trace back

Related to trace back: Staging post

trace back

1. To derive or originate from someone, something, or some place. The powerful corporation traces back nearly 200 years to a small manufacturing company in New York City. Investigators discovered that the drug money traced back to a US senator.
2. To discover the point of origin of someone or something by following a trail of information or series of events backward. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "trace" and "back." We were able to trace the assassination attempt back to a cartel in Mexico. Make sure you only pay in cash, as the police can trace back exactly where and when you use your card.
See also: back, trace
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

trace back

v.
1. To ascertain the successive stages in the development or progress of something by reasoning backward from an effect to a cause: We traced our family history back 200 years. Skepticism as a philosophical movement can be traced back to Sextus Empiricus.
2. To derive from something or someone: The counterfeit drugs traced back to an American expatriate. Many English words trace back to Greek or Latin.
See also: back, trace
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • rest with
  • rest with (someone or something)
  • spring from
  • spring from (someone, something, or some place)
  • muscle in on (someone or something)
  • delight in
  • delight in (someone or something)
  • get (something) out of (something)
  • world-beater
  • be rooted in (something)
References in periodicals archive
"My Irish Roots represents this connection with how shamrocks trace back to their roots in the same way that Irish people throughout the world trace back to Ireland."
Pat's the way to do it
The majority of Corus' production is in the United Kingdom, where its roots trace back to the former British Steel company, and Hoogovens of The Netherlands.
India's Tata moves into Europe
The detection of ancient pathogen DNA is not only used to identify a certain disease and gain information on its frequency and evolutionary origin but also to trace back cultural contacts and their role in the transmission and spread of infectious diseases.
Leishmaniasis in ancient Egypt and upper Nubia
Fourth, the USDA has announced that it will implement a national animal identification system that will allow them to trace back the movement of any diseased animal within 48 hours.
Documentation is the difference
Even though Morris's unitary gestalts trace back to a performance featuring a box he made to house his own body, Minimalism ultimately eliminated figuration from its purview, thereby putting literalist readings directly at odds with figurative ones.
Sarah Lucas: Kunstverein Hamburg
If you wanted to trace back the production team that made the six part series you have to look no further than the High Street in Caernarfon.
Appointments: TV production team has designs on you; JOB OF THE WEEK Webdesigner/Developer
I was experiencing a quality problem that I could trace back to a specific time of the day.
If you want the best, tell me why
And when information is wrong, it is often impossible to correct or to trace back to the source.
Database Nation
Routinely, paper mills test an output and, when it is out of specification, trace back through the process to find out what went wrong.
Use process variation reduction, not troubleshooting
While most Americans are aware of mounting questions about the safety of the popular Ford Explorer, few realize that the roots of the legal and regulatory wrangle trace back to Venezuela.
FORD'S VENEZUELAN PROBLEM
MTIs roots trace back to 1986 when Bob Lipic, president and chief executive officer, and two business partners purchased Drillex Industrial - a supplier of drilling equipment and drilling tools for the mining industry.
Focusing on cost-effective solutions
* The trace back leads to a dead end within the United States.
Computer Intrusion Investigation Guidelines