Also 5 traille, trele, (6 treale), 5–7 trayle, 6–8 traile, 7 trayl. [Known in sense 1 from 14th c.; in other senses only from 15th c. or later. App. f. TRAIL v.1]
I. Something that trails or hangs trailing.
† 1. The train of a robe or other garment. Obs.
13[?]. Cursor M., 28020 (Cott.). Yee leuedis … Thoru your trail bath wide and side, Es not at seke to find your pride.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 499/1. Trayle, or trayne of a clothe, sirma.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, IV. xii. (Roxb.), 503/2. The traile or traine of this great mantle was layd on his left shoulder.
b. A trailing or hanging article of clothing.
1896. Barrie, Sent. Tommy, x. 118. The shrewd blasts cutting through my thin trails of claithes.
c. A long trailing or loose-hanging slender mass of hair, fibers, or the like; ‘any thing drawn to length’ (J.).
1844. Mrs. Browning, Portrait, iii. Oval cheeks … Which a trail of golden hair Keeps from fading off to air.
1881. Blackmore, Christowell, iii. Running up to him, with her long grape-scissors in her hand, and a trail of bast around her neck.
2. A trailing ornament (carved, molded, or embroidered) in the form of a wreath or spray of leaves or tendrils; a wreathed or foliated ornament.
[Some take this, and esp. 2 b, as belonging to TRAIL sb.2; prob. the two words tended to run together.]
a. 1423. in Archæologia, LXI. 171. ij Fiols of on sute of silver and gild, Graven aboute wt a traille of Ive levys.
1454. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), II. 175. A couered pece with a trele of roses opon ye couerynge.
1480–1. in Hope, Windsor Castle (1913), 401. Ac lxii pedum de lez Traillez et Crestes.
1533. Hampton Crt. Acc., in E. Law, Hist. Hampton Crt. (1885), 352. To Robert Skyngke … moulder of Antyke-worke, for a trayle of antyk sett in the great Joull-pece in the Kynges new Hall, conteynyng 71 yards in leyngthe, 8 inches brode, at 16 d. the yard.
1551. Sir J. Williams, Accompte (Abbotsf., 1836), 52. A riche cope of crymsyn veluet … embrodred all ower with a traile and Fawcions of Venice golde.
1557–8. in Hope, Windsor Castle (1913), 260. The armes of England and Spaine with the treales to the same.
a. 1618. Sylvester, Ode to Astræa, vii. That soft Sattin limme, With blew trayles enameld trimme.
1869. Boutell, Arms & Arm., v. (1874), 78. A trail of foliage … filled the space between the angular bands.
b. A wreath or spray of (natural) leaves, etc.; a trailing tendril or branch. (Cf. 1 c.)
1598. Drayton, Heroic. Ep., i. 117. A little Current … Which like a wanton Trayle creepes here and there.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 184. The late Narcissus, and the winding Trail Of Bears-foot, Myrtles green, and Ivy pale.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Strawberry, As soon as they shoot forth their Trails, you must take care to cut ’em.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Cinnamon & P., iii. They had never entangled their feet in trails of the blue convolvulus.
a. 1861. T. Woolner, Beautiful Lady, Her Shadow, vii. Nigh clad in trails of tangled eglantine.
c. attrib. or as adj.
1533. Hampton Crt. Acc., in E. Law, Hist. Hampton Crt. (1885), 352. 71 yardes in length and 8 inches brode, of trayle moldyd worke.
1644. Evelyn, Diary, 1 April. Next the streete side … are knotts in trayle or grasse worke.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., To Rdr. 104. Speed, Cutt in sippetts, Trussell, layd about For a trayle Garnish.
1684. Lond. Gaz., No. 1944/4. A Petticoat of Musk coloured Silk,… the Flowers Trail Silver.
II. Something trailed or made by trailing.
† 3. A sledge [= L. tragula]. Obs.
1570. Levins, Manip., 198/43. A Trayle, sledde, traha.
1576. in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees), 379. For a trayle to hym, 12 d.
1588. Durham Wills (Surtees), II. 330. ij long lethers, j traile, ij flekes, j nowt heck, 12s.
1600. D. Settle, in Hakluyt, Voy., III. 37. They frank or keepe certaine dogs … which they yoke togither, as we do oxen & horses, to a sled or traile: and so carry their necessaries ouer the yce and snow.
