Trail v.¹

Forms: 4–7 traile, trayle, 5 traylle, 5–6 traille, 6–7 trale, 6–8 trayl, 6– trail. [Occurs soon after 1300; agreeing in form with a late OE. træʓelian, træʓlian, recorded only in the Prudentius Glosses (Germania n. s. XI. 398–9), glossing L. carpĕre ‘to pluck, snatch, tear away or off,’ which does not so suit the ME. sense as to make its identity certain. ME. trayle-n, traille, was app. the same word as ONF. traille-r to haul or tow (a boat), 14th c. in Godef., and also as MLG. treilen, tröilen (c. 1325 in Rügen, 14–15th c. in Brunswick, etc.), MFl. treylen, treilen, treelen, Fl., Du. treilen, LG. treilen, treulen, EFris. treilen, trailen, all ‘to haul or tug (a boat).’ Cf. also LG., Du., Fl. treil tow-line; also ONF. traille (14th c.), trele, tresle, mod.Pr. traillo, Cat. and Sp. tralla, Pg. tralha, all meaning ‘tow-line’ or ‘rope.’ It is difficult to correlate the German and the Romanic words; but it is generally supposed that all go back to a late L. or Com. Romanic *tragulāre ‘to drag,’ f. L. tragula, meaning (inter alia) a ‘drag-net,’ and a small traha or ‘sledge,’ f. L. trahĕre, pop.L. *tragĕre (F. traire) to ‘draw, drag, haul.’ This would also in form give OE. træʓelian.

  It is somewhat remarkable that while the earliest sense of both the OF. and MLG. words was ‘to tow (a boat),’ this specific use does not appear in ME., while the chief ME. uses do not appear on the continent. This detracts from the satisfactoriness of the derivation, which is still the best to which the known facts point: cf. also TRAIN v.¹, which similarly takes us back to L. trahĕre, *tragĕre with a different suffix.]

  I.  Primary senses. Transitive.

  1.  To draw behind one; to drag along upon the ground or other surface (esp. something hanging loosely, as a long garment); also, to drag (a person) roughly, to hale; to haul.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvi. (Nycholas), 690. He hynt þe prioure be þe hare,… & traylyt hyme ful angrely Our al þe floure here & þare.

a. 1380.  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., liii. 356. Þei trompe bifore þis traiturs, and traylen hem on tres Þorow-out þe Cite.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xx. 449. Ye shall see many knyghtes to traylle theyr bowelles thorughe the feeldes.

1530.  Palsgr., 760/2. He was trayled upon a hardell thorowe al the towne, il fust trayné sur vne herce par toute la ville.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, cxxx. 475. Horses rynnynge abrode traylynge theyr brydels after them.

1623.  in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1908), II. 231. A band of souldiers befor, marching with ther coulers trayled after.

1671.  Milton, Samson, 1402. They shall not trail me through thir streets Like a wild Beast.

1712–4.  Pope, Rape Lock, III. 73. What boots … That long behind he trails his pompous robe?

1832.  Tennyson, Lady of Shalott, I. iii. Slide the heavy barges trail’d By slow horses.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. x. The gentleman has trailed his stick after him.

  b.  To carry or convey by drawing or dragging, as in a vehicle or ship; sometimes said of something cumbrous figured as if dragged along, = ‘drag’ used dyslogistically. Also dial. to carry (dirt) on the feet into a house.

c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 1316. They Reysed a gale with a saylle, The Geaunt to lond for to traylle.

1748.  H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann (1834), II. 232. The yacht is not big enough to convey all the tables and chairs and conveniences that he trails along with him.

a. 1763.  Shenstone, Ballad, vi. A coach with a coronet trail’d her to Tweed.

1863.  Mrs. Toogood, Yorks. Dial. (MS.). The childer trail a lot o’ moock in t’ house.

1887.  Bowen, Æneid, III. 325. I, when our homes lay blazing, was trailed o’er sea.

  c.  To draw (the body or limbs) along wearily or with difficulty in walking, etc., esp. from disablement or exhaustion. So refl. to move along slowly and painfully, drag oneself along, crawl.

1562.  Child-Marriages, 138. He … demaundid a tieth goose … and she wold have gevin him none but one that haltid, and tralid the winge.

