Word: treaty Part of Speech: noun Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English trete, trety (“bargaining, negotiation; discussion; conference, meeting; entreaty, persuasion; agreement, contract, covenant; arrangement, settlement; agreement between two rulers, states, etc.; written work on a particular subject, treatise; subdivision of a written work, section”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman treté, traité, treaté, and Old French traité, traitié [and other forms] (modern French traité (“agreement between two rulers, states, etc.; treatise”)); traité or traitié is: * a noun use of the past participle of traiter (“to treat; to deal with, handle”), from Latin tractāre, the present active infinitive of tractō (“to drag, haul, tug; to handle, manage; to debate, discuss; to exercise, practise; to perform, transact”), from trahō (“to drag, pull”) + -tō (frequentative suffix); and * also from Latin tractātum (“written work on a particular subject, treatise”), from Latin tractātus (“dragged, hauled, tugged; handled, managed; exercised, practised; performed, transacted”), the perfect passive participle of tractō (see above). The verb is derived from the noun. Pronunciation: /ˈtɹiːti/, /ˈtɹiti/, /-ɾi/, /ˈtɹiːəti/ 1. A formal binding agreement concluded by subjects of international law, namely, states and international organizations; a convention, a pact. Labels: countable Example: to sign a peace treaty Example: to write up a treaty touching climate change 2. Chiefly in in treaty: discussions or negotiations in order to reach an agreement. Labels: archaic, uncountable Example: To a meeting of the executors of late Viscˢˢᵉ Mordaunt's estate, to consider of the sale of Parsons Greene; being in treaty with Mr. Loftus, and to settle the halfe yeare's account. 3. Chiefly in private treaty: an agreement or settlement reached following negotiations; a compact, a contract, a covenant. Labels: archaic, countable 4. The manner or process of treating someone or something; treatment; also, the manner in which someone or something acts or behaves; behaviour. Labels: obsolete, uncountable Example: Hoſ[t]. They call me Good-ſtock. / Lov[el]. Sir, and you confeſſe it, / Both i'your language, treaty, and your bearing. 5. The addressing or consideration of a subject; discussion, treatment. Labels: obsolete, uncountable 6. A formal, systematic discourse on some subject; a treatise. Labels: countable, obsolete Example: And though Galen doth ſometime nibble at Moſes, and beſide the Apoſtate Chriſtian, ſome Heathens have queſtioned his Philoſophicall part or treaty of the Creation: Yet is there ſurely no reaſonable Pagan, that will not admire the rationall and well grounded precepts of Chriſt; […] Example: The Miniſters in Holland did upon this occaſion ſhew a very particular violence. In their ſermons, and in ſome printed treaties, they charged the Judges with corruption, who had carried the ſentence no farther than to baniſhment: And compared the fate of the De Wits to Haman’s. 7. An act of beseeching or entreating; an entreaty, a plea, a request. Labels: countable, obsolete Example: Now I must / To the young man ſend humble Treaties, dodge / And palter in the ſhifts of lovvnes, vvho / VVith halfe the bulke o' th' vvorld plaid as I pleas'd, / Making, and marring Fortunes.