retread

English

Etymology 1

From re- + tread (“grooves carved into the face of a tire”) (noun)

Pronunciation

• (verb) enPR: rē-trĕdʹ, IPA: /riːˈtrɛd/, X-SAMPA: /ri:"trEd/
• (noun) enPR: rēʹtrĕd, IPA: /ˈriːtrɛd/, X-SAMPA: /"ri:trEd/
• Rhymes: -ɛd

Verb

retread (third-person singular simple present retreads, present participle retreading, simple past and past participle retreaded)

1. To replace the traction-providing surface of a vehicle that employs tires, tracks or treads.

Noun

retread (plural retreads)

1. A used tire whose surface, the tread, has been replaced to extend its life and use.
2. (military, slang) a person who re-entered military service in World War Two after serving in World War One.
   • 1950, Air Force Association, United States Army, Air Force Magazine:

     In Our War the Retreads usually slinked in over-aged, over-weight and overcautious in the face of a new generation.

   • 1971, Brian Garfield, The thousand-mile war: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians:

     They were retreads and recruits under a small cadre of Regular Army officers and noncoms.

   • 1976, James Jones, Art Weithas, WW II: a chronicle of soldiering:

     We retreads upset everybody.

   • 2006, Keith E Bonn, When the Odds Were Even:

     As with the 100th Division, many of the replacements joining the 103d were "retreads" from the technical services or antiaircraft and aviation troops...

Etymology 2

From re- + tread (verb)

Alternative forms

• re-tread

Pronunciation

• enPR: rē-trĕdʹ, IPA: /riːˈtrɛd/, X-SAMPA: /ri:"trEd/
• Rhymes: -ɛd

Verb

retread (third-person singular simple present retreads, present participle retreading, simple past retrod, past participle retrodden)

1. (transitive) to tread again, to walk along again, to follow a path again.
   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

     As a child I had not been content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural science. With a confusion of ideas only to be accounted for by my extreme youth and my want of a guide on such matters, I had retrod the steps of knowledge along the paths of time and exchanged the discoveries of recent inquirers for the dreams of forgotten alchemists. Besides, I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy.

Noun

retread (plural retreads)

1. (sometimes figuratively) A return over ground previously covered; a retraversal or repetition.
   • 1998, Frank Rich, Hot seat: theater criticism for the New York times, 1980-1993

     But The West Side Waltz is otherwise a tedious retread of Mr. Thompson's previous effort, On Golden Pond.

Anagrams

• rerated
• treader