traction

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of drawing or pulling, especially the drawing of a vehicle or load over a surface by motor power.
2. n. The condition of being drawn or pulled.
3. n. Pulling power, as of a draft animal or engine.
4. n. Adhesive friction, as of a wheel on a track or a tire on a road.
5. n. Medicine A sustained pull applied mechanically especially to the arm, leg, or neck so as to correct fractured or dislocated bones, overcome muscle spasms, or relieve pressure.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In recent use, traffic by means of railroads; railroads, and especially streetrailroads, collectively; the interests and rights represented by such railroads.
2. n. The act of drawing, or the state of being drawn; specifically, in physiology, contraction, as of a muscle.
3. n. The act of drawing a body along a surface, as over water or on a railway. The power exerted in order to produce the effect is called the force of traction. The line in which the force of traction acts is called the line of traction, and the angle which this line makes with the plane along which a body is drawn by the force of traction is called the angle of traction.
4. n. Attraction; attractive power or influence.
5. n. The adhesive friction of a body or object, as of a wheel on a rail or a rope on a pulley.
6. n. An action the negative of pressure.
7. n. In physiology, the axis or direction of the tractive action of a muscle; the line in which a muscle contracts.

Wiktionary

1. n. the act of pulling something along a surface using motive power
2. n. the condition of being so pulled
3. n. Grip
4. n. the pulling power of an engine or animal
5. n. the adhesive friction of a wheel etc on a surface
6. n. medicine a mechanically applied sustained pull, especially to a limb
7. n. business the extent of adoption of a new product or service, typically measured in number of customers or level of revenue achieved
8. n. politics popular support

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of drawing, or the state of being drawn.
2. n. Specifically, the act of drawing a body along a plane by motive power, as the drawing of a carriage by men or horses, the towing of a boat by a tug.
3. n. rare Attraction; a drawing toward.
4. n. The adhesive friction of a wheel on a rail, a rope on a pulley, or the like.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the friction between a body and the surface on which it moves (as between an automobile tire and the road)
2. n. (orthopedics) the act of pulling on a bone or limb (as in a fracture) to relieve pressure or align parts in a special way during healing