Tread , n.
1. A step or stepping; pressure with the foot; a footstep; as, a nimble tread; a cautious tread.
She is coming, my own, my sweet;
Were it ever so airy a tread,
My heart would hear her and
beat.
Tennyson.
2. Manner or style of
stepping; action; gait; as, the horse
has a good
tread.
3.
Way; track; path. [R.]
Shak.
4. The act of copulation in birds.
5. (Arch.) The upper horizontal part of a step, on which the
foot is placed.
6. (Fort.) The top of the banquette, on which soldiers stand to fire
over the parapet.
7.
(Mach.) (a) The part of a wheel that
bears upon the road or rail. (b)
The part of a rail upon which car wheels bear.
8. (Biol.) The chalaza of a
bird's egg;
the treadle.
9. (Far.) A bruise or abrasion produced on the foot or ankle of a horse that interferes. See Interfere,
3.
Tread , v. t. 1. To
step or walk on.
Forbid to tread the promised land he saw.
Prior. Methought she trod the ground with greater grace.
Dryden.
2. To beat or press
with the feet; as, to
tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well-
trodden path.
3. To go through
or accomplish by walking, dancing, or the like. " I am resolved
to forsake Malta, tread a pilgrimage to fair Jerusalem." Beau. & Fl.
They have measured many a mile,
To
tread a measure with you on this grass.
Shak.
4. To crush under the foot; to trample in contempt or hatred; to subdue.
Through thy name will we
tread them under that rise up against us.
Ps.
xliv. 5. 5. To copulate with; to feather; to cover; -- said of the male bird.
Chaucer.
To tread out, to press out
with the feet; to press out, as
wine or wheat; as, to tread out grain with cattle or horses. -- To tread the stage, to act as a stageplayer; to perform a part in a drama.
Tread (?), v. i. [imp.
Trod (?); p. p. Trodden (?),
Trod; p. pr. & vb.
n. Treading.]
[OE. treden, AS. tredan; akin to OFries. treda, OS.
tredan, D. & LG. treden, G. treten, OHG. tretan, Icel. tro&?;a, Sw. tråda, träda, Dan. træde, Goth. trudan, and perhaps ultimately to F. tramp; cf. Gr. &?; a running, Skr. dram to run. Cf. Trade, Tramp, Trot.]
1. To set the foot; to step.
Where'er you
tread, the blushing flowers shall rise.
Pope. Fools rush in where
angels fear to tread.
Pope. The hard stone
Under our feet, on which we tread and go.
Chaucer. 2.
To walk or go; especially, to walk with a stately or a
cautious step.
Ye that . . . stately tread, or lowly creep.
Milton.
3. To copulate; said of birds, esp. the males.
Shak.
To tread
on or upon. (a) To trample; to set the foot on in contempt. "Thou shalt tread upon their high places." Deut. xxxiii. 29. (b) to follow closely. "Year treads on year." Wordsworth. -- To
tread upon the heels of, to follow close upon. "Dreadful consequences that
tread upon the heels of those allowances to sin." Milton.
One woe doth
tread upon another's heel.
Shak.
Hear it pronounced