Definition of trace

• n. - One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whiffletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.
• v. t. - A mark left by anything passing; a track; a path; a course; a footprint; a vestige; as, the trace of a carriage or sled; the trace of a deer; a sinuous trace.
• v. t. - A very small quantity of an element or compound in a given substance, especially when so small that the amount is not quantitatively determined in an analysis; -- hence, in stating an analysis, often contracted to tr.
• v. t. - A mark, impression, or visible appearance of anything left when the thing itself no longer exists; remains; token; vestige.
• v. t. - The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.
• v. t. - The ground plan of a work or works.
• v. t. - To mark out; to draw or delineate with marks; especially, to copy, as a drawing or engraving, by following the lines and marking them on a sheet superimposed, through which they appear; as, to trace a figure or an outline; a traced drawing.
• v. t. - To follow by some mark that has been left by a person or thing which has preceded; to follow by footsteps, tracks, or tokens.
• v. t. - Hence, to follow the trace or track of.
• v. t. - To copy; to imitate.
• v. t. - To walk over; to pass through; to traverse.
• v. i. - To walk; to go; to travel.