4. A drag-net [= L. tragula]. Also trail-net: see 16 (Also fig.)
1711. W. King, trans. Naude’s Ref. Politics, v. 198. The first that made trails, and found out casting-nets to make men captives.
1807. P. Gass, Jrnl., 29. The fish here are generally pike…. What we caught were taken with trails or brush nets.
5. The hinder end of the stock of a gun-carriage, which rests or slides on the ground when the carriage is unlimbered. Cf. TRAIN sb.1 20.
1768. J. Muller, Treat. Artillery, Vocab., Trail, is the end of the travelling carriage opposite to the wheels, and upon which the carriage slides, when unlimbered.
1803. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1837), II. 565. There is no remedy,… excepting to lengthen considerably the trail of the carriage.
1868. Rep. to Govt. U.S. Munitions War, 95. The gun is mounted on a field-carriage, with trail of the usual form.
6. Anything drawn behind as an appendage; a body or collection of things or persons, drawn along by, or following in the wake of, something or some one, or moving steadily along in a lengthened formation so as to suggest this; a train.
1621. Quarles, Argalus & P. (1678), 85. A rising Sun … From whence ten thousand trails of gold came down In waving points.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 504. Seeming Stars … shooting through the Darkness … With … long Trails of Light.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch (1851), I. 282/1. Dreadful thunders … mingled with long trails of lightning.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, I. 86. From which long trail of chanting priests and girls.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xx. The wind was apparent in the hurrying trails of cloud.
7. A mark left where something has been trailed or has passed along; a trace, track. Also fig.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, II. vii. (1660), 77. Upton tearmeth it in Latine, Tractus which signifieth a Trace, or Traile, because the field is seen both within and without it; and the Traile itselfe is drawn thereupon in a different colour. [See TRACT sb.3 6 (a).]
1727. Gay, Fables, I. xxiv. 12. A snail,… with slimy trail Crawls o’er the grass.
1817. Moore, Lalla R., Par. & Peri. But the trail of the serpent is over them all.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xxix. I used to watch them [sharks] during the night watch, as their fins, above water, skimmed along, leaving a trail of light behind them.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, II. 21. Brushing a green trail across the lawn With my gown in the dew.
1864. Skeat, Uhland’s Poems, 124. The heights were touched with May’s fair golden trail.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 865. In the imperfectly washed, a trail of dirt marks the course of the burrow [of the itch insect].
b. spec. in astronomical photography, The line or trace produced by the motion of the image of a star across the plate during exposure.
1889. Anthony’s Photogr. Bull., II. 185. On developing numerous stars will be found which are invisible to the naked eye. The stars will all leave trails, forming arcs of concentric circles whose center lies near the center of the plate. Ibid. (1891), IV. 83. When the plate is developed it will contain a series of lines or trails produced by the light of the star as it crossed the plate.
8. spec. The track or other indication, as scent, left by a person or animal, esp. as followed by a huntsman or hound, or by any pursuer. Also fig.
1590. Cokaine, Treat. Hunting, D ij b. Take your [otter] houndes to the place … and cast your traylors off vpon the trayle you thinke best.
1602. Shaks., Ham., IV. v. 109. How cheerefully on the false Traile they cry, Oh this is Counter you false Danish Dogges.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 120. The best manner to teach these hounds is to take a live hare, and trail her after you upon the earth;… afterward set forth your hound near the trail.
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, II. i. 295. A sure Sign they are upon the Scent; that is, where the Fox hath passed that Night, it is called a Drag or Trail.
1805. Pike, Sources Mississ. (1810), 38. I was determined … if we came on the trail of elk, to follow them … in order to kill one. Ibid. (1806), 57. My sentinel informed us, that some Indians were coming full speed upon our trail or track.
1827. J. F. Cooper, Prairie, iii. Did you ever run him upon the trail of carrion?
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville (1849), 111. Vandenburgh put himself upon their trail, to trace them to their place of concealment.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxiv. (1861), V. 143. The Spanish Ambassador … followed the trail with such skill and perseverance that he discovered, if not the whole truth, yet enough [etc.].
