Tread

Tread, tred, v.i. to set the foot down: to walk or go: to copulate, as fowls.—v.t. to walk on: to press with the foot: to trample in contempt: to subdue:—pa.t. trod; pa.p. trod or trod′den.—n. pressure with the foot: a step, way of stepping.—ns. Tread′er; Tread′ing; Tread′le, Tred′dle, the part of any machine which the foot moves.—vs.i. to work a treadle.—ns. Tread′ler; Tread′ling; Tread′-mill, a mill in which a rotary motion is produced by the weight of a person or persons treading or stepping from one to another of the steps of a cylindrical wheel, used chiefly as an instrument of prison discipline; Tread′-wheel, a form of tread-mill with steps on its exterior surface, by treading on which the wheel is turned.—Tread down, to trample to destruction; Tread in one's footsteps, or steps, to follow one's example; Tread on, or upon, to trample with contempt: to come close after; Tread on one's toes, to give offence to one; Tread on, or upon, the heels of, to follow close after; Tread out, to press out with the feet: to extinguish; Tread underfoot, to treat with scorn: to destroy. [A.S. tredan; Ice. trodha, Ger. treten.]