trace

/treɪs/ verb [T]

Definition

FIND › to find someone or something that was lost: Police have so far failed to trace the missing woman.

ORIGIN › to find the origin of something: She's traced her family back to the sixteenth century. They were able to trace the call (= find out the number of the telephone used).

DEVELOPMENT › to describe the way something has developed over time: The book traces the development of women's art since the start of the century.

COPY › to copy a picture by putting transparent paper on top and following the outer line of the picture with a pen: tracing paper

(Definition of trace verb from the Cambridge Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)