Oh My Word:Trail, Trail

“The 4,000 or so people who annually complete the Dales Way (a 76-mile trek through some of the prettiest parts of England) are tackling just one of the 720 longdistance trails that traverse the British Isles.” - The Economist December 17th-30th 2011 A misbirth with a trailing navelcord, hushed in ruddy wool. – Ulysses by James Joyce Trail as a verb means follow, purse, hunt, lagging behind (Everyone is trailing behind Ussain Bolt) and falling behind (He is trailing behind his opponent).

Trail away or off means fade away, decrease, dwindle, die away, tail off, taper off, grow weak, grow faint.

Derivatives of trail are trails, trailed, trailing, trailblazer (noun, something new or original), and trailblazing (adjective.

The scientists at Large Hadron Collider are working for a trailblazing scientific discovery).

Trailer means a truck or other wheeled container pulled by another vehicle (They packed the food and camping equipment in the trailer). In the US, it is called a caravan. Trailer also means short extracts from a film or TV programme shown in advance to advertise it (I saw the trailer of the movie on the Internet, and I am waiting for its release).

Trial, trials Trial means examination of evidence in a law-court by a judge or jury to decide if somebody accused of a crime is innocent or guilty of a crime (In India there is no trial by jury), act or process of testing the ability, quality, etc of somebody or something (Give job applications a trial so that you will know where you stand. A trial of strength is a contest to see who is stronger. The new drug has undergone extensive medical trials).

Trial match in sports is to test the ability of players who may be selected for an important team. Aslo it could mean a test for someone. Her child is a trial to his teachers.

Trial as an adjective refers to experimental, probationary, testing, pilot, provisional and exploratory (She is going for a trial test for Formula One driving).

Trial and error attributively refers to process of solving a problem by trying various solutions and learning from one’s failures (He learnt painting by trial and error). Trials and tribulations refer to troubles one faces. Trial run is a preliminary test of the quality, effectiveness, ability, etc of something or somebody.

“The train (A historic rail link to Kashmir Valley), on a trial run, arrived at Banihal station from Qazigund in Anantnag district of Kashmir, and was welcomed by hundreds of residents of this highway town.”

The Hindu Saturday, 19 December, 2012 Learn to face life’s trials and tribulations, you will! Let us not trail behind the lorry..