track scout (trakskout)

[ It would not be ami if he travelled over England in a stage-coach, and made the tour of Holland in a track - scoute . Martin us Scriblerus , i. 11. Shallops, track - scouts , and row-boats with one accord took place in line. Harper's Mag ., LXXVIII. 681. track-walker (trak'waker), n. A trackman who inspects a certain section of railway-track, especially before the pa age of very fast trains, to look for breaks or other defects, and to tighten up wedges and nuts. The chapters give a logical account of the origin and development of Railways in America, and describe the work of the railroad man from president to track - walker . Scribner's Mag . , VI., p. 29 of adv'ts. A tramway. trackway (trak'wā), n. tract (trakt), v. t. [L. tractus, pp. of tra here, draw, carry off, draw out, protract, delay, retard; prob. not connected with E. draw, drag. Hence ult. (from L. trahere ) E. tract, n., with its doublets trait, trace2, etc., tract2, tract3, etc., attract, contract, detract, etc., extray, portray, treat, treatise, treaty, tractate, tractable, etc., attrahent, contrahent, subtrahend, etc., trace1, track3, etc. The verb tract1, with the noun, has been more or le confused in some senses with track1 and track2.] 1. To draw; draw out; protract; waste. He [Cra us] tracted time, and gaue them leisure to prepare to encounter his force. North , tr. of Plutarch, p. 474. never own me, But I am taken! the fine tract of it Pulls me along! to hear men such profe ors Grown in our subtlest sciences! B. Jonson, Devil is an A , ii. 1. 5. Extent; expanse; hence, a region of indefi- nite extent; a more or le extended area or stretch of land or water: as, a tract of woodland. All this tract of the Alpes.. was heretofore called Alpes Coctiæ. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 90. For heaven hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of hell. Milton , P. L., 1. 28. Where Apollo's Fane refulgent stands Was heretofore a Tract of Pasture-Lands. Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 61. Trait; lineament; feature. The discovery of a man's self by the tracts of his countenance is a great weakne and betraying. Bacon , Simulation and Di imulation (ed. 1887). 7. In an at., an area or expanse; the extension of an organ or a system: as, the digestive or alimentary tract; the optic tract. Also called tractus (which see).-8. In ornith., a pteryla, or feathered place: distinguished from space. The former places are called tracts or pterylæ. Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 87. 9. In her., same as tre ure. - Anterolateral ascending tract, a somewhat comma-shaped tract occupy cord, extending from the anterior extremity of the cereing the periphery of the anterolateral column of the spinal bellar tract nearly or quite to the anterior roots. The fibers are of medium size, and degenerate upward. Also called tract of Gowers. Anterolateral descending tract, a tract of white fibers in the anterolateral column of the spinal cord, bordering the anterolateral ascending tract on its inner side, and extending from the cro ed pyramidal tract nearly or quite to the anterior fi ure. It is marked by many fibers which degenerate downward, but these are so mingled with other fibers that it is far from being a pure tract. See cut under spinal. - Cerebellar tract, a tract in the lateral column of the spinal cord and medulla, extending from the lumbar enlargement of the cord to the superior vermiform proce of the cerebellum.- Ciliated tracts. See ciliate. Descending comma tract, a somewhat comma-shaped group of fibers in the central section of the external posterior column of the spinal cord, which degenerates downward for a short distance. It has been made out only in the cervical and upper thoracic regions. - Direct cerebellar tract. Same as cerebellar tract. - Intermediolateral tract, the so-called lateral gray cornu of the spinal cord, most conspicuous in the thoracic region. See cut under spinal. Li auer's tract, a small tract of fine nerve-fibers lying at the tip of the posterior gray cornu of the spinal cord, formed by the ascending fibers of the lateral sections of the lateral bundles of the posterior roots of the spinal nerves, which appear thus to pa upward for some distance before they terminate in the posterior gray cornu. Also called posterior marginal tract or zone, or Li auer's See cut under spinal. - Olfactory tract, the rhin encephalon, or olfactory proce of the prosencephalon, especially when, as in man and the higher vertebrates generally, it is comparatively small and of simple band like character, whence it is also erroneously called olfac tory nerve. Optic tract. See optic and tractus. - Peduncular tract. Same as pyramidal tract. - Posterior marginal tract. Same as Li auer's tract. Powder-down tracts. See powder - down. Pyramidal tract. See pyramidal. Respiratory tract. ( a ) The middle column of the spinal marrow, whence, according to Sir Charles Bell, the respiratory nerves originate. (b) The air-pa ages collectively. Semilunar tract, a tract of white fibers, in the lateral part of the cerebellar hemisphere, of unde Swift, The Presbyterians' Plea of Merit. and who live a recluse and studious life,. pore over black-letter tracts. Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 284. 2. In the Roman and some other Western liturgies, an anthem consisting of verses from Scripture (generally from the Psalms), sung instead of the Alleluia after the gradual, or instead of the gradual, from Septuagesima till Easter eve: so called from being sung 'continuously' (tractim) by the cantor without interruption of other voices. Also tractus. - Albertine tracts. See Albertine. - Brehon Tracts. See brehon. - Oxford tracts, a series of ninety pamphlets, entitled Tracts for the Times, published at Oxford from 1833 to 1841, the doctrines of which formed the basis of the Tractarian movement. See Tractarian ism. - Tract No. 90. See Tractari anism.-Tract society, a society for the printing and distribution of religious tracts. tract (trakt), n. [An erroneous form of track2, simulating tract1.] Track; footprint. They lookt about, but nowhere could espye Tract of his foot. Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 19. They [the English] could not come near them [Indians], but followed them by ye tracte of their feet sundrie miles. Bradford , Plymouth Plantation, p. 81. tractability (trak-ta-bil'i-ti), n.; pl. tractabili ties (-tiz). [L. tractabilita (t-) s , tractabilis , tractable: see tractable .) The state or proce of being tractable; especially, docility; submi ivene . I trace lines of force in her face which make me sceptical of her tractability . Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxix. A wild man, not of the woods, but the cloisters, nor yet civilized into the tractabilities of home. Bulwer, Caxtons, i. 1. ( Latham.) tractable (trak'ta-bl), a. [In other use treat a ble (q. v.); OF. trait able, traictable, F. trait able = Pr. tractable = Sp. tratable = Pg. tratavel = It. tratt a bile, But they [the angels) had palpable and tractable bodies for the time, as appears plainly, ver. 4, by washing their Rev. T. Adams , Works, II. 512. feet. 2. Easily handled or wrought. This metall [gold] is a body tractable and bryght, of coloure lyke vnto the soonne. And,. beinge seene, it greatly disposeth the myndes of men to desyre it and es teme it as a thyng most precious. R. Eden, tr. of Vannuccio Biringuccio (First Books on [America, ed. Arber, p. 362). Hence-3. Manageable; governable; easily led; docile; pliant. It is seldome sene that frendship is betwene these parsones: a man sturdie, of oppinion inflexible,. with him that is tractable , and with reason persuaded. Sir T. Elyot , The Govern our, ii. 11. The reason of these holy maids will win her; You'l find her tractable to any thing For your content or his. When England Mas singer and Dekker , Virgin-Martyr, iii. shall meet with Princes tractable Milton , Reformation in Eng., ii. Tracta- to the Prelacy, then much mischiefe is like to ensue.