All 50 Uses of
trace
in
The Count of Monte Cristo
- "Really?" answered Edmond, with a smile which had in it traces of slight uneasiness.†
Chpt 1-2
- "It is sometimes essential to government to cause a man's disappearance without leaving any traces, so that no written forms or documents may defeat their wishes."†
Chpt 13-14
- In the centre of the cell, in a circle traced with a fragment of plaster detached from the wall, sat a man whose tattered garments scarcely covered him.†
Chpt 13-14
- "Let us first see," said he, "whether it is possible to remove the traces of my entrance here—our future tranquillity depends upon our jailers being entirely ignorant of it."†
Chpt 15-16
- "Look at this ray of light which enters by my window," said the abbe, "and then observe the lines traced on the wall.†
Chpt 17-18
- They put the stone back in its place; the abbe sprinkled a little dust over it to conceal the traces of its having been removed, rubbed his foot well on it to make it assume the same appearance as the other, and then, going towards his bed, he removed it from the spot it stood in.†
Chpt 17-18
- The fresh earth excavated during their present work, and which would have entirely blocked up the old passage, was thrown, by degrees and with the utmost precaution, out of the window in either Faria's or Dantes' cell, the rubbish being first pulverized so finely that the night wind carried it far away without permitting the smallest trace to remain.†
Chpt 17-18
- "I have looked at it with all possible attention," said Dantes, "and I only see a half-burnt paper, on which are traces of Gothic characters inscribed with a peculiar kind of ink."†
Chpt 17-18
- Yet I had read, I had even written a precise history of the Borgia family, for the sole purpose of assuring myself whether any increase of fortune had occurred to them on the death of the Cardinal Caesar Spada; but could only trace the acquisition of the property of the Cardinal Rospigliosi, his companion in misfortune.†
Chpt 17-18
- I grasped it in my hand, put out the flame as quickly as I could, lighted my taper in the fire itself, and opened the crumpled paper with inexpressible emotion, recognizing, when I had done so, that these characters had been traced in mysterious and sympathetic ink, only appearing when exposed to the fire; nearly one-third of the paper had been consumed by the flame.†
Chpt 17-18
- Faria, with an air of triumph, offered the paper to Dantes, who this time read the following words, traced with an ink of a reddish color resembling rust:— "This 25th day of April, 1498, be….†
Chpt 17-18
- Keeping along the shore, and examining the smallest object with serious attention, he thought he could trace, on certain rocks, marks made by the hand of man.†
Chpt 23-24
- Might it not have been the cardinal himself who had first traced them, in order that they might serve as a guide for his nephew in the event of a catastrophe, which he could not foresee would have been so complete.†
Chpt 23-24
- Dantes, as we have said, had traced the marks along the rocks, and he had noticed that they led to a small creek, which was hidden like the bath of some ancient nymph.†
Chpt 23-24
- Faria has dreamed this; the Cardinal Spada buried no treasure here; perhaps he never came here, or if he did, Caesar Borgia, the intrepid adventurer, the stealthy and indefatigable plunderer, has followed him, discovered his traces, pursued them as I have done, raised the stone, and descending before me, has left me nothing.†
Chpt 23-24
- …give it everywhere a uniform appearance; then, quitting the grotto, he replaced the stone, heaping on it broken masses of rocks and rough fragments of crumbling granite, filling the interstices with earth, into which he deftly inserted rapidly growing plants, such as the wild myrtle and flowering thorn, then carefully watering these new plantations, he scrupulously effaced every trace of footsteps, leaving the approach to the cavern as savage-looking and untrodden as he had found it.†
Chpt 25-26
- The agent of Thomson & French had not been again seen at Marseilles; the day after, or two days after his visit to Morrel, he had disappeared; and as in that city he had had no intercourse but with the mayor, the inspector of prisons, and M. Morrel, his departure left no trace except in the memories of these three persons.†
Chpt 29-30
- He traversed the island, after having followed the traces which the footsteps of the giant have left, and re-embarked for Marciana.†
Chpt 31-32
- During this time the captain had thrown off his vest and shirt, and secured his trousers round his waist; his feet were naked, so he had no shoes and stockings to take off; after these preparations he placed his finger on his lips, and lowering himself noiselessly into the sea, swam towards the shore with such precaution that it was impossible to hear the slightest sound; he could only be traced by the phosphorescent line in his wake.†
Chpt 31-32
- Oh, yes, more than once, but always in vain; we examined the grotto all over, but we never could find the slightest trace of any opening; they say that the door is not opened by a key, but a magic word.†
Chpt 31-32
- He saw nothing, unless that, by traces of smoke, others had before him attempted the same thing, and, like him, in vain.†
Chpt 31-32
- With it was effaced the last trace of the preceding night; and then supper, Sinbad, hashish, statues,—all became a dream for Franz.†
Chpt 31-32
- The priest had a writing teacher at Rome make three alphabets—one large, one middling, and one small; and pointed out to him that by the help of a sharp instrument he could trace the letters on a slate, and thus learn to write.†
Chpt 33-34
- …besides being an elegant, well-looking young man, was also possessed of considerable talent and ability; moreover, he was a viscount—a recently created one, certainly, but in the present day it is not necessary to go as far back as Noah in tracing a descent, and a genealogical tree is equally estimated, whether dated from 1399 or merely 1815; but to crown all these advantages, Albert de Morcerf commanded an income of 50,000 livres, a more than sufficient sum to render him a personage…†
Chpt 33-34
- He recounted, with circumstantial exactitude, all the particulars of the supper, the hashish, the statues, the dream, and how, at his awakening, there remained no proof or trace of all these events, save the small yacht, seen in the distant horizon driving under full sail toward Porto-Vecchio.†
