different between trench vs track

English

Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenche.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??nt?/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Noun

trench (plural trenches)

1. A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.
2. (military) A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.
3. (archaeology) A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.
4. (informal) A trench coat.
   • 1999, April 24, Xiphias Gladius <[email protected]>, "Re: trenchcoat mafia", ne.general.selected, Usenet:

     I was the first person in my high school to wear a trench and fedora constantly, and Ben was one of the first to wear a black trench.

   • 2007, Nina Garcia, The Little Black Book of Style, HarperCollins, as excerpted in Elle, October, page 138:

     A classic trench can work in any kind of weather and goes well with almost anything.

Derived terms

Related terms

• tranche

Translations

Verb

trench (third-person singular simple present trenches, present participle trenching, simple past and past participle trenched)

1. (usually followed by upon) To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.
   • 1640, Ben Jonson, Underwoods, page 68:

     Shee is the Judge, Thou Executioner, Or if thou needs would'st trench upon her power, Thou mightst have yet enjoy'd thy crueltie, With some more thrift, and more varietie.

   • 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening

     Does it not seem as if for a creature to challenge to itself a boundless attribute, were to trench upon the prerogative of the divine nature?

   • 1949, Charles Austin Beard, American Government and Politics, page 16:

     He could make what laws he pleased, as long as those laws did not trench upon property rights.

   • 2005, Carl von Clausewitz, J. J. Graham, On War, page 261:

     [O]ur ideas, therefore, must trench upon the province of tactics.

2. (military, infantry) To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.

   • Advanc'd upon the field there stood a mound
     Of earth congested, wall'd , and trench'd around

3. (archaeology) To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.
4. To have direction; to aim or tend.
   • 1612, Francis Bacon, Of Judicature

     the reason and consequence thereof may trench to point of estate

5. To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.
6. To cut furrows or ditches in.

7. To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.

French

Etymology

From English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??nt?/

Noun

trench m (plural trenchs)

1. trench coat

Italian

Etymology

From English trench coat.

Noun

trench m (invariable)

1. trench coat

English

Etymology

From Middle English trak, tracke, from Old French trac (“track of horses, trail, trace”), of uncertain origin. Likely from a Germanic source, either Old Norse traðk ("a track; path; trodden spot"; > Icelandic traðk (“a track; path; tread”), Faroese traðk (“track; tracks”), Norwegian tråkke (“to trample”)) or from Middle Dutch trec, *trac, treck ("line, row, series"; > Dutch trek (“a draft; feature; trait; groove; expedition”)), German Low German Treck (“a draught; movement; passage; flow”). See tread, trek.

Pronunciation

• enPR: tr?k, IPA^(key): /t?æk/
• Rhymes: -æk

Noun

track (plural tracks)

1. A mark left by something that has passed along.

   Synonyms: trace, trail, wake

2. A mark or impression left by the foot, either of man or animal.

   Synonyms: footprint, impression

3. The entire lower surface of the foot; said of birds, etc.
4. A road or other similar beaten path.

   Synonyms: path, road, way

5. Physical course; way.

   Synonyms: course, path, trajectory, way

6. A path or course laid out for a race, for exercise, etc.

   Synonyms: course, racetrack
7. The direction and progress of someone or something; path.
8. (railways) The way or rails along which a train moves.

   Synonyms: rails, railway, train tracks, tracks

9. A tract or area, such as of land.

   Synonyms: area, parcel, region, tract

10. (slang) The street, as a prostitute's place of work.
    • 2012, Pimpin' Ken, PIMPOLOGY: The 48 Laws of the Game (page 11)

      A real pimp is a gentleman, but these are pimps in gorilla suits. They hang around pimps, they have hoes on the track working for them, they may even look like pimps, but they are straight simps.

    • 2012, Paul D. Jones, Twilight Nights: The Trials and Tribulations of the Game (page 130)

      After putting Tonya Down on the track, we headed to this club called the Players Club.

11. Awareness of something, especially when arising from close monitoring.
12. (automotive) The distance between two opposite wheels on a same axletree.

