Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Trace

Trace , noun

[French trais. plural of trait. See Trait.]

1.
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.
2.
(Mechanics) A connecting bar or rod, pivoted at each end to the end of another piece, for transmitting motion, esp. from one plane to another; specif., such a piece in an organ-stop action to transmit motion from the trundle to the lever actuating the stop slider.

Trace , noun

[French trace. See Trace, transitive verb ]

1.
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. — Milton
2.
(Chemistry & Mineralogy) 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.
3.
A mark, impression, or visible appearance of anything left when the thing itself no longer exists; remains; token; vestige.
The shady empire shall retain no trace Of war or blood, but in the sylvan chase. — Pope
4.
(Descriptive Geometry & Persp.) The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.
5.
(Fortification) The ground plan of a work or works.
Collocations (1)
Syn , -Vestige; mark; token. See Vestige.

Trace , transitive verb

[Old French tracier, French tracer, from (assumed) Late Latin tractiare, fromL. tractus, past participle of trahere to draw. Compare Abstract, Attract, Contract, Portratt, Tract, Trail, Train, Treat. ]

1.
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.
Some faintly traced features or outline of the mother and the child, slowly lading into the twilight of the woods. — Hawthorne
2.
To follow by some mark that has been left by a person or thing which has preceded; to follow by footsteps, tracks, or tokens. — Cowper
You may trace the deluge quite round the globe. — T. Burnet
I feel thy power... to trace the ways Of highest agents. — Milton
3.
Hence, to follow the trace or track of.
How all the way the prince on footpace traced. — Spenser
4.
To copy; to imitate.
That servile path thou nobly dost decline, Of tracing word, and line by line. — Denham
5.
To walk over; to pass through; to traverse.
We do tracethis alley up and down. — Shakespeare

Trace , intransitive verb

To walk; to go; to travel. [Obsolete]
Not wont on foot with heavy arms to trace. — Spenser