treading

10 definitions • 12 examples

to put your foot on something or to press something down with your foot:

tread on I kept treading on his toes when we were dancing.

tread in Yuck! Look what I've just trodden in!

be trodden into A load of food had been trodden into the carpet.

tread grapes Before the days of automation, they used to tread grapes to make wine.

to walk:

He trod heavily and reluctantly up the stairs.

tread your weary way I sometimes see him flash past in his sports car as I tread my weary way (= walk in a tired way) to work.

to float vertically in the water by moving the legs and the arms up and down:

I stopped swimming for a moment and trod water, looking back to the beach.

the pattern of raised lines on a tyre that prevents a vehicle from sliding on the road:

The tread on your tyres is very worn.

the sound that your feet make on the ground as you walk:

Then I heard someone's tread on the stairs.

the horizontal part of a step on which you put your foot

to put the foot down while stepping, or to step on something:

[ I ] fig. I hope I haven’t trod on other people’s toes by saying this.

the raised pattern on a tire that holds the vehicle to the road as it moves:

[ U ] fat tires with knobby tread

the sound that someone’s feet make in walking:

I heard the heavy tread of my father overhead.

A tread is also the horizontal surface on which you put your foot on a step.