leave no trace

English

Etymology

Coined around the 1960s.

Verb

leave no trace (third-person singular simple present leaves no trace, present participle leaving no trace, simple past and past participle left no trace)

  1. To follow certain outdoor ethical guidelines while camping, etc., so thoroughly that it would appear as though one had never previously been there, for the sake of nature conservation.
    Synonym: LNT
    • 2003, Annette McGivney, Leave No Trace: A Guide to the New Wilderness Ethic, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 43:
      Camping in a pristine area is the ultimate Leave No Trace challenge because it is imperative that you literally leave no trace—and that is very hard to do.
    • 2013, Cory Doctorow, Homeland, Tor Books, →ISBN:
      These fences catch any MOOP (“matter out of place”) that blows out of peoples' camps, where it can be harvested and packed out—leave no trace—and all that.
    • 2017 May 22, Jerry Chester, “Castlemorton Common: The rave that changed the law”, in BBC News‎:
      "Although people don't think it, the traveller ethos at free festivals was "leave no trace"—you went there, you had a party you cleaned up.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see leave,‎ no,‎ trace.
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