treats

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of treat.

   The bakery's holiday treats sold out before noon.

   He kept a few treats in his pocket for the dog.

   Note

   The plural gathers several kinds of treat: snack foods, holiday sweets, the biscuits kept in a pocket for a dog, and also unexpected pleasures that arrive one after another. Two older meanings, a parley over terms and an entreaty, are obsolete, so treats as negotiations or pleas belongs to period writing. The bargaining idea lives on in the verb, in phrases like treating with an enemy.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of treat.

   The doctor treats dozens of patients each week.

   The plant treats wastewater before releasing it into the river.

   Note

   The -s form does double duty, since the same spelling serves as the plural noun. Context decides: "she treats" is the verb, "the treats" the noun. As a verb it ranges from handling someone in a certain way to paying for another's meal. In the bargaining sense it takes for or with, as when one side treats with the other. A writer who treats a subject deals with it in speech or print.

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