leave no trace en · VERB
Etymology
Coined around the 1960s.
Meanings
-
To follow certain outdoor ethical guidelines while camping, etc., so thoroughly that it would appear as though one had never previously been there, for the sake of nature conservation.
Camping in a pristine area is the ultimate Leave No Trace challenge because it is imperative that you literally leave no trace—and that is very hard to do.
2003, Annette McGivney, Leave No Trace: A Guide to the New Wilderness Ethic, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 43:"Although people don't think it, the traveller ethos at free festivals was "leave no trace"—you went there, you had a party you cleaned up.
2017 May 22, Jerry Chester, “Castlemorton Common: The rave that changed the law”, in BBC News:These fences catch any MOOP (“matter out of place”) that blows out of peoples' camps, where it can be harvested and packed out—leave no trace—and all that.
2013, Cory Doctorow, Homeland, Tor Books, →ISBN:
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see leave, no, trace.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| left no trace | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| left no trace | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| leaving no trace | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| leaves no trace | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |