tract

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An expanse of land or water.
2. n. A specified or limited area of land: developing a 30-acre tract.
3. n. Anatomy A system of organs and tissues that together perform a specialized function: the alimentary tract.
4. n. Anatomy A bundle of nerve fibers having a common origin, termination, and function.
5. n. Archaic A stretch or lapse of time.
6. n. A leaflet or pamphlet containing a declaration or appeal, especially one put out by a religious or political group.
7. n. The verses from Scripture sung during Lent or on Ember Days after the gradual in the Roman Catholic Mass.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To draw; draw out; protract; waste.
2. To trace; track; follow.
3. n. Extent; a continued passage or duration; process; lapse: used chiefly in the phrase tract of time.
4. n. Course or route; track; way.
5. n. Course or movement; action.
6. n. Attractive influence; attraction; charm.
7. n. Extent; expanse; hence, a region of indefinite extent; a more or less extended area or stretch of land or water: as, a tract of woodland.
8. n. Trait; lineament; feature.
9. n. In anatomy, an area or expanse; the extension of an organ or a system: as, the digestive or alimentary tract; the optic tract. Also called tractus (which see).
10. n. In ornithology, a pteryla, or feathered place: distinguished from space.
11. n. In heraldry, same as tressure.
12. n. The air-passages collectively.
13. To handle; treat.
14. Hence To discourse or treat of; describe; delineate.
15. n. A short treatise, discourse, or dissertation; especially, a brief printed treatise or discourse on some topic of practical religion.
16. n. In the Roman and some other Western liturgies, an anthem consisting of verses from Scripture (generally from the Psalms), sung instead of the Alleluia after the gradual, or instead of the gradual, from Septuagesima till Easter eve: so called from being sung ‘continuously’ (tractim) by the cantor without interruption of other voices. Also tractus.
17. n. Track; footprint.

Wiktionary

1. n. An area or expanse of land.
2. n. A series of connected body organs, as in the digestive tract.
3. n. A small booklet such as a pamphlet, often for promotional or informational uses.
4. n. A brief treatise or discourse on a subject of interest.
5. n. A commentator's view or perspective on a subject.
6. n. Continued or protracted duration, length, extent
7. v. obsolete To pursue, follow; to track.
8. v. obsolete To draw out; to protract.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A written discourse or dissertation, generally of short extent; a short treatise, especially on practical religion.
2. n. Something drawn out or extended; expanse.
3. n. A region or quantity of land or water, of indefinite extent; an area.
4. n. obsolete Traits; features; lineaments.
5. n. obsolete The footprint of a wild beast.
6. n. obsolete Track; trace.
7. n. obsolete Treatment; exposition.
8. n. obsolete Continuity or extension of anything.
9. n. Continued or protracted duration; length; extent.
10. n. (R. C. Ch.) 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.
11. v. obsolete To trace out; to track; also, to draw out; to protact.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an extended area of land
2. n. a brief treatise on a subject of interest; published in the form of booklet
3. n. a system of body parts that together serve some particular purpose
4. n. a bundle of myelinated nerve fibers following a path through the brain