Trace

verb TRACE treːs

Also spelled chrace, trace off

To curse someone out loudly and abusively — to quarrel at them with a torrent of insults. To 'trace off' a person is to give them a furious, public tongue-lashing, letting fly with every hard word, and a 'tracing' is such a blistering row. It names the very Jamaican art of the loud, no-holds-barred verbal quarrel, carried on across a yard or a street for all to hear, where the sharper and fiercer the tongue, the more telling the blow.

  • She trace him off inna di market.

    She cursed him out in the market.

  • Di two neighba a trace over di fence.

    The two neighbours are quarrelling loudly over the fence.

  • Nuh mek she trace yuh.

    Don't make her curse you out.

A Jamaican use of 'trace', in the sense of tracing out or reciting a long list of grievances and insults.

Specifically the loud, public, cursing kind of quarrel. Close to 'cuss', but 'trace' stresses the abusive, drawn-out tirade.