1566.  Blundevil, Horsemanship, IV. cix. (1580), 50 b. The Horse will not lift that leg, but traile it nigh the ground.

1740.  Somerville, Hobbinol, II. 404. Her wounded Parts Grov’ling she [a snake] trails along.

1863.  W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, ix. 413. I have no appetite, and trail my limbs after me as if they did not belong to me.

1908.  Sir H. Maxwell, Guide to Holyrood, 108. He trailed himself, a broken-hearted man, to Falkland Palace.

  2.  Mil. orig. To carry (a pike or similar weapon) in the right hand in an oblique position with the head forward and the butt nearly touching the ground; later spec. to carry (a lance or rifle) in a horizontal position in the right hand with the arm fully extended downward (as in the British army), or in an oblique position, grasping it just above the balance with the arm extended downward and slightly bent (as in the U.S. army). (Also, formerly, to carry [a pike] reversed, with the pointed head dragging along the ground, as at military funerals: see quot. 1688.) Phr. To trail a pike, to serve as a soldier (arch.).

1549.  Compl. Scot., vii. 70. The eldest of them vas in harnes, traland ane halbert behynd hym.

1565.  Churchyard, Chippes (1575), 58 b. And still I hoept, the warres wold me aduaunce So trayld the piek, and world began a nue.

1622.  Fletcher & Massinger, Span. Curate, I. i. How proud … should I be To trail a pike under your brave command.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. xix. (Roxb.) 147/2. Trayle your pike, is to take it in the right hand vnder the head and hold it close to your side. In this posture they march. There is an other way of traileing the pike, which is by takeing the but end in the right hand holding it to the side, traileing or drawing the head after vpon the ground. In this posture they march at the funerall of a souldier.

1803.  Regulations for Exercise of Riflemen, 4. Trail Arms. The left hand seizes the rifle at the second pipe, the right close over the sight, and trails it on the right side at arm’s length.

1825.  Scott, Talism., x. The soldiers wore the downcast … looks, with which they trail their arms at a funeral.

1833.  Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 161. The lance is ‘trailed’ by being carried in the right hand at the balance.

1870.  Lowell, Study Wind., 92. Ben Jonson … trailed a pike in the Low Countries.

1877.  Man. Field Artillery Exerc., 62. Trail Arms. The Trail. Give the carbine a cant upwards with the right hand, seizing it close behind the back-sight, and bring it to a horizontal position at the full extent of the arm, fingers and thumb round the carbine.

1879.  Martini-Henry Rifle Exerc., 13. Arms must never be trailed with fixed bayonets.

  † b.  Hence allusively to trail a pen, to write, to follow the occupation of a writer. Obs. nonce-use.

1680.  Dryden, Cæsar Borgia, Prol. 1. The unhappy man who once has trailed a pen Lives not to please himself, but other men.

1912.  Boston Evening Transcript, 8 Aug., 10/5. Too soon she [Julia A. Moore] fell victim to the crass spirit of the age, the appeaseless appetite of our people for the next meteor to trail a pen across the firmament.

  3.  fig. or in fig. context, with various implications: e.g., to drag forcibly to some course of action; to draw out, lengthen out in time, protract; to utter slowly, drawl; to ‘drag in’ irrelevantly; to subject to dishonor, ‘drag in the dust’; etc.

1604.  T. Wright, Passions, I. viii. 31. The sensitive appetite often … traleth and haleth the will to … follow her pleasures.

1648.  Crashaw, Music’s Duel, 37. [She] Trayles her plaine Ditty in one long-spun note.

1649.  Bp. Hall, Cases Consc. (1650), 396. As for Lyra, who is trayled in here, and cited.

1806.  Wordsw., Ode Intim. Immort., v. Not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God.

1806.  G. Austin, Chironomia, i. 38. The words … should not be trailed nor drawled, nor let to slip out carelessly.

1874.  Green, Short Hist., viii. § 3. 479. The policy which had so long trailed English honour at the chariot-wheels of Spain.

1891.  Emily & Dor. Gerard, Sensitive Plant, III. III. xii. 81. There really is no reason for trailing out the matter longer.

  b.  To draw as by persuasion or art; to draw on; hence colloq. ‘to quiz, befool’ (Farmer, Slang).

a. 1717.  Parnell, Fairy Tale, 158. Then Will, who bears the wispy fire, To trail the swains among the mire.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1811), VII. lxvii. 276. I [was] so long trailed on between hope and doubt.

