Forms: 3 (pl.) treden, treoden; 5 trede, tredd, (5–7 Sc.) tred; 6 Sc. treade, 9 n. dial. treed, s. e. dial. trade, 6– tread. [Early ME. trede (pl. treden), f. stem of OE. tredan to TREAD. Cognate with MDu. trēde m. and f., MLG. trēde, tret m., MHG. trit, Ger. tritt step, footstep, path, etc.; cf. also, from same root, TRADE, between which and tread in their earlier senses there is a close parallelism; see also TROD.]
I. 1. A footprint; the mark made in treading. rare.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 380. [He] scheaweð in ham his owene treden þet me trodde him in ham. Ibid. Auh þe dunes underuoð þe treden [v.r. (MS. Titus 120) trodes] of him suluen.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 15. He[e] seð þe folhen hire treoden. Meiden gan as heo dude.
1727. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Animal, An Otter’s Tread is almost like that of a Badger, saving that his Toes … are longer one than another.
† 2. A line of footsteps; the track or trail left by the steps or passage of a man or animal: = TRADE sb. 2. Obs.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 1006. When he was comen to that stede, Ther he saw the schepes trede.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VIII. iv. 67. And, that thar tred suld na way be persaue, Onto his cave ay bakwartis by the talis To turn thair futsteppis he thaim harlis and tralis.
1570. Satir. Poems Reform., x. 340. Sum saw him weill, and followit his hors tred.
1570. Henry’s Wallace, V. 136. For thair sloith hund the graith gait till him ȝeid, Off othir tred [c. 1470 trade] scho tuk as than no heid.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Piste, in the manage, the track or tread, which a horse makes upon the ground he goes over.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxiii. He passed a solitary house, towards which the horseman … had apparently turned up, for his horse’s tread was evident in that direction. Ibid. (1820), Monast., xxxiv. I tracked the knight’s horse-tread as far as near to the ford.
† 3. A trodden or beaten way, a path, a track. Obs. exc. b. fig. path or way (of life or action).
14[?]. Bone Flor., 1882. Sche fonde a tredd and forthe ys gon … To a noonre.
1628. Feltham, Resolves, II. [I.] xiii. 35. We wander in the tread of seuerall paths.
a. 1711. Ken, Psyche, Poet. Wks. 1721, IV. 229. When Jesus journy’d too and fro,… The Female Vot’ries by yon lead [= led] Still follow’d his instructive Tread.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1869), III. ii. 132. Conditions which determine the tread and destiny of nations.
† c. Those who are on the ordinary way; the common ‘run’ of passers. Cf. TRADE sb. 1 b. Obs.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XVII. 748. That the bread, Which now he begg’d amongst the common tread.
4. The action or an act of treading or trampling; a step.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 13440. Thei drow him fro her hors tred.
1640. R. Chamberlain, Pref. Verses, in Brome, Antipodes. On th’ Antipodes … tis thus, Their feet do tread against the tread of us.
1671. Flavel, Fount. Life, v. 12. The least Tread awry may ingulph us in the Bogs of Error.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 15. The tread of the Sheep makes this Ground turn before the Plow in a clotty Substance.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, II. 379. Thy noiseless tread … Fell soft as snow on snow.
1823. J. F. Cooper, Pioneers, xxxviii. Louisa was startled by the low, cracking, but cautious treads, of some one approaching through the bushes.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, i. That incessant tread of feet wearing the rough stones smooth and glossy.
1843. J. Smith, Forest Trees, 64. He gives a tread with his foot to render it firm.
1878. M. A. Brown, Nadeschda, 18. She followed with her ears his tread.
b. Manner of treading; hence, style of walking.
1609. Old Meg of Herefordsh. (1816), 10. Howe doe you like this Morris-daunce of Hereford-shire?… Haue they not the right footing? the true tread?
1727. Pope, Lament. Glumdalclitch, 67. How wast thou wont to walk with cautious tread.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. lxxiv. The ground, with cautious tread, is traversed o’er.
1840. R. S. Hawker, Cornish Ball., etc. (1908), 89. Pause and move onward with obedient tread.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Dead Pan, xi. Where O Juno, is the glory Of thy regal look and tread?
1881. Lady Herbert, Edith, 7. She had the tread of an Empress.
c. transf. The quality or kind of the thing trodden upon; the sensation produced by treading on something (considered as an attribute of the thing). rare.
