From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtracttract /trækt/ ●○○ noun [countable] 1 → the digestive/reproductive/urinary etc tract2 SGAREAa large area of land vast tracts of woodland3 formalTCN a short piece of writing, especially about a moral or religious subject a tract on the dangers of drink
Examples from the Corpus
tract• Bible tracts• Another correspondent asked for cheap tracts which she could distribute to the poor as the middle class were already knowledgeable.• Postmortem examination was carried out in seven patients, and the gastrointestinal tract was fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin.• These histological findings were similar in all parts of the gastrointestinal tract.• As indicated, Spenser was unsuccessful, his tract censored.• There are large tracts of vacant land near the river, which could be used for farming.• Large tracts of the North-East and North Yorkshire are used by the Army for training.• His fame rests on the flurry of tracts he published in his last years, and little is known of his background.• Vast tracts of Brazilian rain forest continue to be cut down every year.Origin tract 1. (1400-1500) Latin tractus “pulling, extension”, from trahere “to pull”2. (1400-1500) Latin tractatus “tract”, from tractare; → TRACTABLE 