Traffic return, a periodical statement of the receipts for goods and passengers, as on a railway line. Traffic taker, a computer of the returns of traffic on a railway, steamboat line, etc.

Trafficable
(Traf"fic*a*ble) a. Capable of being disposed of in traffic; marketable. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

Trafficker
(Traf"fick*er) n. One who traffics, or carries on commerce; a trader; a merchant.

Trafficless
(Traf"fic*less), a. Destitute of traffic, or trade.

Tragacanth
(Trag"a*canth) n. [L. tragacanthum tragacanth, tragacantha the plant producing tragacanth, Gr. a he-goat + a thorn: cf. F. tragacanthe.] A kind of gum procured from a spiny leguminous shrub (Astragalus gummifer) of Western Asia, and other species of Astragalus. It comes in hard whitish or yellowish flakes or filaments, and is nearly insoluble in water, but slowly swells into a mucilaginous mass, which is used as a substitute for gum arabic in medicine and the arts. Called also gum tragacanth.

Tragedian
(Tra*ge"di*an) n. [Cf. F. tragédien.]

1. A writer of tragedy.

Thence what the lofty, grave, tragedians taught.
Milton.

2. An actor or player in tragedy. Shak.

Tragédienne
(||Tra`gé`dienne") n. [F.] A woman who plays in tragedy.

Tragedious
(Tra*ge"di*ous) a. Like tragedy; tragical. [Obs.] "Tragedious history." Fabyan.

Tragedy
(Trag"e*dy) n.; pl. Tragedies [OE. tragedie, OF. tragedie, F. tragédie, L. tragoedia, Gr. fr. a tragic poet and singer, originally, a goat singer; a goat (perhaps akin to to gnaw, nibble, eat, and E. trout) + to sing; from the oldest tragedies being exhibited when a goat was sacrificed, or because a goat was the prize, or because the actors were clothed in goatskins. See Ode.]

1. A dramatic poem, composed in elevated style, representing a signal action performed by some person or persons, and having a fatal issue; that species of drama which represents the sad or terrible phases of character and life.

Tragedy is to say a certain storie,
As olde bookes maken us memorie,
Of him that stood in great prosperitee
And is yfallen out of high degree
Into misery and endeth wretchedly.
Chaucer.

All our tragedies are of kings and princes.
Jer. Taylor.

tragedy is poetry in its deepest earnest; comedy is poetry in unlimited jest.
Coleridge.

2. A fatal and mournful event; any event in which human lives are lost by human violence, more especially by unauthorized violence.

Tragic
(Trag"ic Trag"ic*al) a. [L. tragicus, Gr.: cf. F. tragique.]

1. Of or pertaining to tragedy; of the nature or character of tragedy; as, a tragic poem; a tragic play or representation.

2. Fatal to life; mournful; terrible; calamitous; as, the tragic scenes of the French revolution.

3. The business done upon a railway, steamboat line, etc., with reference to the number of passengers or the amount of freight carried.


  By PanEris using Melati.

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