trace

Topic: TELEPHONE, TELEGRAPH

Sense: 1-4

Sense: 5

Date:	1300-1400
Language:	Old French
Origin:	trais 'traces', plural of trait 'pull, trace'; TRAIT

trace
2 noun

trace2

[uncountable and countable] a small sign that shows that someone or something was present or existed:

There was no trace of anyone having entered the room since then.

Petra's lost all trace of her German accent.

Officers were unable to find any trace of drugs.

disappear/vanish/sink without (a) trace (=disappear completely, without leaving any sign of what happened)

The plane vanished without a trace.

[countable] a very small amount of a quality, emotion, substance etc that is difficult to see or notice

trace of

I saw the faintest trace of a smile cross Sandra's face.

traces of poison

[countable] technicalTCT a search to find out where a telephone call came from, using special electronic equipment:

The police put a trace on the call.

[countable]MH technical the mark or pattern made on a screen or on paper by a machine that is recording an electrical signal:

This trace shows the heartbeat.

[countable]TTB one of the two pieces of leather, rope etc by which a cart or carriage is fastened to an animal pulling it

Definition of trace from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
the topic TELEPHONE, TELEGRAPH

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