course vs trail

course

noun
  • A path that something or someone moves along. 

  • The path taken by a flow of water; a watercourse. 

  • Any ordered process or sequence of steps. 

  • The drive usually frequented by Europeans at an Indian station. 

  • The lowest square sail in a fully rigged mast, often named according to the mast. 

  • The itinerary of a race. 

  • A programme, a chosen manner of proceeding. 

  • A row of bricks or blocks. 

  • One or more strings on some musical instruments (such as the guitar, lute or vihuela): if multiple, then closely spaced, tuned in unison or octaves and intended to played together. 

  • A learning programme, whether a single class or (UK) a major area of study. 

  • A normal or customary sequence. 

  • The succession of one to another in office or duty; order; turn. 

  • The intended passage of voyage, such as a boat, ship, airplane, spaceship, etc. 

  • In weft knitting, a single row of loops connecting the loops of the preceding and following rows. 

  • The trajectory of a ball, frisbee etc. 

  • A golf course. 

  • A treatment plan. 

  • A stage of a meal. 

  • A sequence of events. 

  • A racecourse. 

  • The direction of movement of a vessel at any given moment. 

  • A row of material that forms the roofing, waterproofing or flashing system. 

verb
  • To cause to chase after or pursue game. 

  • To run through or over. 

  • To run or flow (especially of liquids and more particularly blood). 

  • To pursue by tracking or estimating the course taken by one's prey; to follow or chase after. 

trail

noun
  • The track or indication marking the route followed by something that has passed, such as the footprints of animal on land or the contrail of an airplane in the sky. 

  • A trailer broadcast on television for a forthcoming film or programme. 

  • A walk in which all the edges are distinct. 

  • A route for travel over land, especially a narrow, unpaved pathway for use by hikers, horseback riders, etc. 

  • A route or circuit generally. 

  • The horizontal distance from where the wheel touches the ground to where the steering axis intersects the ground. 

verb
  • To show a trailer of (a film, TV show etc.); to release or publish a preview of (a report etc.) in advance of the full publication. 

  • To run or climb like certain plants. 

  • To be losing, to be behind in a competition. 

  • To leave (a trail of). 

  • To carry (a firearm) with the breech near the ground and the upper part inclined forward, the piece being held by the right hand near the middle. 

  • To transport (livestock) by herding it along a trail. 

  • To hang or drag loosely behind; to move with a slow sweeping motion. 

  • To follow behind (someone or something); to tail (someone or something). 

  • To drag oneself lazily or reluctantly along. 

  • To travel by following or creating trails. 

  • To drag (something) behind on the ground. 

  • To create a trail in. 

How often have the words course and trail occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )