tract









tract


noun

  1. an expanse or area of land, water, etc.; region; stretch.
  2. Anatomy.
    1. a definite region or area of the body, especially a group, series, or system of related parts or organs: the digestive tract.
    2. a bundle of nerve fibers having a common origin and destination.
  3. a stretch or period of time; interval; lapse.
  4. Roman Catholic Church. an anthem consisting of verses of Scripture, sung after the gradual in the Mass from Septuagesima until the day before Easter and on certain other occasions, taking the place of the alleluias and the verse that ordinarily accompany the gradual.
  5. Ornithology. a pteryla.

noun

  1. a brief treatise or pamphlet for general distribution, usually on a religious or political topic.

noun

  1. an extended area, as of land
  2. anatomy a system of organs, glands, or other tissues that has a particular functionthe digestive tract
  3. a bundle of nerve fibres having the same function, origin, and terminationthe optic tract
  4. archaic an extended period of time

noun

  1. a treatise or pamphlet, esp a religious or moralistic one

noun

  1. RC Church an anthem in some Masses
n.1

“area,” late 15c., “period or lapse of time,” from Latin tractus “track, course, space, duration,” lit, “a drawing out or pulling,” from stem of trahere “to pull, draw,” from PIE root *tragh- “to draw, drag, move” (cf. Slovenian trag “trace, track,” Middle Irish tragud “ebb,” perhaps with a variant form *dhragh-; see drag (v.)). The meaning “stretch of land or water” is first recorded 1550s. Specific U.S. sense of “plot of land for development” is recorded from 1912; tract houses attested from 1963.

n.2

“little book, treatise” mid-12c., probably a shortened form of Latin tractatus “a handling, treatise, treatment,” from tractare “to handle” (see treat). Not in any other language, according to OED.

n.

  1. An elongated assembly of tissue or organs having a common origin, function, and termination, or a serial arrangement having a common function.
  2. A bundle of nerve fibers having a common origin, termination, and function.

  1. A series of body organs that work together to perform a specialized function, such as digestion.
  2. A bundle of nerve fibers, especially in the central nervous system, that begin and end in the same place and share a common function.
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