trace

1 verb (T)

1 FIND SB/STH to find someone or something that has disappeared by searching for them carefully: She had given up all hope of tracing her missing daughter.

2 ORIGINS to find the origins of something, or where something came from: trace sth (back) to: The style of these paintings can be traced back to early medieval influences.

3 HISTORY/DEVELOPMENT to study or describe the history, development, or progress of something: Sondheim's book traces the changing nature of the relationship between men and women.

4 COPY to copy a drawing, map etc by putting a piece of transparent paper over it and then drawing the lines you can see through the paper

5 DRAW to draw real or imaginary lines on the surface of something, usually with your finger or toe: trace sth on/in/across: Rosie's fingers traced a delicate pattern in the sand.

6 trace a call to use special electronic equipment to find out who made a telephone call

— traceable adjective 2 noun

1 SIGN OF STH (C, U) a small sign that shows that someone or something was present or existed: no trace: There was no trace of anyone having entered the room since then. | all trace: Petra's lost all trace of her German accent. | any trace: Officers were unable to find any trace of drugs. | disappear/vanish/sink without trace (=disappear completely, without leaving any sign of what happened): The Roanoke colony vanished without trace.

2 SMALL AMOUNT (C) a very small amount of a quality, emotion, substance etc that is difficult to see or notice

(+ of): I saw the faintest trace of a smile cross Sandra's face. | traces of poison

3 TELEPHONE (C) technical a search to find out where a telephone call came from, using special electronic equipment: The police were able to put a trace on the call.

4 INFORMATION RECORDED (C) the mark or pattern made on a screen or on paper by a machine that is recording an electrical signal: This trace shows the heartbeat.

5 kick over the traces to stop following the rules of a social group and do what you want

6 CART/CARRIAGE (C) one of the two pieces of leather, rope etc by which a cart or carriage is fastened to the animal that is pulling it