# tread

Pronunciation: say "TRED" /tɹɛd/

## Verb

1. To walk or step on or across something, sometimes pressing or crushing it underfoot.
   - Simple: To step or walk on or across something.
   - _Visitors are asked not to tread on the fragile moss beside the trail._
   - _He trod across the wet sand in his bare feet._
3. To proceed or behave in a particular way, used with adverbs such as carefully, lightly or warily.
   - Simple: To act in a certain way, usually with words like carefully or gently.
   - _Diplomats are treading warily around the border dispute._
   - _Anyone writing about the scandal will need to tread cautiously._
4. To step or walk upon a surface, path or place.
   - Simple: To walk on or along something.
   - _So many visitors tread the old stone floor that it has worn smooth._
   - _Few climbers have trodden the mountain's northern ridge._
10. To crush something underfoot, often in contempt or hatred, or to keep down and repress people or movements.
   - Simple: To crush something under your feet, or to keep people down by force.
   - _The mob trod the flag into the dirt to show their contempt._
   - _The regime tried to tread every protest movement into silence._
11. To beat or press something down with the feet, such as a path or loose soil.
   - Simple: To press something down hard with your feet.
   - _Gardeners tread light, sandy soil to firm it before sowing seed._
   - _Over the years, the cattle had trodden a deep path down to the river._
12. To crush grapes underfoot as part of making wine.
   - Simple: To crush grapes with your feet to make wine.
   - _Some estates in Portugal still tread their grapes in shallow stone tanks._
   - _The winemaker believes that treading the grapes gives a gentler pressing than any machine._
13. To go through or carry out something, such as a journey or a dance, by walking, dancing, or similar movement.
   - Simple: To walk or dance your way through something, such as a journey or a dance.
   - _She hopes to tread the entire pilgrimage route to Santiago before she turns sixty._
   - _At the village festival, the dancers trod the steps of a centuries-old folk dance on the green._
14. To operate a lever, treadle, or similar device with the foot or feet.
   - Simple: To work a pedal, lever, or similar part by pressing it with your foot.
   - _The weaver trod the loom's treadles in a steady rhythm, lifting each set of threads in turn._
   - _Before electric motors, a potter had to tread the wheel to keep the clay spinning._
15. Of a bird, especially a male, to copulate.
   - Simple: Of birds, especially male birds, to mate.
   - _Once the pair began to tread, the breeder moved them into a nesting box._
   - _Cock pigeons often bow and coo before they tread._
17. Of a male bird, to copulate with another bird.
   - Simple: Of a male bird, to mate with another bird.
   - _A rooster that treads the hens too roughly can strip the feathers from their backs._
   - _Breeders keep the cock in a separate pen until it is time for him to tread the chosen hens._

## Noun

2. The grooves cut into the outer face of a tire, which give it traction.
   - Simple: The lines cut into a tire that help it grip the road.
   - _Tires with worn tread take longer to stop on wet roads._
   - _Thick mud was packed into the deep treads of the tractor's tires._
5. A single step taken with the foot.
   - Simple: A step you take with your foot.
   - _At every tread, the frozen crust gave way beneath his feet._
   - _Pacing the wall, the guard counted his treads from the gate to the tower._
6. The grooves on the sole of a shoe or other footwear, which give it grip or traction.
   - Simple: The lines on the bottom of a shoe that stop you from slipping.
   - _Running shoes with an aggressive tread grip better on loose gravel._
   - _She scraped the mud out of the treads of her boots before going inside._
7. The flat surface of a step in a staircase, on which the foot is placed.
   - Simple: The flat part of a stair that you put your foot on.
   - _Building codes set a minimum depth for each tread in a staircase._
   - _The old oak treads were worn into hollows by a century of feet._
8. The manner in which someone steps or walks.
   - Simple: The way someone walks or steps.
   - _He crossed the lobby with the confident tread of a man who owned the place._
   - _Since the injury, her tread has been uneven and slow._
9. The sound produced by the steps of a person or thing that is walking.
   - Simple: The sound someone or something makes when walking.
   - _Late at night she could hear the slow tread of the guard outside her door._
   - _The steady tread of marching feet echoed down the empty street._
16. In birds, the act of mating in which the male mounts the female by standing on her back.
   - Simple: The act of mating in birds, when the male stands on the female's back.
   - _The keeper noted each tread in the breeding log to track which eggs might be fertile._
   - _Hens often lose feathers on their backs from repeated treads._
18. A bruise or abrasion on the foot or ankle of a horse caused by interfering, that is, striking its own feet together.
   - Simple: A cut or bruise on a horse's foot or ankle, made when its feet hit each other.
   - _The farrier reshaped the gelding's shoes after finding a fresh tread on its inside fetlock._
   - _Horses that interfere at speed often come in from a gallop with treads on their ankles._
19. In biology, the chalaza of a bird's egg, one of the twisted strands of thick white that hold the yolk in place.
   - Simple: One of the white, twisted strings inside a bird's egg that hold the yolk in place.
   - _Pastry cooks strain the eggs to remove the tread, which can leave white specks in a smooth custard._
   - _Under the microscope, the treads appeared as twisted strands of dense albumen anchoring the yolk._
20. In fortification, the top surface of the banquette, the raised step on which soldiers stand to fire over the parapet.
   - Simple: The flat top of a raised step behind a wall, where soldiers stand to shoot over it.
   - _Engineers widened the tread of the banquette so two riflemen could stand side by side._
   - _From the tread, each musketeer could fire over the parapet and duck down to reload._

## Noun

21. A track or path along which one makes one's way. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A path or track that you can follow.
   - _The hunters followed an old tread through the forest until it vanished among the ferns._
   - _Over the years, the villagers' feet had beaten a tread straight across the common._

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3–4, 10–15, 17** — From Middle English treden, from Old English tredan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan, from Proto-Germanic *trudaną.
**Meanings 2, 5–9, 16, 18–21** — From Middle English tred, from treden (“to tread”).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/tread (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).