tractor English · revision 39661

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1797, J. Vaughan, Observations on Animal Electricity|origins=la trahō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈtɹæktə/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈtɹæktɚ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-new|tractor|t=that which draws]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966) an agent noun formed with [[m|la|-or]] on [[m|la|tractus]], the past participle of [[m|la|trahō|t=to draw, pull, drag]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) The OED, revised in 2026, identifies it with the post-classical Latin noun used for a tithe collector (12th century), a person who hauls goods, and a person who draws liquid from a cask (13th century in British sources);^(OED 2026) Barnhart calls it Medieval Latin.^(Barnhart 1988) The Shorter Oxford forms it from the verb [[tract]] and the suffix [[-or]].^(SOED 2002) Ayto places it in the family of ''trahō'' with [[abstract]], [[attract]], [[contract]], [[traction]], [[trace]] and [[treaty]].^(Ayto 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Either of a pair of pointed metal rods, one of brass and one of steel or iron, invented by the American physician Elisha Perkins and drawn over the skin to relieve rheumatic and other pain: 1797, in J. Vaughan's ''Observations on Animal Electricity''.^(OED 2026)^(Ayto 2005) Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date this sense to 1798;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Etymonline notes that it is still the main sense in the Century Dictionary (1891).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The quack device was known in full as ''Perkins's metallic tractors''.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) Surgery used the word from 1828 for instruments that exert traction, at first on the head of a baby during delivery,^(OED 2026) and the general sense, a person or thing that draws something, is recorded from 1856, in Elisha Kane's ''Arctic Explorations''.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) For the vehicle, the OED, revised in 2026, has a self-propelled machine for pulling heavy loads from 1831, in the ''Mechanic's Magazine'';^(OED 2026) the older dictionaries date it much later, Etymonline by 1896, Barnhart 1901 and Ayto the end of the 19th century, all noting that the earlier term was [[traction engine]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Ayto 2005) Aviation used it from 1902 for a propeller mounted at the front of an aircraft, or an aircraft built that way.^(OED 2026) The driving section of an articulated lorry is recorded from 1907 in the OED,^(OED 2026) but from 1926 in Barnhart and Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) In 1965 the word was applied to a mechanism that feeds paper through a printer.^(OED 2026) The verb meant to treat with Perkins's tractors (1799–1865); in the United States from 1914 it meant to replace small tenant farmers with farm tractors, and since 1915 it has meant to drive a tractor.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1797 – Perkins's metallic rods for relieving pain.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1828 – a surgical instrument for exerting traction.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1831 – a self-propelled vehicle for pulling heavy loads.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1856 – a person or thing that draws something.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1901 – Barnhart's date for the engine pulling wagons or ploughs.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1902 – an aircraft propeller mounted in front.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1907 – the driving unit of an articulated lorry.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1915 – verb: to drive a tractor.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1965 – a paper-feeding mechanism in a printer.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A powerful motor vehicle with large rear wheels or [[caterpillar]] tracks, used to pull farm machinery such as a [[plough]], or other heavy loads.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # The short front section of an [[articulated lorry]] or [[semi-trailer]] truck, with the engine and the driver's cab.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (aeronautics) An aircraft with its propeller mounted in front of the engine, or such a [[propeller]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A mechanism that draws paper through a [[printer]].^(OED 2026)

+ # (historical) Either of Perkins's pair of metal rods, believed to relieve pain.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To drive a tractor, or to work or clear land with one.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[amtrac]]

+ * [[tractor-trailer]]

+ * [[tractor pull]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[traction]]

+ * [[tract]]

+ * [[attract]]

+ * [[extract]]

+ * [[trace]]

+ * [[train]]

+ * [[treat]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}