tread

[ tred ]

/ trɛd /

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verb (used without object), trod, trod·den or trod, tread·ing.

to set down the foot or feet in walking; step; walk.

to step, walk, or trample so as to press, crush, or injure something (usually followed by on or upon): to tread on a person's foot.

(of a male bird) to copulate.

verb (used with object), trod, trod·den or trod, tread·ing.

to step or walk on, about, in, or along.

to trample or crush underfoot.

to form by the action of walking or trampling: to tread a path.

to treat with disdainful harshness or cruelty; crush; oppress.

to perform by walking or dancing: to tread a measure.

(of a male bird) to copulate with (a female bird).

noun

the action of treading, stepping, or walking.

the sound of footsteps.

manner of treading or walking.

a single step as in walking.

any of various things or parts on which a person or thing treads, stands, or moves.

the part of the under surface of the foot or of a shoe that touches the ground.

the horizontal upper surface of a step in a stair, on which the foot is placed.

the part of a wheel, tire, or runner that bears on the road, rail, etc.

the pattern raised on or cut into the face of a rubber tire.

Also caterpillar tread. a metal tread on which a Caterpillar-style vehicle moves.

Railroads. that part of a rail in contact with the treads of wheels.

Nearby words

tre corde, treacherous, treachery, treacle, treacle mustard, tread, tread the boards, tread water, treadle, treadmill, treas.

Idioms

tread on someone's toes/corns, to offend or irritate someone.

tread the boards, to act on the stage, especially professionally: He recalled the days when he had trod the boards.

tread water,

Swimming. to maintain the body erect in the water with the head above the surface usually by a pumping up-and-down movement of the legs and sometimes the arms.
Slang. to make efforts that maintain but do not further one's status, progress, or performance: He's just treading water here until he can find another job.

Origin of tread

before 900; (v.) Middle English treden, Old English tredan; cognate with Old Frisian treda, Old Saxon tredan, Dutch treden, German treten; akin to Old Norse trotha, Gothic trudan; (noun) Middle English tred footprint, derivative of the v.

Related forms

tread·er, nouno·ver·tread, nounsub·tread, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tread

We feel their strangeness when we read their words—they lived on a plane where few dare to tread.
Sor Juana: Mexico’s Most Erotic Poet and Its Most Dangerous Nun|Katie Baker|November 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It really set the tone for the second half of Season 5, ending with that great “tread lightly” encounter between Hank and Walt.
Bryan Cranston on Walter White’s Future, Directing ‘Better Call Saul,’ and Hillary 2016|Marlow Stern|August 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The interim, however, is ours, and here we must tread carefully.
Alleged Santa Barbara Killer Elliot Rodger and the Twisted Cult of Modern Masculinity|James Poulos|May 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The moral philosopher Michael Sandel observed, “Fundamentalists rush in where liberals fear to tread.”
How Liberals Abandoned Religion to the Fundamentalist Right|Christopher Moraff|May 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST

She says that Italy must tread carefully not to allow this to happen.
‘Hero’ Doc Accused of Harvesting Stem Cells in Dirty Basements|Barbie Latza Nadeau|April 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Surely, in this respect, we modern Christians too often tread in the footsteps of the saints and suffer as they did.
Religious Studies, Sketches and Poems|Harriet Beecher Stowe
To feel that he was near her, to tread upon the ground in which she rested!
Woman Triumphant|Vicente Blasco Ibaez
The surest way of establishing peace on earth was to make the way of the peacebreaker too hard for rulers to tread.
The Annual Register 1914|Anonymous
It was a dull metallic clang, ponderous and slow, growing louder and ever louder—the tread of an armored man.
Sir Nigel|Arthur Conan Doyle
Moreover, since they had been forced to tread on dangerous ground, he had handled the situation with courage.
Brandon of the Engineers|Harold Bindloss

British Dictionary definitions for tread

tread

/ (trɛd) /

verb treads, treading, trod, trodden or trod

to walk or trample in, on, over, or across (something)

(when intr, foll by on) to crush or squash by or as if by treadingto tread grapes; to tread on a spider

(intr sometimes foll by on) to subdue or repress, as by doing injury (to)to tread on one's inferiors

(tr) to do by walking or dancingto tread a measure

(tr) (of a male bird) to copulate with (a female bird)

tread lightly to proceed with delicacy or tact

tread on someone's toes to offend or insult someone, esp by infringing on his sphere of action, etc

tread water to stay afloat in an upright position by moving the legs in a walking motion

noun

a manner or style of walking, dancing, etca light tread

the act of treading

the top surface of a step in a staircase

the outer part of a tyre or wheel that makes contact with the road, esp the grooved surface of a pneumatic tyre

the part of a rail that wheels touch

the part of a shoe that is generally in contact with the ground

vet science an injury to a horse's foot caused by the opposite foot, or the foot of another horse

a rare word for footprint

Derived Forms

treader, noun

Word Origin for tread

Old English tredan; related to Old Norse trotha , Old High German tretan, Swedish träda

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with tread

tread

In addition to the idioms beginning with tread

tread the boards
tread water

also see:

fools rush in where angels fear to tread
step (tread) on one's toes