TREAD, v.i. tred. pret. trod; pp. trod, troden. [L. trudo.]

1. A step or stepping; pressure with the foot; as, a nimble tread; cautious tread; doubtful tread. Milton. Dryden.
2. Way; track; path. [Little used.] – Shak.
3. Compression of the male fowl.
4. Manner of stepping; as, a horse has a good tread.

In architecture, the horizontal part of a step on which the foot is placed.

1. To set the foot. Where'er you tread, the blushing flow'rs shall rise. – Pope. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. – Burke.
2. To walk or go. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread, shall be yours. – Deut. xi.
3. To walk with form or state. Ye that stately tread, or lowly creep. – Milton.
4. To copulate, as fowls. – Shak. To tread or tread on; to trample; to set the foot on in contempt. Thou shalt tread upon their high places. Deut. xxxiii.

1. To step or walk on. Forbid to tread the promis'd land he saw. – Prior.
2. To press under the feet.
3. To beat or press with the feet; as, to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well trodden path.
4. To walk in a formal or stately manner. He thought she trod the ground with greater grace. – Dryden.
5. To crush under the foot; to trample in contempt or hatred, or to subdue. – Ps. xliv. lx.
6. To compress, as a fowl. To tread the stage, to act as a stage-player; to perform a part in a drama. To tread or tread out, to press out with the feet; to press out wine or wheat; as, to tread out grain with cattle or horses. They tread their wine presses and suffer thirst. – Job xxiv.

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 step or walk on.
   
   

   Forbid to tread the promised land he saw. Prior.

   Methought she trod the ground with greater grace. Dryden.

3. 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.

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

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

5. To beat or press with the feet; as, to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well- trodden path.
6. Manner or style of stepping; action; gait; as, the horse has a good tread.
7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Way; track; path.
   
   
   [R.] Shak.
10. 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.

11. The act of copulation in birds.
12. 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.

13. The upper horizontal part of a step, on which the foot is placed.
14. The top of the banquette, on which soldiers stand to fire over the parapet.
15. The part of a wheel that bears upon the road or rail.
    
    
    (b)
16. The chalaza of a bird's egg; the treadle.
17. A bruise or abrasion produced on the foot or ankle of a horse that interferes. See Interfere, 3.