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Trace vs Tack - What's the difference?

trace | tack |

As nouns the difference between trace and tack

is that trace is an act of tracing while tack is a small nail with a flat head.

As verbs the difference between trace and tack

is that trace is to follow the trail of while tack is to nail with a tack (small nail with a flat head).

trace

English

(wikipedia trace)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) trace, traas, from (etyl) , from the verb (see below).

Noun

(en noun)
  • An act of tracing.
  • A mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal.
  • A very small amount.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=7 citation , passage=The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.}}
  • (electronics) An electric current-carrying conductive pathway on a printed circuit board.
  • An informal road or prominent path in an arid area.
  • One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whippletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.
  • (fortification) The ground plan of a work or works.
  • The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.
  • (mathematics) The sum of the diagonal elements of a square matrix.
  • Derived terms
    * downtrace, uptrace
    Synonyms
    * (mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal) track, trail * (small amount) see also .

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) tracen, from (etyl) tracer, .

    Verb

  • To follow the trail of.
  • * Milton
  • I feel thy power to trace the ways / Of highest agents.
    (Cowper)
  • To follow the history of.
  • * T. Burnet
  • You may trace the deluge quite round the globe.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=July 19 , author=Ella Davies , title=Sticks insects survive one million years without sex , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=They traced the ancient lineages of two species to reveal the insects' lengthy history of asexual reproduction.}}
  • To draw or sketch lightly or with care.
  • He carefully traced the outlines of the old building before him.
  • To copy onto a sheet of paper superimposed over the original, by drawing over its lines.
  • (obsolete) To copy; to imitate.
  • * Denham
  • That servile path thou nobly dost decline, / Of tracing word, and line by line.
  • (obsolete) To walk; to go; to travel.
  • * Spenser
  • Not wont on foot with heavy arms to trace .
  • (obsolete) To walk over; to pass through; to traverse.
  • * Shakespeare
  • We do trace this alley up and down.

    Anagrams

    * * * * * ----

    tack

    English

    Etymology 1

    From , probably from a (etyl) source.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small nail with a flat head.
  • * 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
  • A tough test for even the strongest climber, it was new to the Tour de France this year, but its debut will be remembered for the wrong reasons after one of those spectators scattered carpet tacks on the road and induced around 30 punctures among the group of riders including Bradley Wiggins, the Tour's overall leader, and his chief rivals.
  • A thumbtack.
  • (sewing) A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
  • (nautical) The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
  • (nautical) A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind. See also reach, gybe.
  • A direction or course of action, especially a new one.
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 637:
  • I thought that my refusing Barnard would alienate Botha, and decided that such a tack was too risky.
  • (nautical) The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
  • (nautical) The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
  • (nautical) A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is close-hauled; also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom.
  • Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. Saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, martingales, and breastplates are all forms of horse tack .
  • (manufacturing, construction, chemistry) The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.
  • The laminate adhesive has very aggressive tack and is hard to move once in place.
  • Hardtack.
  • * 1913 , D. H. Lawrence, "Sons and Lovers":
  • "But if a woman's got nothing but her fair fame to feed on, why, it's thin tack , and a donkey would die of it!"
  • That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
  • * Bishop Burnet
  • Some tacks had been made to money bills in King Charles's time.
    (Macaulay)
  • (legal, Scotland) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.
  • (Burrill)
  • (obsolete) Confidence; reliance.
  • (Halliwell)
    Synonyms
    * (nautical maneuver) coming about
    Hyponyms
    * (nail-like object for affixing thin things) thumbtack
    Derived terms
    * Blu-Tack * hardtack * thumbtack

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To nail with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
  • To sew/stich with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
  • (nautical) To maneuver a sailing vessel so that its bow turns through the wind, i.e. the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other.
  • To add something as an extra item.
  • to tack (something) onto (something)
  • Often paired with "up", to place the tack on a horse.
  • Synonyms
    * to change tack
    Antonyms
    * to wear

    See also

    * * Blu-Tack

    Etymology 2

    From an old or dialectal form of (etyl) tache. See techy.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A stain; a tache.
  • (obsolete) A peculiar flavour or taint.
  • (Drayton)
    ----