Tract
(Tract), v. t. To trace out; to track; also, to draw out; to protact. [Obs.] Spenser. B. Jonson.
Tractability
(Tract`a*bil"i*ty) n. [L. tractabilitas: cf.F. tractabilite.] The quality or state of being tractable
or docile; docility; tractableness.
Tractable
(Tract"a*ble) a. [L. tractabilis, fr, tractare to draw violently, to handle, treat. See Treat, v. t.]
1. Capable of being easily led, taught, or managed; docile; manageable; governable; as, tractable children; a
tractable learner.
I shall find them tractable enough.
Shak. 2. Capable of being handled; palpable; practicable; feasible; as, tractable measures. [Obs.] Holder.
—Tract"a*ble*ness, n. — Tract"a/bly, adv.
Tractarian
(Trac*ta"ri*an) n. (Ch. of England) One of the writers of the Oxford tracts, called "Tracts for
the Times," issued during the period 1833-1841, in which series of papers the sacramental system and
authority of the Church, and the value of tradition, were brought into prominence. Also, a member of the
High Church party, holding generally the principles of the Tractarian writers; a Puseyite.
Tractarian
(Trac*ta"ri*an) a. Of or pertaining to the Tractarians, or their principles.
Tractarianism
(Trac*ta"ri*an*ism) n. (Ch. of England) The principles of the Tractarians, or of those
persons accepting the teachings of the "Tracts for the Times."
Tractate
(Tract"ate) n. [L. tractatus a touching, handling, treatise. See Tractable, and Tract a treatise,
Treaty.] A treatise; a tract; an essay.
Agreeing in substance with Augustin's, from whose fourteenth Tractate on St. John the words are translated.
Hare. Tractation
(Trac*ta"tion) n. [L. tractatio.] Treatment or handling of a subject; discussion. [Obs.]
A full tractation of the points controverted.
Bp. Hall. Tractator
(Trac*ta"tor) n. [L., a handler.] One who writes tracts; specif., a Tractarian. [R.] C. Kingsley.
Tractile
(Tract"ile) a. [L. trahere, tractum, to draw.] Capable of being drawn out in length; ductile. Bacon.
Tractility
(Trac*til"i*ty) n. The quality of being tractile; ductility. Derham.
Traction
(Trac"tion) n. [L. trahere, tractum, to draw: cf. F. traction.]
1. The act of drawing, or the state of being drawn; as, the traction of a muscle.
2. 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. Attraction; a drawing toward. [R.]
4. The adhesive friction of a wheel on a rail, a rope on a pulley, or the like. Knight.
Angle of traction (Mech.), the angle made with a given plane by the line of direction in which a tractive
force acts. — Traction engine, a locomotive for drawing vehicles on highways or in the fields.
Tractite
(Tract"ite) n. A Tractarian.