    Synonym: track width

13. (automotive) Short for caterpillar track.
14. (cricket) The pitch.

    Synonyms: ground, pitch

15. Sound stored on a record.

    Synonym: recording

16. The physical track on a record.

    Synonym: groove

17. (music) A song or other relatively short piece of music, on a record, separated from others by a short silence.

18. A circular (never-ending) data storage unit on a side of magnetic or optical disk, divided into sectors.
19. (uncountable, sports) The racing events of track and field; track and field in general.

    Synonyms: athletics, track and field

    • 1973, University of Virginia Undergraduate Record

      The University of Virginia belongs to the Atlantic Coast Conference and competes interscholastically in basketball, baseball, crew, cross country, fencing, football, golf, indoor track, lacrosse, polo, soccer, swimming, tennis, track, and wrestling.

20. A themed set of talks within a conference.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• path
• trail

Verb

track (third-person singular simple present tracks, present participle tracking, simple past and past participle tracked)

1. To continue over time.
   1. (transitive) To observe the (measured) state of a person or object over time.

      We will track the raven population over the next six months.

   2. (transitive) To monitor the movement of a person or object.

      Agent Miles has been tracking the terrorist since Madrid.

   3. (transitive) To match the movement or change of a person or object.

      My height tracks my father's at my age, so I might end up as tall as him.

   4. (transitive or intransitive, of a camera) To travel so that a moving object remains in shot.

      The camera tracked the ball even as the field of play moved back and forth, keeping the action in shot the entire time.

   5. (intransitive, chiefly of a storm) To move.

      The hurricane tracked further west than expected.

   6. (transitive) To traverse; to move across.
      • 1837, Elizabeth Parker, Popular Poems. Selected by E. P. (page 228)

        I've swept o'er the mountain, the forest and fell, / I've played on the rock where the wild chamois dwell; / I have tracked the desert so dreary and rude, / Through the pathless depths of its solitude; […]

   7. (transitive) To tow.
   8. (intransitive) To exhibit good cognitive function.

      Is the patient tracking? Does he know where he is?

      • 2004, Catherine Anderson, Blue Skies, Penguin (?ISBN), page 39:

        Bess already knew about the painkillers and alcohol not mixing well.... "I wasn't tracking very well."

      • 2010 October 1, "karimitch" (username), "Memory Loss - Pancreatic Cancer Forums", in cancerforums.net, Cancer Forums:

        My mother in the past couple of days has started to really get confused and lose her train of thought easily.... She isn't tracking very well.

2. (transitive) To follow the tracks of.

   My uncle spent all day tracking the deer, whose hoofprints were clear in the mud.

   1. (transitive) To discover the location of a person or object by following traces.

      I tracked Joe to his friend's bedroom, where he had spent the night.

      • 2017 August 25, Aukkarapon Niyomyat & Panarat Thepgumpanat, "Thai junta seeks Yingluck's arrest as former PM skips court verdict", in reuters.com, Reuters:

        "She could be at any hospital...she could be ill. It's not clear whether she has fled," he told reporters. "Yingluck has many homes and many cars. It is difficult to track her."

   2. (transitive) To leave in the form of tracks.

      In winter, my cat tracks mud all over the house.

3. (transitive) To make tracks on.
4. (transitive or intransitive) To create a musical recording (a track).

   Lil Kyle is gonna track with that DJ next week.

   1. (computing, transitive or intransitive) To create music using tracker software.
      • 2018, Dafni Tragaki, Made in Greece: Studies in Popular Music

        At the time, tracking chiptunes (i.e. using trackers) was the fundamental method of chipmusic-making.

5. (intransitive, colloquial) To make sense; to be consistent with known information

Synonyms

• (observe the state of an object over time): monitor
• (monitor the movement of a person or object): follow
• (discover the location of a person or object): find, locate, trace, track down
• (be consistent with known information): make sense, check out

Derived terms

• track down
• track with
• tracking shot

Related terms

• tracker

Translations

Spanish

Etymology

From English track.

Noun

track m (plural tracks)

1. (sports) track