1 : a usually bulky piece or length of a cut or fallen treeespecially : a length of a tree trunk ready for sawing and over six feet (1.8 meters) long2 : an apparatus for measuring the rate of a ship's motion through the water that consists of a block fastened to a line and run out from a reel3a : the record of the rate of a ship's speed or of her daily progressalso : the full nautical record of a ship's voyageb : the full record of a flight by an aircraft4 : a record of performance, events, or day-to-day activities