tract

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A leaflet or pamphlet containing a declaration or appeal, especially one put out by a religious or political group.
• noun An expanse of land or water.
• noun A specified or limited area of land.
• noun A system of organs and tissues that together perform a specialized function.
• noun A bundle of nerve fibers having a common origin, termination, and function.
• noun Archaic A stretch or lapse of time.
• noun The verses from Scripture sung after the gradual in the Roman Catholic Mass during penitential seasons such as Lent or as part of a Requiem.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To draw; draw out; protract; waste.
• To trace; track; follow.
• noun A short treatise, discourse, or dissertation; especially, a brief printed treatise or discourse on some topic of practical religion.
• noun In the Roman and some other Western liturgies, an anthem consisting of verses from Scripture (generally from the Psalms), sung instead of the Alleluia after the gradual, or instead of the gradual, from Septuagesima till Easter eve: so called from being sung ‘continuously’ (tractim) by the cantor without interruption of other voices. Also tractus.
• To handle; treat.
• Hence To discourse or treat of; describe; delineate.
• noun Track; footprint.
• noun Extent; a continued passage or duration; process; lapse: used chiefly in the phrase tract of time.
• noun Course or route; track; way.
• noun Course or movement; action.
• noun Attractive influence; attraction; charm.
• noun Extent; expanse; hence, a region of indefinite extent; a more or less extended area or stretch of land or water: as, a tract of woodland.
• noun Trait; lineament; feature.
• noun In anatomy, an area or expanse; the extension of an organ or a system: as, the digestive or alimentary tract; the optic tract. Also called tractus (which see).
• noun In ornithology, a pteryla, or feathered place: distinguished from space.
• noun In heraldry, same as tressure.
• noun The air-passages collectively.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A written discourse or dissertation, generally of short extent; a short treatise, especially on practical religion.
• noun See Tractarian.
• transitive verb obsolete To trace out; to track; also, to draw out; to protact.
• noun Something drawn out or extended; expanse.
• noun A region or quantity of land or water, of indefinite extent; an area.
• noun obsolete Traits; features; lineaments.
• noun obsolete The footprint of a wild beast.
• noun obsolete Track; trace.
• noun obsolete Treatment; exposition.
• noun obsolete Continuity or extension of anything.
• noun Continued or protracted duration; length; extent.
• noun (R. C. Ch.) Verses of Scripture sung at Mass, instead of the Alleluia, from Septuagesima Sunday till the Saturday befor Easter; -- so called because sung tractim, or without a break, by one voice, instead of by many as in the antiphons.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An area or expanse of land.
• noun A series of connected body organs, as in the digestive tract.
• noun A small booklet such as a pamphlet, often for promotional or informational uses.
• noun A brief treatise or discourse on a subject of interest.
• noun A commentator's view or perspective on a subject.
• noun Continued or protracted duration, length, extent
• verb obsolete To pursue, follow; to track.
• verb obsolete To draw out; to protract.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an extended area of land
• noun a brief treatise on a subject of interest; published in the form of a booklet
• noun a system of body parts that together serve some particular purpose
• noun a bundle of myelinated nerve fibers following a path through the brain