1819. Keats, Lamia, 181. A sloping green of mossy tread.
II. 5. Course or manner of action; way of acting; esp. a habitual course; practice, custom; TRADE sb. 3, 3 c. Chiefly Sc.
Tred is still the ordinary Sc. dial. word in all these senses = TRADE sb., senses 3–9.
1562. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 212. Gif the tred wer nocht samekle usit be the inhabitantis of this realme.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 410. Quhat tred and ordour of doctrine thay have keipitt.
1572. Satir. Poems Reform., xxxiv. 10. I doe espy The Scottisch tred and nauchtie fassioun To be so bad.
1579. Reg. Privy Council Scot., III. 146. Following the bludie treade quhilk they and thair foirbearis of the same name had used of befoir.
1817. G. Chalmers, Churchyard’s Chips, Pref. 14. Three years … he saw the Emperor’s wars: then homeward drew, as was his wonted tread.
Mod. Sc. Ye mauna mak a tred o’ gangin’ there.
6. Regular occupation or business: = TRADE sb. 5. Sc.
1584. Reg. Privy Council Scot., III. 706. That na honest merchand … may peciablie travell nor use tred. Ibid. (1588), IV. 303. His Majesteis … subjectis ar havelie opprest and the tred of fisheing … gritlie impedit.
1596. Sc. Acts Jas. VI. (1816), IV. 100/1. The following of ane lauchfull tred.
1603. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 513/2. Cum libertate exercendi the tred and traffique of merchandrice.
1657. Scott. Convention Rec., III. 440. The whole tread only competent to merchandis of free burrowis.
Mod. Sc. What’s the man’s tred? This weather is bad for tred. The tred o’ the toon.
7. Coming and going; resort; intercourse; also, fuss, work; = TRADE sb. 7 a, 7 b, 7 c. Sc. rare.
1567. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 510. Having dalie and continewall tred with the inhabitantis. Ibid. (1591), IV. 627. Not onlie sall thair tred in thai pairtis be cutt of, bot a cruell wear salbe denunceit aganis his majestie.
Mod. Sc. What a tred aboot getting them off!
III. 8. a. Farriery. A bruise or wound of the coronet of a horse’s foot, caused by setting one foot upon the other, or by over-reaching.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 62. The skinne wrapped about a horse’s foot, that hath a tread, helpeth the same.
1754. Bartlet, Farriery, xxxix. (ed. 2), 313. A quittor … arises often from treads and bruises.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 5), I. 451. Quittor … a severe tread, which the horse accidentally inflicts upon itself in its endeavours to avoid falling upon its sides.
1894. Northumbld. Gloss., s.v. Treed, When a horse bas injured himself by setting one foot on another he is said to have ‘getten a treed.’
b. An act of treadling or pedalling a machine.
1680. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., x. 188. Keeping exact time in Treads,… the Workman gives a quick Tread upon the Treddle.
1790. A. Wilson, Poems & Lit. Prose (1876), II. 243. Whene’er the smooth tread I apply My shopmates deplore how I’ve sped.
9. a. The action of the male bird in coition. b. The cicatricula or chalaza of an egg; = TREADLE sb. 3.
a. 1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv. World, 124. An egg,… a thing that sprang from the impetus of the tread,… to be what ’tis, after laid by the Hen.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., II. P ij b/2. A Hen … will lay Eggs without the Tread of the Cock, but these Eggs … are good for nothing to hatch.
1765. Treat. Dom. Pigeons, 23. She will squat, and readily receive his tread, by which she is rendered prolific.
b. 1593. Southwell, St. Peter’s Compl., 51. Kill bad Chickins in the tread.
1647. Husbandman’s plea agst. Tithes, 40. Whether the Cocks tread … be in every egge.
1796. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xx. 311. Strain off your eggs from the treads.
1871. Huxley, Anat. Vertebr. Anim. (1882), 9. A patch of primary tissue;… the so-called cicatricula, or ‘tread,’ which is observable in the new-laid egs, is of this nature.
10. Various technical senses.
a. The flat under side of the foot or of a shoe, which comes into contact with the ground in treading; the sole. b. A wheel track, a rut (dial.); the transverse distance between the two wheels of a cart or other vehicle; also, the width between the pedals of a bicycle or tricycle; the outer surface of a wheel, tire, or sledge runner; also, the rail surface on which the wheel bears. c. A shaped plate of iron worn under the hollow of the shoe to protect it in digging; a tramp. d. Shipbuilding: see quot. c. 1850. e. The projecting foot-rest or step of a stilt (Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., 1888). f. The upper side of the bed of a lathe between the headstock and back-centre (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1877).
a. c. 1720. W. Gibson, Farrier’s Guide, I. v. (1738), 76. The … Plantaris, or Muscle of the Soal or Tread.