1888. P. Lindley, in Times, 16 Oct., 10/5. The hound … took up the stale trail over some rather trying ground without a fault.
b. Something strong-smelling trailed or drawn along the ground to produce a scent for hounds to follow: = DRAG sb. 6 b.
1763. Brit. Mag., IV. 553. They ran after a trail drawn by a man on horseback about 10 minutes before the hounds started.
1781. P. Beckford, Hunting (1802), 85. A cat is as good a trail as any.
9. A path or track worn by the passage of persons travelling in a wild or uninhabited region; a beaten track, a rude path. (Chiefly in U.S. and Canada.)
1807. P. Gass, Jrnl., 125. We proceeded down the river through dreadful narrows, where the rocks were in some places breast high, and no path or trail of any kind.
1875. Temple & Sheldon, Hist. Northfield, Mass., 50. Indian Paths—which were narrow trails worn by the feet in marching single file—crossed the country in various directions.
1894. C. L. Johnstone, Canada, 81. A trail, as the Canadians call the tracks which do instead of roads.
10. Geol. A name for certain mixed glacial or other deposits resting upon older formations.
(So called as app. marking the track of floating ice.)
1866. O. Fisher, in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc., 20 June, 555. I have found that cylindrical pits and pipes are generally confined to soluble beds, and that the normal form of the cavities in clays, sands, and gravels is that of troughs or furrows. They are usually filled with materials derived from some neighbouring higher ground…. For the sake of a name I shall call the materials which fill these furrows the ‘trail.’
1882. Geikie, Text-bk. Geol., VI. V. ii. § 2. 908. A remarkable bed of clay, loam, and gravel (‘loess’ or ‘trail’).
1884. W. G. Smith, in Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst., XIII. 358. The whole of the ‘Palæolithic floor’ is … covered with the ‘warp and trail’ belonging to the last geological period of great cold.
1897. Archæol. Jrnl., Dec., 375. Where the flints are buried, in the ‘head’ or ‘rain wash’ or ‘run o’ th’ hills’ or trail, or whatever we may call the surface accumulation.
III. Action of trailing.
11. The action of dragging oneself or something along, or of creeping or crawling; also dial., a tiring walk. rare.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 284. The serpents twine [= twain] with hasted traile they glide To Pallas temple.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv. World, 141. The souls business in the wagon or vehicle of the body is … rather to ride in state than to ride post, ennobling the body by its curious draughts and trails of enlivening sprightlinesses.
1876. Whitby Gloss., s.v., ‘A lang trail,’ a tiresome journey.
12. The action of hunting by the trail; chase by the track or scent.
1669. Dryden, Wild Gallant, III. i. To come upon the spur after a trayl at four in the afternoon to destruction of cold meat and cheese.
1902. O. Wister, Virginian, ix. All winter he had ridden trail, worked at ditches during summer.
13. Mil. The act of trailing a rifle, or the position of it when trailed (see TRAIL v.1 2).
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 29. The barrel … may be … examined at the trail.
1847. Infantry Man. (1854), 30. Trail Arms.… Bring it down to the trail on the right side. Ibid., 40 b. The short trail must never be used.
1892. Greener, Breech-Loader, 193. At the ‘trail,’ that is, grasped in the right hand, the arm at full length, and the gun horizontal.
14. An act of drawing out, enticing, or befooling. rare–1.
1847. [see TRAIL v.1 3 b].
IV. 15. A woman who trails her dress along the ground; an untidy woman, slattern, slut. Sc.
1825. Jamieson, Trail, a term of reproach for a dirty woman; as, ‘Ye wile trail,’ you nasty hussy, Aberd.
1878. A. Paul, Rand. Writ., 28. It is a very old saying … that no man should marry a trail, which meant a female who trailed her dress through the gutters.
