n.
- The passage of people or vehicles along routes of transportation.
- Vehicles or pedestrians in transit: heavy traffic on the turnpike; stopped oncoming traffic to let the children cross.
- The commercial exchange of goods; trade.
- Illegal or improper commercial activity: drug traffic on city streets.
- The business of moving passengers and cargo through a transportation system. See synonyms at business.
- The amount of cargo or number of passengers conveyed.
- The conveyance of messages or data through a system of communication: routers that manage Internet traffic.
- Messages or data conveyed through such a system: a tremendous amount of telephone traffic on Mother's Day; couldn't download the file due to heavy Internet traffic.
- Social or verbal exchange; communication: refused further traffic with the estranged friend.
To carry on trade or other dealings: trafficked in liquidation merchandise; traffic with gangsters.
[French trafic, from Old French trafique, from Old Italian traffico, from trafficare, to trade, perhaps from Catalan trafegar, to decant, from Vulgar Latin *trānsfaecāre : trāns-, trans- + faex, faec-, dregs; see feces.]
trafficker traf'fick·er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
