Trail Meaning
/tɹeɪl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo follow behind (someone or something); to tail (someone or something).
verbTo drag (something) behind on the ground.
Sentence Examples
The car left a trail of dust.
I saw the white trail of his frozen breath.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hikers followed the narrow ____ through the forest to reach the waterfall.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We followed the narrow ____ into the woods and eventually reached a peaceful spot by a small waterfall today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English trailen, from Old French trailler (“to tow; pick up the scent of a quarry”), from Vulgar Latin *tragulāre (“to drag”), from Latin tragula (“dragnet, javelin thrown by a strap”), probably related to Latin trahere (“to pull, drag along”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Our little life is but a gust That bends the branches of thy tree, And trails its blossoms in the dust!"
— 1896, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, page 287:
""I saw your brother—I saw your brother," he said, nodding his head, as Archer lagged past him, trailing his spade, and scowling at the old gentleman in spectacles."
— 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:
"Even now I behold a sign, A threatening of wrath divine, A watery, wandering star, through whose streaming hair, and the white Unfolding garments of light, That trail behind it afar, The constellations shine!"
— 1871, The Divine Tragedy, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
"Cumberland sausage is about half as thick as your wrist and extends in a single rope several feet long, so that Mistrootchinson [Mister Hutchinson, the butcher], having weighed you one end while the other trailed over the edge of the scale, would then cut it for you like a draper selling a length of tape."
— 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 62:
"The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows."
— 1954 July 29, J.R.R. Tolkien, “I: A Long-Expected Party”, in The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings; 1), →ISBN:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The hikers followed the narrow ____ through the forest to reach the waterfall.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We followed the narrow ____ into the woods and eventually reached a peaceful spot by a small waterfall today.