Tract

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·v Track; trace.

II. Tract ·v Treatment; exposition.

III. Tract ·v Traits; features; lineaments.

IV. Tract ·v The footprint of a wild beast.

V. Tract ·v Something drawn out or extended; expanse.

VI. Tract ·v Continued or protracted duration; length; extent.

VII. Tract ·v Continuity or extension of anything; as, the tract of speech.

VIII. Tract ·v A region or quantity of land or water, of indefinite extent; an area; as, an unexplored tract of sea.

IX. Tract ·vt To trace out; to Track; also, to draw out; to Protact.

X. Tract ·noun A written discourse or dissertation, generally of short extent; a short treatise, especially on practical religion.

XI. Tract ·v Verses of Scripture sung at Mass, instead of the Alleluia, from Septuagesima Sunday till the Saturday befor Easter;

— so called because sung tractim, or without a break, by one voice, instead of by many as in the antiphons.