Tread \Tread\, v. i. [imp. Trod; p. p. Trodden, Trod; p. pr. & vb. n. Treading.]

[OE. treden, AS. tredan; akin to OFries. treda, OS. tredan, D. & LG. treden, G. treten, OHG. tretan, Icel. tro?a, Sw. tr[*a]da, tr["a]da, Dan. tr[ae]de, Goth. trudan, and perhaps ultimately to F. tramp; cf. Gr. ? a running, Skr. dram to run. Cf. Trade, Tramp, Trot.]

1. To set the foot; to step.

Where'er you tread, the blushing flowers shall rise. --Pope.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. --Pope.

The hard stone Under our feet, on which we tread and go. --Chaucer.

2. To walk or go; especially, to walk with a stately or a cautious step.

Ye that . . . stately tread, or lowly creep. --Milton.

3. To copulate; said of birds, esp. the males. --Shak.

To tread on or upon.
   (a) To trample; to set the foot on in contempt. ``Thou shalt tread upon their high places.'' --Deut. xxxiii. 29.
   (b) to follow closely. ``Year treads on year.'' --Wordsworth.

To tread upon the heels of, to follow close upon. ``Dreadful consequences that tread upon the heels of those allowances to sin.'' --Milton.

One woe doth tread upon another's heel. --Shak.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Tread \Tread\, v. t.

1. To step or walk on.

Forbid to tread the promised land he saw. --Prior.

Methought she trod the ground with greater grace. --Dryden.

2. To beat or press with the feet; as, to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well-trodden path.

3. To go through or accomplish by walking, dancing, or the like. `` I am resolved to forsake Malta, tread a pilgrimage to fair Jerusalem.'' --Beau. & Fl.

They have measured many a mile, To tread a measure with you on this grass. --Shak.

4. To crush under the foot; to trample in contempt or hatred; to subdue.

Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. --Ps. xliv. 5.

5. To copulate with; to feather; to cover; -- said of the male bird. --Chaucer.

To tread out, to press out with the feet; to press out, as wine or wheat; as, to tread out grain with cattle or horses.

To tread the stage, to act as a stageplayer; to perform a part in a drama.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Tread \Tread\, n.

1. A step or stepping; pressure with the foot; a footstep; as, a nimble tread; a cautious tread.

She is coming, my own, my sweet; Were it ever so airy a tread, My heart would hear her and beat. --Tennyson.

2. Manner or style of stepping; action; gait; as, the horse has a good tread.

3. Way; track; path. [R.]

--Shak.

4. The act of copulation in birds.

5. (Arch.) The upper horizontal part of a step, on which the foot is placed.

6. (Fort.) The top of the banquette, on which soldiers stand to fire over the parapet.

7. (Mach.)
   (a) The part of a wheel that bears upon the road or rail.
   (b) The part of a rail upon which car wheels bear.

8. (Biol.) The chalaza of a bird's egg; the treadle.

9. (Far.) A bruise or abrasion produced on the foot or ankle of a horse that interferes. See Interfere, 3.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)