ˈtracking, vbl. n.1
[f. track v.1 + -ing1.]
I. 1. The action of track v.1 in various senses. Also attrib.
| 1524 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) I. App. xiii. 30 The delaying and tracking of this matier may do moche harme. 1838 Arcana of Science 49 The friction arising from the unequal tracking of ordinary carriages is avoided. 1888 in Times 13 Oct. 7/6 Testing their [bloodhounds'] tracking powers. 1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 49 The tracking down of escaped convicts and bushrangers. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 30 Sept. 10/2 The double tracking of the line from coast to coast will be completed in a few years. 1908 Daily Chron. 28 Aug. 7/4 Tracking dogs are kept in readiness at certain centres. 1932 Jrnl. Sci. Instruments IX. 288 The best tracking conditions are reached by choosing the position of the axis about which the tone arm rotates by the method shown. 1937 Discovery Nov. 330/2 The operators of the electron cameras receive their instructions through telephones, so that they can advance or withdraw their cameras (tracking) or swing them sideways (panning) as planned by the producer. 1958 Listener 4 Dec. 908/2 The manufacture of the satellite and its instruments, with the associated tracking and computing systems. 1959 Cambr. Rev. 24 Oct. 73/1 The technique in this section cuts right across Bazin's distinction between classic Eisenstein montage, and more realistic modern methods of tracking, panning, and so on, on a wide screen. 1969 Times 16 July 4/1 The radio tracking instruments spread around the globe for keeping in continuous contact with the spacecraft. 1975 G. J. King Audio Handbk. viii. 184 Tracking ability thus takes account of the compliance, effective tip mass and mechanical resistance. |
II. Specific senses.
2. The formation or occurrence of conducting paths for electricity over the surface of an insulating material.
| 1931 H. Warren Electr. Insulating Materials iii. xix. 239 The surface carbonization, or what is commonly called ‘tracking’.., of these materials is their most serious electrical handicap. 1945 Electronic Engin. XVII. 600 Moisture..very soon causes..tracking between the connecting tags. 1967 M. Chandler Ceramics in Mod. World iv. 115 The electrical properties that matter most are high volume and surface resistivity, high puncture strength, and good tracking resistance. 1970 K. Ball Fiat 600, 600 D Autobook iii. 34/1 Examine the distributor cap for cracks or signs of carbonisation (tracking). |
3. Electronics. The maintenance of a constant difference in frequency between two or more connected circuits or components.
| 1932 Electronics Aug. 250/1 (caption) Deviation from exact tracking at various intermediate frequencies. 1971 [see padder n.2 3]. 1975 [see track v.1 1 e]. |
4. U.S. Educ. = streaming vbl. n. f.| 1967 N.Y. Times 23 June 36 Tracking can be a useful educational device if tests are frequently administered and if movement from one track to another is made easy. 1974 Florida FL Reporter XIII. 29/3 School would simplify their task if they could separate those students who want to learn to speak the new dialect from those who do not... This would not be a matter of ‘tracking’. |
III. 5. Special
Combs.:
tracking error, the error that occurs in gramophone reproduction when the tone-arm is pivoted, so that in general the axis of the cartridge is not in line with the groove;
tracking shot Cinemat. and
Television, a shot during which the camera tracks (
track v.
1 3 e);
tracking snow N. Amer., snow sufficiently deep to enable hunters to track animals;
tracking station, an establishment set up to track objects in the sky;
tracking weight, the weight with which a stylus rests on a gramophone record.
| 1924 Gramophone Sept. 129/2 The ‘*tracking error’. 1930 Wireless World 26 Mar. 340/1 The mean between the highest and lowest deviations..gives a slightly smaller maximum tracking error. 1975 Gramophone Jan. 1424/1 Tracking error at all points across the record was within 2° overall. |
| 1940 Chambers's Technical Dict. 857/1 *Tracking shot. 1957 Manvell & Huntley Technique Film Music ii. 33 There follows a continuous tracking shot lasting in all for 2 minutes 22 seconds. 1973 D. Osmond-Smith tr. Bettetini's Lang. & Technique of Film ii. 95 Another narratively effective element is the ‘tracking shot’; this consists of moving the whole cine-camera on a mechanical device known as a ‘dolly’. |
| 1971 W. Hillen Blackwater River ii. 17 Water running, little hope for *tracking-snow. 1981 Northeast Woods & Waters Jan. 12/1 Coos County showed the largest increase (87%) where sportsmen had tracking snow for the entire season. |
| 1963 Ann. Reg. 1962 445 The *tracking station in Great Britain held the signal for only a few moments. 1972 Daily Tel. 14 Apr. 4/6 The TV signal is received from the Moon..at the Goldstone tracking station in the Mojave Desert. 1978 G. Greene Human Factor iv. i. 197 America maintains a guided missile tracking station and a space tracking station in the Republic. |
| 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio iv. 87 Recordings played under a *tracking weight of about 1½ oz. were reckoned to have a life of about a dozen playings. 1978 Lancashire Life Sept. 131/1 The pick-up arm itself should have an adjustment to enable you to set the correct tracking weight for the cartridge. |