1898. J. Hutchinson, in Arch. Surg., IX. No. 36. 337. The symptom … was pain under the tread of his left foot.
b. 1735–6. Pegge, Kenticisms, Tread, a wheel-tread, rut, tract [i.e., track].
1765. Museum Rust., IV. lix. 248. It would be less material what breadth the wheels themselves were of, so that their tread be flat. Ibid., 249. If carts were to have the distance of their [wheels] either equal to the greatest or least tread of the waggons, it would generally help to preserve and commode the roads.
1797. J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 25. Plain turn plates. Used for going round a turn. The trod or tread of these [tram-]plates are 4 inches broad.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 1163. This standard … has … been fixed at 4 feet 4 inches between the tread of the wheels.
1875. Sussex Gloss., s.v. Trades, ‘You will never get your carriage down that laine, for it can’t take the trades.’
1887. Bury & Hillier, Cycling, 346. To keep ‘the tread’ of the machines, i.e. the width from pedal to pedal as narrow as possible.
1897. Cycl. Tour. Cl. Gaz., Sept., 399. A large hobnail … in the middle of the tread [of a pneumatic tire].
c. 1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 133. To save the shoes of the operator, a plate of iron about two inches broad, with leather straps, called a tread, is tied to his shoe.
d. c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 156. Tread of the keel, the whole length of the keel upon a straight line.
11. The horizontal upper surface of a step in a stair; also, the width of this from front to back; also, each of the rungs of a ladder.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 125. Each Step may have 15 or 16 Inches Tread, to five or six Inches Rise.
1791. Smeaton, Edystone L. (1793), § 88. There was but one flat or tread of a step above the center of the house.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 239. One inch and a quarter oak treads with rounded nosings.
1838. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 268/1. Ladders were of … rude construction … formed of two uprights with nailed treads or rounds on the face.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 49/1. Terra Cotta steps, with patent silicon treads.
1884. F. T. Hodgson, Stair-building, 12. Wall strings are the supporters of the ends of the treads and risers.
b. Fortif. A terrace at the back of a parapet, on which the defenders stand to fire over the parapet.
1834–47. J. S. Macaulay, Field Fortif. (1851), 3. The tread of the banquette … is made 3 feet wide, when the parapet is to be defended by a single rank.
1853. Stocqueler, Milit. Encycl., Tread, of a banquette, the upper and flat surface on which the soldier stands whilst firing over the parapet.
IV. 12. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 10 b) tread cover, rubber, surface; † tread-behind, a doubling; an evasion, artifice, shift; tread-board, the tread of a step = sense 11; also, each of the steps in a treadmill; † tread-fowl, the male bird; cf. 9 a; tread-road (dial.): see quot.; cf. tread-way; treadsman = TREADER; † treadsole, a door-sill; tread-steps, carriage-steps with flat treads; † tread-way, a roadway, thoroughfare. See also TREADMILL, TREAD-WHEEL.
1844. S. Naylor, Reynard the Fox, 20. His tricks and traps and *tread-behinds.
1908. Westm. Gaz., 16 Nov., 5/3. As regards the round and square *tread covers their imperviousness to cutting by flints [etc.].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Monk’s Prol., 57. Thou woldest han been a *tredefowel aright.
1894. Northumbld. Gloss., *Treed-road, a beaten path.
1909. Westm. Gaz., 1 June, 4/2. The rubber used in their non-skid is not ordinary *‘tread’ rubber.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 237. The iewest … that the *tredisman … brouseth out of the grapis.
c. 1546. Joye, in Bp. Gardiner, Declar., 14. The *tredsole or groundsole whereupon … the dore is turned and returned.
1837. W. B. Adams, Carriages, 87. *Tread Steps, for the coachman to mount by.
1896. Godey’s Mag., April, 347/1. The *tread surface of the canvas tube was covered with two or three layers of the sheet rubber.
1630. T. Westcote, Devon., II. xxiii. (1845), 187. For whose more christian-like burial there is (in a spacious large *tread-way near the place of execution) a plot of ground enclosed with strong stone walls.