1901. Trotter, E. Galloway Sk., 102/2. Come, bring me quick, ye useless trail, The gully knife to sheer the kail.
V. 16. attrib. and Comb. (some of which may be from TRAIL v.1), as trail-blazer, -hunting, -maker, -robbery, -trot; trail-weary adj.; see also 2 c; trail-bar, a wooden bar for turning the trail of a gun-carriage in pointing the gun; trail-board, a carved piece in a ship: see quot.; trail-car (U.S.) = TRAILER 6 a; trail-cart (dial.): see quots. 1770–1896; trail-eye = trail-plate-eye; trail-handspike = trail-bar; trail lever, ‘a trailing lever hinged to the spindle-carriage of a spinning-mule’ (Cent. Dict. Supp.); trail-net, a fishing-net that is trailed or drawn along, a drag-net; trail-plank, a plank for supporting the trail of a gun-carriage; trail-plate, an iron plate attached to the trail of a gun-carriage; hence trail-plate-eye, an ‘eye’ or perforated piece fixed on the trail-plate, used in limbering up; trail-rope, a rope used for trailing or drawing something: (a) ? a tow-rope; (b) in a gun-carriage = PROLONGE; (c) a rope trailed on the ground to check the speed of a balloon; trail-scent = sense 8 b above (cf. TRAIN-SCENT); trail-spade, a projection at the lower end of the trail of a gun-carriage.
1828. J. M. Spearman, Brit. Gunner (ed. 2), 116. *Trail Bearings. (Cast Iron.)
1880. Hist. Clear Creek & Boulder Valleys, Colo., 275/1. No truer type of the original *‘trail-blazer’ can be found than that furnished in the person of Judge H. C. Cowles.
1908. Daily Chron., 19 May, 3/2. Mrs. Hubbard’s journey … with a small party of ‘trail blazers’ native to the ways of Labrador.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. *Traile-board, in a Ship, is a carved Board on each side of her Beak, reaching from her Main Stem to the Figure, or to the Brackets.
1770–4. A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1804), II. 370. To bruise out the grain by sledges or *trail carts.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, II. 109. Sledges or trail-carts were also used for the same purpose; but the most common instrument employed was the flail.
1896. Crockett, Grey Man, xii. A trail-cart,… a box with shafts like a carriage, but without wheels, mounted on a great brush of branches and twigs, which … scored the ground with a thousand ruts and scratches.
1887. Pall Mall G., 30 March, 6/1. Large numbers of *trail cattle, driven recklessly into Wyoming in 1881.
1890. Nasmith, Mod. Cotton Spinning Mach., xi. 206. The traverse of the locking lever prior to locking is gradually lessened as the *trail lever slide L is lowered. Ibid. (1892), Cotton Spinning, viii. 270. The shoulder R is pulled over the bowl carried at the end of the lever L, called the ‘trail’ lever, which is hinged to the carriage.
1901. Wide World Mag., VIII. 156/2. A couple of the *trail-makers visited the cabin and found the partners there.
1905. Athenæum, 5 Aug., 183/2. A series of reprints or translations of the narratives of ‘Trailmakers,’ from the earliest times to the close of the eighteenth century.
1820. Jodrell, *Trailnet, or Trawlnet.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Trail-net, a net drawn or trailed behind a boat; or by two persons on opposite banks in sweeping a stream.
1859. F. A. Griffiths, Artill. Man. (1862), 115. One *trail plank…. This plank is placed on the ground, so that the trail of a siege carriage may rest on it.
1828. J. M. Spearman, Brit. Gunner (ed. 2), 17. *Trail-plate Eyes.
1901. Wide World Mag., VIII. 154/2. The territory had been remarkably free from serious crime, and *trail-robberies were unknown.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunters, xx. Mules and mustangs, picketed on long *trail-ropes.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 31 July, 10/2. We opened the valve to hasten our descent before reaching it, and at 8.8 our trail-rope touched the ground.
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1711/8. A *Trail Scent for Hounds.
1781. P. Beckford, Hunting (1802), 85. You say, you should like to see your young hounds run a trail-scent.
1904. Sci. Amer., 21 May, 402/2. The carriage … permits of checking the recoil without undue strain … through a *trail-spade provided with an elastic joint.
1897. Outing (U.S.), XXIX. 439/1. From the *trail-start to the death it had been no more than a 15-minutes’ run.
1895. Kipling, 2nd Jungle Bk., 134. They fell into the quick, choppy *trail-trot in and out through the checkers of the moonlight.
1894. Outing (U. S.), XXIV. 398/1. The once *trail-weary emigrant, the ranchman of to-day, does the freighting … from the railroad town.