1847.  C. Brontë, J. Eyre, xvii. I … perceived she was (what is vernacularly termed) trailing Mrs. Dent; that is, playing on her ignorance: her trail might be clever, but it was decidedly not good-natured.

1900.  Kernahan, Scoundrels & Co., xxi. To see the Ishmaelites ‘trail’ a sufferer from ‘swelled head’ is to undergo inoculation against that fell malady.

  II.  Intransitive senses.

  (But for the doubtful OE. træʓlian, these form the earliest group in Eng. and perh. ought to be branch I.)

  4.  (intr. for pass. of 1.) To hang down so as to drag along the ground or other surface; to be drawn loosely behind (by a person, animal, or thing in motion).

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3444. What sey ȝe men of ladyys pryde Þat gone traylyng ouer syde:… To soule helpe hyt myȝt do bote, þat trayleþ lowe vndyr þe fote.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 10358. Þat so worshipfull a wegh, as þe wight Troilus … Shuld traile as a traytor by the taile of his horse.

c. 1450.  Merlin, xiv. 211. Ther sholde ye se stedes and horse renne Maisterles, their reynes trailynge vndir fote.

1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 141. That it [a gate] do not trayle and that the wyndes blowe it not open.

1633.  P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., XII. xvi. His hanging dewlap trail’d along the golden sand.

1823.  Local Act 4 Geo. IV., c. ii. § 98. If any Person … suffer any Timber … carried … upon wheel Carriages, to drag or trail upon the said Bridge or Roads.

1868–70.  Morris, Earthly Par., I. II. 620. The sound Of silken dresses trailing o’er the ground.

  b.  Mil. (intr. for pass. of 2).

1677.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1181/2. Amsterdam, March 19. Yesterday was performed the Funerals of the late Lieutenant Admiral de Ruyter, the proceeding was thus: 1. Marched two Companies of Soldiers, their Pikes trailing.

  5.  To hang down or float loosely from its attachment, as dress, hair, etc.; of a plant: to grow decumbently and stragglingly to a considerable length, so as to rest upon the ground or other support, as a stem or branch of a plant; to ‘creep.’

c. 1412.  Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 466. What help schal he, Wos sleeues encombrous so syde traille, Do to his lord?

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, I. vii. 13. It hath … small braunches … creping or trayling alongst the ground.

1591.  Spenser, Ruines of Time, ii. Her yeolow locks,… About her shoulders careleslie downe trailing.

1687.  A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 94. They cover this Table with a large pinked Carpet, which on all sides trails on the ground.

1776.  Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), III. 541. In open sunny situations it [Prunella] grows trailing,… but in woods it is upright.

1845.  Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 52. The Spanish horse’s tail often trails to the very ground.

  6.  † To walk with long trailing garments (obs.); to drag one’s limbs, walk slowly or wearily as if dragged along (often, following some person or thing: cf. 4); to move or go in extended order; to creep, crawl, as a serpent or other reptile.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3440 [see 4].

13[?].  Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.), in Herrig’s Archiv, LVII. 303. Ich [the devil] haue longe i-ben Þi lord and mad þe traile and [? in] gren In siclatoun and in scarlet.

a. 1400.  Sir Penny, 29, in Map’s Poems (Camden), 360. He may ger tham trayl syde In gude skarlet and grene.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, V. Prol. 11. Wantoun gallandis to traill in sumptuus wedis.

1608.  Topsell, Serpents (1658), 732. Like the Horned-serpent, so trails this elf on land.

1768.  Goldsm., Good-n. Man, I. i. Nothing diverts me more than one of those fine old dressy things … trailing through a minuet at Almack’s.

1864.  Lowell, Fireside Trav., 106. We trailed along, at the rate of four miles an hour.

1868.  Kinglake, Crimea (1877), III. i. 83. The cavalcade which had trailed in his wake.

1905.  Sir F. Treves, Other Side of Lantern, II. vii. (1906), 73. In the tower—open on all sides to the lazy breeze—the ladies idled; watching … the camels that trailed away from the city until they were mere dots against the sky.

  b.  Of inanimate things: To move along slowly; to drift, glide, or flow slowly (obs.); sometimes, to move in the wake of something as if drawn along by it; to form a trail.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, VII. xxxiv. 267. They … drewe their swerdes, and gafe grete strokes that the blood trayled to the ground.

