[syn: nerve pathway, tract, nerve tract, pathway]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tract \Tract\, n. [Abbrev.fr. tractate.]
A written discourse or dissertation, generally of short
extent; a short treatise, especially on practical religion.
[1913 Webster]
The church clergy at that time writ the best collection
of tracts against popery that ever appeared. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
Tracts for the Times. See Tractarian.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tract \Tract\, n. [L. tractus a drawing, train, track, course,
tract of land, from trahere tractum, to draw. Senses 4 and 5
are perhaps due to confusion with track. See Trace,v., and
cf. Tratt.]
1. Something drawn out or extended; expanse. "The deep tract
of hell." --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. A region or quantity of land or water, of indefinite
extent; an area; as, an unexplored tract of sea.
[1913 Webster]
A very high mountain joined to the mainland by a
narrow tract of earth. --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
3. Traits; features; lineaments. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
The discovery of a man's self by the tracts of his
countenance is a great weakness. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
4. The footprint of a wild beast. [Obs.] --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
5. Track; trace. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Efface all tract of its traduction. --Sir T.
Browne.
[1913 Webster]
But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forthon,
Leaving no tract behind. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
6. Treatment; exposition. [Obs.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
7. Continuity or extension of anything; as, the tract of
speech. [Obs.] --Older.
[1913 Webster]
8. Continued or protracted duration; length; extent.
"Improved by tract of time." --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
9. (R. C. Ch.) Verses of Scripture sung at Mass, instead of
the Alleluia, from Septuagesima Sunday till the Saturday
befor Easter; -- so called because sung tractim, or
without a break, by one voice, instead of by many as in
the antiphons.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Region; district; quarter; essay; treatise;
dissertation.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Tract \Tract\, v. t.
To trace out; to track; also, to draw out; to protact. [Obs.]
--Spenser. --B. Jonson.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
tract
n 1: an extended area of land [syn: tract, piece of land,
piece of ground, parcel of land, parcel]
2: a system of body parts that together serve some particular
purpose
3: a brief treatise on a subject of interest; published in the
form of a booklet [syn: tract, pamphlet]
4: a bundle of myelinated nerve fibers following a path through
the brain [syn: nerve pathway, tract, nerve tract,
pathway]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
139 Moby Thesaurus words for "tract":
acreage, amplitude, area, article, assembly-line housing, belt,
billeting, block, booklet, breadth, brochure, causerie, chapbook,
circular, clearing, clos, close, comic book, continuum, corn field,
critique, croft, cultivated land, descant, dimension, discourse,
discussion, disquisition, dissertation, district, domiciliation,
doss, emptiness, empty space, enclave, essay, etude, examination,
excursus, expanse, expansion, exposition, extension, extent,
feature, field, first approach, folder, footstep, forty,
galactic space, hayfield, homily, hospitality, housing,
housing bill, housing development, housing problem, infinite space,
interstellar space, introductory study, kraal, leaflet,
living quarters, lodging, lodgment, lot, lower-income housing,
lucubration, measure, memoir, monograph, morceau, note,
nothingness, outer space, outline, paddy, pale, pamphlet, pandect,
paper, paragraph, parcel, parcel of land, part, patch, piece,
piece of land, plat, plot, plot of ground, portion,
preliminary study, prolegomenon, proportion, quad, quadrangle,
quarter, quartering, real estate, region, research paper,
rice paddy, screed, section, sector, sermon, sketch,
slum clearance, space, spatial extension, special article, sphere,
spoor, spread, square, step, stretch, study, subdivision,
superficial extension, surface, survey, term paper, territory,
theme, thesis, track, tractate, transient lodging, treatise,
treatment, urban renewal, vestige, void, volume, wheat field,
zone