Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Tractate \Tract"ate\, n. [L. tractatus a touching, handling,
   treatise. See Tractable, and {Tract} a treatise, {Treaty}.]
   A treatise; a tract; an essay.

         Agreeing in substance with Augustin's, from whose
         fourteenth Tractate on St. John the words are
         translated.                              --Hare.