track

I UK [træk] / US noun
Word forms "track":
singular track plural tracks
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1) [countable] a path or road with a rough surface

I walked along a track to the mountain village.

dirt track:

There's a dirt track leading from the main road.

2) [countable/uncountable] a railway line

a railway track

a straight stretch of track

3)

a) [countable] a piece of ground used for racing

b) [uncountable] American athletics events in which the runners run around a circular course

4)

a) [countable/uncountable] a line or structure on which something moves along

a curtain track

b) a moving part of a large vehicle such as a tank on which it moves along the ground

5)

a) [countable] the direction in which something moves

The storm's track was similar to several others this year.

b) a way of achieving something

the fast track to wealth and prosperity

We're proceeding on a diplomatic track.

6)

a) [countable, usually plural] a mark that a person, animal, or vehicle leaves on the ground

b) tracks

[plural] marks left by a needle on the skin of someone who uses illegal drugs

7)

a) [countable] music a song or piece of music that is recorded on a CD, tape, or record

The 14 tracks vary from happy pop songs to sombre ballads.

b) one of the sections of a tape that records different sounds that can be mixed together

•

on the right/wrong track — doing or thinking the right/wrong things

The figures show we are on the right track.

stop (dead) in your tracks — to suddenly stop, for example because you are surprised

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw who she had with her.

- keep track

- make tracks

- off track

- on track

See:

beaten, cover I, lose, stop I

II UK [træk] / US verb
Word forms "track":
present tense I/you/we/they track he/she/it tracks present participle tracking past tense tracked past participle tracked
*

1) [transitive] to follow or find someone or something by looking for evidence that shows where they have gone

I tracked him as far as the factory.

a) [transitive] to follow the course of a moving object such as a ship or aircraft using special equipment

b) [transitive] to follow the development or progress of something

2) [intransitive] cinema to move a film camera along on a track

3) [intransitive] if weather tracks in a particular direction, it moves in that direction

There is a small depression tracking across the Irish Sea.

Phrasal verbs:

- track down