tread

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Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English treden, from Old English tredan (“to tread, step on, trample, traverse, pass over, enter upon, roam through ”), from Proto-Germanic *tredaną, *trudaną. Cognate with Dutch treden, German treten, Danish træde, Swedish träda, Norwegian treda.

Pronunciation [edit]

the tread on a car tyre
the sole of a pair of trainers showing the tread
diagram of a set of steps showing the tread

Noun [edit]

tread (plural treads)

  1. A step.
  2. A manner of stepping.
    • Tennyson
      She 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.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  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 Hyde
      The 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 Stories
      But 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 [edit]

  • (horizontal part of a step): run

Antonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

grooves in tire
bottom of a sneaker
top of a step

Verb [edit]

tread (third-person singular simple present treads, present participle treading, simple past and past participle trod, tread or trodden.)

  1. (intransitive) To step or walk (on or over something); to trample.
    He trod back and forth wearily.
    Don't tread on the lawn.
  2. simple past tense and past participle of tread

Usage notes [edit]

  • "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 [edit]

Translations [edit]

to step on
to beat with one's feet; to trample

See also [edit]

Anagrams [edit]

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