traction

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
traction/ˈtrakʃn/

▶noun

• 1 the action of pulling a thing along a surface.

  ■ the motive power used for pulling, especially on a railway.

• 2 Medicine the application of a sustained pull on a limb or muscle, especially in order to maintain the position of a fractured bone or to correct a deformity.

• 3 the grip of a tyre on a road or a wheel on a rail.

– origin ME: from Fr., or from med. L. tractio(n-), from L. trahere ‘draw, pull’.