TRAILING • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Trailing

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/trˈeɪlɪŋ/ Listen

noun

Trailing n. A. & vb. n. from Trail.

Trailing arbutus. (Bot.) See under Arbutus.

Trailing spring, a spring fixed in the axle box of the trailing wheels of a locomotive engine, and so placed as to assist in deadening any shock which may occur.

Trailing wheel, a hind wheel of a locomotive when it is not a driving wheel; also, one of the hind wheels of a carriage.

verb

Trail v. t. (past & past part. trailed; pres. part. trailing)

1.

(a)

To hunt by the track; to track.

(b)

To follow behind.

(c)

To pursue.

2.

To draw or drag, as along the ground. "And hung his head, and trailed his legs along." "They shall not trail me through their streets Like a wild beast." "Long behind he trails his pompous robe."

3.

(Mil.) To carry, as a firearm, with the breech near the ground and the upper part inclined forward, the piece being held by the right hand near the middle.

4.

To tread down, as grass, by walking through it; to lay flat.

5.

To take advantage of the ignorance of; to impose upon. (Prov. Eng.) "I presently perceived she was (what is vernacularly termed) trailing Mrs. Dent; that is, playing on her ignorance."

Trail v. i.

1.

To be drawn out in length; to follow after. "When his brother saw the red blood trail."

2.

To grow to great length, especially when slender and creeping upon the ground, as a plant; to run or climb.

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Etymology of 'Trailing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Trailing" Quotes from Famous Books

... his journey, but he hadn't gone far before a queen bee flew against him, trailing one wing behind her, which had been cruelly torn in two by a big bird. Ferko was no less willing to help her than he had been to help the wolf and the mouse, so he poured some healing drops over the wounded wing. On the spot the queen ...

— The Yellow Fairy Book • Various

... from him, keeping a wary eye on him, but there was, in reality, no need for this. He sat quite still, his hands peacefully crossed on his stomach. Through the small doorway she slipped, her trailing skirts still held high, but her heavy boots now seemed to swagger ...

— Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 6, July 1905 • Various

... came the avalanche of the Renaissance. That altered all. The Italian taste took precedence, and from that time on the cartoons of tapestries represent modern art, trailing through its various fashions or modes of the hour. The purest Renaissance is direct from the Italian artist, in tapestry as well as in painting, but it is interesting to see the maladroitness of the Flemish hand when ...

— The Tapestry Book • Helen Churchill Candee

... range-rider was still trailing along with the party ten minutes later when its scattered members drew together in tacit admission that the ...

— The Big-Town Round-Up • William MacLeod Raine

... alone, and pours o'er the twisted wicks the oil from his slender cruse? We sat there, my fellows and I, 'twixt Darij and al-Udhaib, and gazed as the distance gloomed, and waited its oncoming. The right of its mighty rain advanced over Katan's ridge; the left of its trailing skirt swept Yadhbul and as-Sitar: Then over Kutaifah's steep the flood of its onset drave, and headlong before its storm the tall trees were borne to ground; And the drift of its waters passed o'er the crags of al-Kanan, and drave forth the white-legged deer from the refuge they ...

— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol. 2 • Charles Dudley Warner

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