anterior perforated spot on the cerebrum. It is lodged in a hollow in the under surface of the frontal lobe, close to the longitudinal fi ure, and ends anteriorly in an oval swelling called an olfactory bulb. (2) Optic tracts : [OPTIC TRACTS.] (3) Respiratory tract : [RESPIRATORY-CENTER.] trăct (2), s. [An abbrev. of tractate (q. v.).] 1. Ord. Lang.: A written discourse or di ertation, usually of short extent; a treatise, and particularly a short treatise on practical religion. "She must needs write a tract about certain miracles that were or were not-for I'll not answer for either-performed by a saint that for many years back nobody had paid any attention to."-Lever. Dodd Family Abroad , let. İxviii. Frequently used adjectively; as, a Tract Society -that is, a society established for the printing and distribution of tracts; a tract distributor, . 2. Roman Ritual : Verses of Scripture said, in stead of the Alleluia, after the Gradual, in all ma es from Septuagesima to Holy Saturday. Le Brun ( Explic . de la Me e , i. 205), says that the name meant something sung tractim -i. e., without breaks or interruption of other voices, as in responsories and antiphons-by the cantor alone. ( Addis & Arnold.) For the difference between tract and e ay , see ESSAY, 8. meeting of the Society in May in each year. The American Tract Society is an a ociation having the same object in view as the British society, and is formed on e entially the same lines. Like its English predece or it is unsectarian. *tract (1), v . t . [TRACT (1), s.] 1. To draw out, to protract, to delay. encounter his force."- North: Plutarch, p. 474. 2. To track, to trace. "As shepheardes curre, that in darke eveninges shade Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade." Spenser: F. Q., II. vi. 39. 3. To trace out. "The man who, after Troy was sackt, Saw many towns and men, and could their manners tract." Ben Jonson: Horace: Art of Poetry. Perhaps in this extract the meaning is "discourse on, tell, describe," in which case it belongs properly to TRACT (2), v. *tract (2), *traict, v . i . [TRACT (2), s ., or Lat. tracto =to handle.] To treat, to discourse. "They traict of the risinge and goinge downe of plan ettes." Elyot: Governor, bk. i., ch. xv.