treadle
Americannoun
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a lever or the like worked by continual action of the foot to impart motion to a machine.
-
a platform, as on a bus or trolleycar, for opening an exit door.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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treadlesimple
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treadlessimple
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have treadledperfect
-
has treadledperfect
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am treadlingprogressive
-
are treadlingprogressive
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is treadlingprogressive
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have been treadlingperfect progressive
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has been treadlingperfect progressive
Past
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treadledsimple
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had treadledperfect
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was treadlingprogressive
-
were treadlingprogressive
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had been treadlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of treadle
before 1000; Middle English tredel stairstep, Old English. See tread, -le
Vocabulary lists containing treadle
The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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The Industrial Revolution - Middle School and High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In college, I found a treadle machine in an empty dorm room, oiled it and made a blouse and quilt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
The beavers were captured using four large traps, which shut behind the animals when they step on a treadle inside.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026
If you have room, there are treadle feeders that are rat resistant you can use in the coop.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2022
We've created an innovative line of irrigation products including four models of foot-operated treadle pumps, 250-gallon water storage tanks for farms and gravity-fed drip irrigation systems.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 8, 2013
The woman who had lived there before us left behind an old- fashioned sewing machine that you operated with a foot treadle.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
During this period, she was collecting books on weaving, learning how to measure the warp threads and tie up the treadles on a loom.
From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2017
Result: Russian seamstresses are awash in a sea of treadles and bobbins.
From Time Magazine Archive
She’d thread it and throw the shuttle and start working the foot treadles.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Heads bent, mouths fanning straight pins, hem-covered oxfords working unseen treadles, they continued production.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Dozens of mechanized needles pumping up and down sounded a continuous clickety-clack, clickety-clack over the rumble of foot treadles and the whir of spinning spools of thread.
From "Fannie Never Flinched" by Mary Cronk Farrell
In the strenuousness of his concentration he treadled fitfully on the floor.
From Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Hardy, Thomas
At that time I have had some success with a box trap treadled by an electric contrivance instead of figure 4.
From Northern Nut Growers Association Thirty-Fourth Annual Report 1943 by Northern Nut Growers Association
She perched on the stool and treadled at her machine all day, turning out collars, the name of whose brand could be noted for its irrelevancy to anything in connection with collars.
From Maggie, a Girl of the Streets by Crane, Stephen
Here were the big cutting-out table, the treadled sewing machine, three or four chairs, many fragments of material, several half-made garments, and, upon the walls, a number of coloured prints from fashion papers.
From Coquette by Swinnerton, Frank
For a moment Peg was silent, treadling away busily at her machine, and Faith stole a timid glance at her.
From The Beggar Man by Ayres, Ruby M. (Ruby Mildred)
Down the white ribbon of road the Virile Benedict of the Libraries came bicycling, treadling easily from the ankles.
From Once a Week by Milne, A. A. (Alan Alexander)
The operators, relieved of the treadling, maintained a much better working condition; and altogether the introduction of power driving, once well tested, became a necessity.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 598, June 18, 1887 by Various
While the uncle stopped treadling and held the blue-tailed shuttle in his hand, the breathless little boy told him that the field was finished.
From What's the Matter with Ireland? by Russell, Ruth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
