tread
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /tɹɛd/
rhymes: -ɛd
Forms: form: treads
form: treading
form: trod
form: tread
form: treaded
form: trodden
form: trod
form: tread
form: treaded
form: treade
Etymology: From Middle English treden, from Old English tredan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan, from Proto-Germanic *trudaną.
Senses: examples: text: He trod back and forth wearily.
text: Don't tread on the lawn.
text: And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet haue troden, shall be thine inheritance, and thy childrens for euer, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 14:9:
text: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
ref: 1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, part III:
text: yee that walk The Earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep
ref: 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
glosses: To step or walk (on or across something); to trample.
examples: text: Actors tread the boards.
glosses: To step or walk upon.
examples: text: to tread lightly, to tread gently
text: to tread carefully, to tread cautiously, to tread warily
glosses: To proceed, to behave (in a certain manner).
raw_tags: with certain adverbs of manner
examples: text: to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well-trodden path
glosses: To beat or press with the feet.
examples: text: Round about them was a circle of girls and wives of the neighbouring tenants; "they trod the spinning-wheels with diligent feet, or were using the scraping carding-combs," as an author has it.
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 251:
glosses: To work a lever, treadle, etc., with the foot or the feet.
examples: text: I am resolved to forsake Malta, tread a pilgrimage to fair Jerusalem.
ref: 1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Knight of Malta”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii:
text: They have measured many a mile, / To tread a measure with you on this grass.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
glosses: To go through or accomplish by walking, dancing, etc.
examples: text: Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 44:5:
synonyms: step on
glosses: To crush under the foot; to trample in contempt or hatred; to subdue; to repress.
examples: text: When Turtles tread, and Rookes and Dawes,
And Maidens bleach their summer smockes:
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
glosses: To copulate; said of (especially male) birds.
examples: text: Thus, a poultry-breeder describes a hen (colored Dorking) crowing like a cock, only somewhat more harshly, as a cockerel crows, and with an enormous comb, larger than is ever seen in the male. This bird used to try to tread her fellow-hens.
ref: 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6):
glosses: To copulate with.
raw_tags: of a male bird
synonyms: stomp
glosses: To crush grapes with one's feet to make wine
Derived terms: word: as ever trod shoe-leather
word: betread
word: don't tread on me
word: downtrodden
word: fools rush in where angels fear to tread
word: have the black ox tread on one's foot
alt: etymology 2
word: retread
word: tread a measure
word: tread carefully
word: tread down
english: foot
translation: foot
word: tread in someone'ssteps
word: treadle
word: tread-lightly
word: tread lightly
word: tread on eggshells
word: tread on someone's corns
word: toes
word: tread on
word: upon
word: tread out
word: tread softly
word: tread-softly
word: tread the boards
word: tread the stage
word: tread water
word: untrod
Related terms: trade