1650.  Fuller, Pisgah, IV. iii. 48. The water issuing thence trailed after them in all their removealls.

1754.  J. Love, Cricket, I. 41. The dull Ball trails before the feeble Mace.

1822–34.  Good’s Study Med. (ed. 4), II. 68. Vesicular Erythema:… surface … covered with … minute vesicles … progressively trailing into the neighbouring sound parts.

1851.  Longf., Gold. Leg., IV. Neighboring Nunnery, 59. Through the momentary gloom Of shadows o’er the landscape trailing.

  7.  To extend in a straggling line, to straggle.

1600.  Hakluyt, Voy., III. 615. Cape Roxo is a low Cape and trayling to the sea-ward.

1905.  J. B. Firth, Highways Derbyshire, vii. 98. The path … sometimes trails across the meadows.

  b.  Trail off (fig.): to ‘go off’ in a careless, casual, or indefinite way into something; to tail off.

1845.  Dickens, Cricket, iii. The soft-hearted Slowboy trailed off at this juncture into such a deplorable howl … that [etc.]. Ibid. (1865), Mut. Fr., II. xvi. Twemlow … trails off into ‘—actly so.’

  III.  Secondary senses, app. from TRAIL sb.¹ 2, 7–8.

  8.  trans. To decorate or cover with a trailing pattern or ornament; to adorn in the style of tracery. Const. with.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1473. Penitotes, & pynkardines, ay perles bitwene, So trayled & tryfled a traverce wer alle.

1399.  Langl., Rich. Redeles, I. 47. Ypoudride wyth pete þer it be ouȝte, And traylid with trouþe, and treste al aboute.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 499/1. Traylyn, a(s) cloþys, segmento,… sirino [? sirmo].

15[?].  Househ. Bk. Earl Northumbld. (1770), Notes 441. iiij Copes blew Sylk with red Orferes trayled with whitt Braunchis and Flowres.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., V. v. 2. A Camis light of purple silke … Trayled with ribbands.

1870.  Rock, Text. Fabr., Introd. i. 76. The golden ground is trailed all over with leaf-bearing boughs.

  9.  To follow the trail or track of, to track.

1590.  Cokaine, Treat. Hunting, D ij b. An otter sometimes wilbe trayled a mile or two before he come to the holt where he lyeth.

1781.  P. Beckford, Hunting (1802), 150. Seeing the hare trailed to her form.

1788.  Gentl. Mag., LVIII. I. 74/2. General Clarke … after trailing them upon several tracks, at last came up with them.

1880.  Harting, Brit. Anim. Extinct, I. 18. In later times the Bear was trailed with boar-hounds.

1910.  Contemp. Rev., July, 33. The ranchman is away … trailing horse thieves.

  10.  To mark out (a trail or track); to trace out.

c. 1586.  C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LIX. xiii. Abroad they range and hunt apace, Now that, now this, As famine trailes a hungry trace.

1600.  Hakluyt, Voy. (1810), III. 546. By reason there met many wayes traled by the wild beastes, I lost my way.

1891.  trans. Didon’s Christ, I. 410. The way of the Kingdom … is a way trailed with blood.

  b.  To make trails or tracks in; to make one’s way through; see also quot. 1828 (U.S.).

1652.  Benlowes, Theoph., XIII. xxvii. The Larks, wing’d travellers, that trail the skie.

1828.  Webster, Trail.… In America, to tread down grass by walking through; to lay flat; as, to trail grass.

  11.  intr. To follow the trail or track of the game.

1741.  Compl. Fam.-Piece, II. i. 306. They will come Trailing along by the River Side.

1810.  Sporting Mag., XXXV. 194. Mr. Yeatman’s hare beagles trailed up to a hare in Pulham Furze.

1880.  Shorthouse, J. Inglesant, ii. 41. The hounds came trailing and chanting along by the river side.

  IV.  12. intr. To fish by trailing a bait from a moving boat; spec. to fish from a trailer (see TRAILER 8).

1857.  R. Tomes, Amer. in Japan, xiii. 308. Another cluster of fishing boats … apparently trailing for fish.

1864.  Thoreau, Maine W., iii. 176. My companion trailed for trout as we paddled along.

  13.  Billiards. (See TRAILING vbl. sb. 1 c.)

  14.  Cards. At casino, To play a card that is useless for gaining a point. (Perh. fig. from 6.)

1909.  in Cent. Dict. Supp.