Origin and history of half-track

Old English half, halb (Mercian), healf (W. Saxon) "side, part," not necessarily of equal division (original sense preserved in behalf), from Proto-Germanic *halba- "something divided" (source also of Old Saxon halba, Old Norse halfr, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch half, German halb, Gothic halbs "half"), a word of no certain etymology. Perhaps from PIE root *skel- (1) "to cut," or perhaps a substratum word. Noun, adjective, and adverb all were in Old English.

Used also in Old English phrases, as in modern German, to mean "one half unit less than," for example þridda healf "two and a half," literally "half third." The construction in two and a half, etc., is first recorded c. 1200. Of time, in half past ten, etc., first attested 1750; in Scottish, the half often is prefixed to the following hour (as in German, halb elf = "ten thirty").

To go off half-cocked in the figurative sense "speak or act too hastily" (1833) is in allusion to firearms going off prematurely; half-cocked in a literal sense "with the cock lifted to the first catch, at which position the trigger does not act" is recorded by 1750. In 1770 it was noted as a synonym for "drunk." Bartlett ("Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848) writes that it was "a metaphorical expression borrowed from the language of sportsmen, and is applied to a person who attempts a thing in a hurry without due preparation, and consequently fails."

late 15c., trak, "footprint, mark left by anything" (originally of a horse or horses, in Malory), from Old French trac "track of horses, trace" (mid-15c.), a word of uncertain origin. According to OED (1989) "generally thought to be" from a Germanic source (compare Middle Low German treck, Dutch trek "drawing, pulling") and thus from the source of trek (q.v.). Also compare the sense development of trace (v.)).

The meaning "two continuous lines of rails for drawing trains" is attested by 1805. Expression wrong side of the tracks "bad part of town" is by 1901, American English.

As "place where races are run, course laid out and prepared for racing" by 1827. The meaning "branch of athletics involving a running course" is recorded from 1905. Track-suit is by 1896.

The meaning "single recorded item" is from 1904, originally in reference to phonograph records. The meaning "mark on skin from repeated drug injection" is attested by 1964.

US colloquial in one's tracks "where one stands" is by 1824. To make tracks "move or go quickly" is American English colloquial attested by 1819. To be on track "doing what is required or expected" is by 1973. To cover (one's) tracks in the figurative sense (like a pursued animal) is attested by 1898.

In later figurative uses the sense of following game and railroading might both be present: To be off the track usually was "derailed." To be on (or off) the right track is by 1795; to lose track is by 1894; to keep track of (something) is attested by 1837.

Track lighting is attested by that name from 1970, in reference to the fittings that slide in grooves.

Track record (1955) is a figurative use from racing, "performance history" of an individual car, runner, horse, etc. (1907), but the phrase was more common earlier in the sense "fastest speed recorded at a particular track."