n.
- the action of pulling a thing along a surface.
▸the motive power used for pulling, especially on a railway.
- Medicine the application of a sustained pull on a limb or muscle, especially in order to maintain the position of a fractured bone or to correct a deformity.
- the grip of a tyre on a road or a wheel on a rail.
Etymology
ME: from Fr., or from med. L. tractio(n-), from L. trahere ‘draw, pull’.