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trac·tor

(trăktər)

1. A vehicle having a powerful gasoline or diesel motor and usually large, heavily treaded rear tires, used especially for pulling farm implements or machinery.

2. A truck having a cab and no body, used for pulling large vehicles such as vans or trailers.

a. An airplane propeller mounted in front of the supporting surfaces.

b. An airplane having such a propeller.

4. A toothed mechanism that automatically advances perforated continuous-form paper through a computer printer.

[From Latin tractus, past participle of trahere, to draw.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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