tracing
NounWordNet 3.0
Noun (3)
- the act of drawing a plan or diagram or outline
- a drawing created by superimposing a semitransparent sheet of paper on the original image and copying on it the lines of the original imageSynonyms: trace
- the discovery and description of the course of development of something“the tracing of genealogies”
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
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. [1913 Webster]
Some faintly traced features or outline of the mother and the child, slowly lading into the twilight of the woods.— Hawthorne.[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
You may trace the deluge quite round the globe.— T. Burnet.[1913 Webster]
I feel thy power . . . to trace the ways Of highest agents.— Milton.[1913 Webster]
3.Hence, to follow the trace or track of. [1913 Webster]
How all the way the prince on footpace traced.— Spenser.[1913 Webster]
4.To copy; to imitate. [1913 Webster]
That servile path thou nobly dost decline, Of tracing word, and line by line.— Denham.[1913 Webster]
5.To walk over; to pass through; to traverse. [1913 Webster]
We do tracethis alley up and down.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
1.The act of one who traces; especially, the act of copying by marking on thin paper, or other transparent substance, the lines of a pattern placed beneath; also, the copy thus producted. [1913 Webster]
2.A regular path or track; a course. [1913 Webster]
Tracing cloth, Tracing paper, specially prepared transparent cloth or paper, which enables a drawing or print to be clearly seen through it, and so allows the use of a pen or pencil to produce a facsimile by following the lines of the original placed beneath. [1913 Webster]