Trailing

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Trail \Trail\ (tr[=a]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Trailed}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Trailing}.] [OE. trailen, OF. trailler to trail a
     deer, or hunt him upon a cold scent, also, to hunt or pursue
     him with a limehound, F. trailler to trail a fishing line;
     probably from a derivative of L. trahere to draw; cf. L.
     traha a drag, sledge, tragula a kind of drag net, a small


     sledge, Sp. trailla a leash, an instrument for leveling the
     ground, D. treilen to draw with a rope, to tow, treil a rope
     for drawing a boat. See {Trace}, v. t.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1.
        (a) To hunt by the track; to track.
        (b) to follow behind.
        (c) To pursue. --Halliwell.
            [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     2. To draw or drag, as along the ground.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              And hung his head, and trailed his legs along.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They shall not trail me through their streets
              Like a wild beast.                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Long behind he trails his pompous robe. --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Mil.) To carry, as a firearm, with the breech near the
        ground and the upper part inclined forward, the piece
        being held by the right hand near the middle.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. To tread down, as grass, by walking through it; to lay
        flat. --Longfellow.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. To take advantage of the ignorance of; to impose upon.
        [Prov. Eng.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I presently perceived she was (what is vernacularly
              termed) trailing Mrs. Dent; that is, playing on her
              ignorance.                            --C. Bronte.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Trailing \Trail"ing\,
     a. & vb. n. from {Trail}.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Trailing arbutus}. (Bot.) See under {Arbutus}.
  
     {Trailing spring}, a spring fixed in the axle box of the
        trailing wheels of a locomotive engine, and so placed as
        to assist in deadening any shock which may occur. --Weale.
  
     {Trailing wheel}, a hind wheel of a locomotive when it is not
        a driving wheel; also, one of the hind wheels of a
        carriage.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  trailing
       adj : having the lower score or lagging position in a contest;
             "behind by two points"; "the 8th inning found the home
             team trailing" [syn: {behind(p)}]
       n : the pursuit (of a person or animal) by following tracks or
           marks they left behind [syn: {tracking}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  46 Moby Thesaurus words for "trailing":
     bugging, chase, chasing, cloak-and-dagger work, consecutive,
     counterespionage, counterintelligence, dogging,
     electronic surveillance, espial, espionage, follow, follow-up,
     following, heeling, hounding, hue and cry, hunting, intelligence,
     intelligence work, military intelligence, observation, prosecution,
     pursual, pursuance, pursuing, pursuit, quest, searching,
     secret police, secret service, seeking, sequel, sequence, series,
     shadowing, spying, stakeout, stalking, succeeding, surveillance,
     tailing, tracking, tracking down, wiretap, wiretapping