Chpt 37-38
- "It is a road your ancestors have traced for you," said Albert gallantly.†
Chpt 39-40
- But he who was addressed stood there, stupefied, bewildered, stunned; his haggard eyes glanced around, as if in search of the traces of some terrible event, and with his clinched hands he seemed striving to shut out horrible recollections.†
Chpt 43-44
- I let him place the box in the hole he had made, then, while he stamped with his feet to remove all traces of his occupation, I rushed on him and plunged my knife into his breast, exclaiming,—'I am Giovanni Bertuccio; thy death for my brother's; thy treasure for his widow; thou seest that my vengeance is more complete than I had hoped.'†
Chpt 43-44
- It was subsequently to these dreadful events that I waited on your excellency, to whom it would have been folly to have mentioned Benedetto, since all trace of him seemed entirely lost; or of my sister, since she was dead.†
Chpt 45-46
- As for that Benedetto, who so grossly belied his name, have you never made any effort to trace out whither he has gone, or what has become of him?†
Chpt 45-46
- Ali descended to the street, and marked a straight line on the pavement immediately at the entrance of the house, and then pointed out the line he had traced to the count, who was watching him.†
Chpt 47-48
- The valet de chambre announced M. de Villefort at the moment when the count, leaning over a large table, was tracing on a map the route from St. Petersburg to China.†
Chpt 47-48
- He dressed entirely in black, with the exception of his white tie, and his funeral appearance was only mitigated by the slight line of red ribbon which passed almost imperceptibly through his button-hole, and appeared like a streak of blood traced with a delicate brush.†
Chpt 47-48
- She appeared much dejected; and any person who considered her attentively might have observed the traces of recent tears in her eyes.†
Chpt 51-52
- …under the pretext that the rats prevent him from sleeping, purchases five or six grammes of arsenic—if he is really a cunning fellow, he goes to five or six different druggists or grocers, and thereby becomes only five or six times more easily traced;—then, when he has acquired his specific, he administers duly to his enemy, or near kinsman, a dose of arsenic which would make a mammoth or mastodon burst, and which, without rhyme or reason, makes his victim utter groans which alarm the…†
Chpt 51-52
- Then your father ought to have met with you on the road, for it is exactly the same route which he himself took, and that is how we have been able to trace your journey to this place.†
Chpt 55-56
- Had the old man's face been moulded in wax it could not have shown less emotion at this news than was now to be traced there.†
Chpt 57-58
- "It is true, then," he said, rather uttering his thoughts aloud than addressing his companion,—"it is true, then, that all our actions leave their traces—some sad, others bright—on our paths; it is true that every step in our lives is like the course of an insect on the sands;—it leaves its track!†
Chpt 67-68
- Alas, to many the path is traced by tears.†
Chpt 67-68 *
- The paths of which you were just speaking have been traced by all young men of ardent imaginations.†
Chpt 67-68
- It was therefore necessary, before everything else, and at all risks, that I should cause all traces of the past to disappear—that I should destroy every material vestige; too much reality would always remain in my recollection.†
Chpt 67-68
- I hoped to find some traces which had escaped me in the darkness.†
Chpt 67-68
- But you should have inquired for the woman; you should have traced her.†
Chpt 67-68
- They traced her to Chalons, and there they lost her.†
Chpt 67-68
- He dreaded not so much the revelation, for he could reply to or deny its truth;—he cared little for that mene, tekel, upharsin, which appeared suddenly in letters of blood upon the wall;—but what he was really anxious for was to discover whose hand had traced them.†
Chpt 71-72
- And you will find traces of poison?†
Chpt 73-74 *
- Valentine was so pale one might trace the blue veins from her temples, round her eyes and down her cheeks.†
Chpt 73-74
- One might by the fearful swelling of the veins of his forehead and the contraction of the muscles round the eye, trace the terrible conflict which was going on between the living energetic mind and the inanimate and helpless body.†
Chpt 79-80
- There is a poison which destroys life almost without leaving any perceptible traces.†
Chpt 79-80
- Let no trace of emotion be visible on your countenance, bear your grief as the cloud bears within it ruin and death—a fatal secret, known only when the storm bursts.†
Chpt 83-84
Definitions:
-
(trace as in: found a trace of) a small quantity; or any indication or evidence ofThe exact meaning of this sense of trace depends upon its context. For example:
- a small indication that something was present -- as in "The plane disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean without leaving a trace."
- a very small amount of something -- as in "The blood test showed a trace of steroids."
- any evidence of something -- as in "We did not find a trace of the gene."
-
(trace as in: trace the origin or development) to find, search, research, or keep track ofThis sense of trace usually has to do with information. It's specific meaning depends on its context. For example:
to find or search for something through investigation -- often the origin of something:
- "The police traced the call." -- found out where it originated
- "We are tracing the lost luggage" -- searching for
- "Can you trace the problem to its source?" -- find through investigation
- "She traced her family history to discover that her great-grandmother came to the United States from Lithuania when the Nazis occupied it." -- discovered something through investigation
to research or report on the development of something
- "She traced the history of the automobile in her paper." -- researched the development of something
- "Her presentation traced recent progress in alternative energy solutions." -- reported on
to monitor or keep track of the progress or development of something
- "She traces the progress of at-risk students." -- monitors information
- "I used binoculars to trace her progress up the mountain." -- monitor, follow, or track