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tread

Pronunciation: /trɛd/
Translate tread | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of tread

verb (past trod /trɒd/; past participle trodden /ˈtrɒd(ə)n/ or trod)

[no object, with adverbial]
  • walk in a specified way:Rosa trod as lightly as she could figurativethe government had to tread carefully so as not to offend the judiciary
  • (tread on) chiefly British set one’s foot down on top of: the youth stumbled and trod on Harry’s shoe
  • [with object] walk on or along:shoppers will soon be treading the floors of the new shopping mall
  • [with object and adverbial] press down or crush with the feet:food had been trodden into the carpet

noun

  • 1 [in singular] a person’s manner of walking or the sound made as they walk:I heard the heavy tread of Dad’s boots
  • 2 (also tread board) the top surface of a step or stair.
  • 3the thick moulded part of a vehicle tyre that grips the road.
  • the part of a wheel that touches the ground or a rail.
  • the upper surface of a railway track, in contact with the wheels.
  • 4the part of the sole of a shoe that rests on the ground.

Phrases

tread the boards (or stage)

see board.

tread on air

see air.

tread (or chiefly North American step) on someone's toes

offend someone by encroaching on their area of responsibility: I have no wish to tread on the toes of colleagues with local interests

tread water

maintain an upright position in deep water by moving the feet with a walking movement and the hands with a downward circular motion: they were at the deep end of the pool and trod water to keep afloat
fail to make progress:men who are treading water in their careers

Derivatives

treader

noun

Origin:

Old English tredan (as a verb), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch treden and German treten

tread in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of tread in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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