Other forms: trails, trailing, trailed
A trail is a rough path worn through woods or hills by feet. Not built — walked into existence.
It also means the marks something leaves behind, so a snail leaves a trail and so does a wounded animal, which is where following a trail and the phrase hot on the trail come from. Tourism gives us themed routes like a coastal trail or a food trail. The verb means to drag behind, as in a coat trailing on the floor, and to be losing, since a team can trail by two goals.
1nountrailA rough path through countryside.~96%
“They followed the trail up through the pines.”
2nounseriesA series of marks or signs left behind.~2%
“The burglars left a trail of muddy prints.”
3verbdragTo drag behind, or to be losing.~2%
“Her scarf trailed along the ground.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 18 sentences found in the wild and placed 17 of them on a sense (1 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Old French
trailler
Middle English
trailen
English, today
trail
From Middle English trailen, from Old French trailler. 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”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA