Tract"ive (?), a. Serving to draw; pulling; attracting; as, tractive
power.
Tract"or (?), n. [NL., from L. trahere, tractum, to draw.] 1. That
which draws, or is used for drawing.
2. pl. (Med.) Two small, pointed rods of metal, formerly used in the
treatment called Perkinism.
Trac`to*ra"tion (?), n. See Perkinism.
Tract"o*ry (?), n. [L. tractorius of drawing, fr. trahere, tractum, to
draw.] (Geom.) A tractrix.
Tract"rix (?), n. [NL. See Tractor.] (Geom.) A curve such that the part
of the tangent between the point of tangency and a given straight line
is constant; — so called because it was conceived as described by the
motion of one end of a tangent line as the other end was drawn along
the given line.
Trad (?), obs. imp. of Tread. Chaucer.
Trade (?), n. [Formerly, a path, OE. tred a footmark. See Tread, n. &
v.] 1. A track; a trail; a way; a path; also, passage; travel; resort.
[Obs.]
A postern with a blind wicket there was, A common trade to pass through
Priam's house.
Surrey.
Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade.
Spenser.
Or, I'll be buried in the king's highway, Some way of common trade,
where subjects' feet May hourly trample on their sovereign's head.
Shak.
2. Course; custom; practice; occupation; employment. [Obs.] "The right
trade of religion." Udall.
There those five sisters had continual trade.
Spenser.
Long did I love this lady, Long was my travel, long my trade to win
her.
Massinger.
Thy sin's not accidental but a trade.
Shak.
3. Business of any kind; matter of mutual consideration; affair;
dealing. [Obs.]
Have you any further trade with us?
Shak.
4. Specifically: The act or business of exchanging commodities by
barter, or by buying and selling for money; commerce; traffic; barter.
Trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing, either in the
produce of land, in manufactures, in bills, or in money; but it is
chiefly used to denote the barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares,
and merchandise, either by wholesale or retail. Trade is either foreign
or domestic. Foreign trade consists in the exportation and importation
of goods, or the exchange of the commodities of different countries.
Domestic, or home, trade is the exchange, or buying and selling, of
goods within a country. Trade is also by the wholesale, that is, by the
package or in large quantities, generally to be sold again, or it is by
retail, or in small parcels. The carrying trade is the business of
transporting commodities from one country to another, or between places
in the same country, by land or water.
5. The business which a person has learned, and which he engages in,
for procuring subsistence, or for profit; occupation; especially,
mechanical employment as distinguished from the liberal arts, the
learned professions, and agriculture; as, we speak of the trade of a
smith, of a carpenter, or mason, but not now of the trade of a farmer,
or a lawyer, or a physician.
Accursed usury was all his trade.
Spenser.
The homely, slighted, shepherd's trade.
Milton.