Tread

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tɹɛd/
• Rhymes: -É›d

From Middle English treden, from Old English

|lang=ang}, from Proto-Germanic *tredaną, *trudaną. Cognate with West Frisian trêdzje, Low German treden, Dutch treden, German treten, Danish træde, Swedish träda, Norwegian treda.

Full definition of tread

Verb

1. (intransitive) To step or walk (on or over something); to trample.He trod back and forth wearily.Don't tread on the lawn.
• Alexander PopeFools rush in where angels fear to tread.
• Miltonye that ... stately tread, or lowly creep
2. (transitive) To step or walk upon.Actors tread the boards.
3. To beat or press with the feet.to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well-trodden path
4. To go through or accomplish by walking, dancing, etc.
• Beaumont and FletcherI am resolved to forsake Malta, tread a pilgrimage to fair Jerusalem.
• ShakespeareThey have measured many a mile,
  To tread a measure with you on this grass.
5. To crush under the foot; to trample in contempt or hatred; to subdue.
• Bible, Psalms xliv. 5Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6. (intransitive) To copulate; said of (especially male) birds.
7. (transitive, of a male bird) To copulate with.

8. tread

   (past of tread)

Usage notes

"Treaded" is not commonly used in the UK and is less common in the US as well. It is apparently used more often in tread water.

Tread is sometimes used as a past and past participle, especially in the US.

Derived terms

• betread
• retread Etymology 2
• tread water
• untrod
• treading on eggshells

From the above verb.

Noun

1. A step.
2. A manner of stepping.
• TennysonShe is coming, my own, my sweet;
  Were it ever so airy a tread,
  My heart would hear her and beat.
3. (obsolete) A way; a track or path.
4. The grooves carved into the face of a tire, used to give the tire traction. from 1900s
5. The grooves on the bottom of a shoe or other footwear, used to give grip or traction.
6. The horizontal part of a step in a flight of stairs.
7. The sound made when someone or something is walking.
• 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr HydeThe steps fell lightly and oddly, with a certain swing, for all they went so slowly; it was different indeed from the heavy creaking tread of Henry Jekyll. Utterson sighed. "Is there never anything else?" he asked.
• 1896, Bret Harte, Barker's Luck and Other StoriesBut when, after a singularly heavy tread and the jingle of spurs on the platform, the door flew open to the newcomer, he seemed a realization of our worst expectations.
8. (biology) The chalaza of a bird's egg; the treadle.
9. The act of copulation in birds.
10. (fortification) The top of the banquette, on which soldiers stand to fire over the parapet.
11. A bruise or abrasion produced on the foot or ankle of a horse that interferes, or strikes its feet together.

Synonyms

• (horizontal part of a step) run

Antonyms

• (horizontal part of a step) rise, riser

Derived terms

• retread Etymology 1

Anagrams

• adret, dater, derat, drate, rated, tared, trade