tread

[[t]tre̱d[/t]]

treads, treading, trod, trodden

1) VERB If you tread on something, you put your foot on it when you are walking or standing.

[V on n] Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to tread on your foot...

[V on n] I had white rugs on the floor, but people were scared to tread on them in case they marked.

2) VERB If you tread in a particular way, you walk that way. [LITERARY]

[V adv] She trod casually, enjoying the touch of the damp grass on her feet.

3) N-SING: supp N, N of n A person's tread is the sound that they make with their feet as they walk. [WRITTEN]

We could now very plainly hear their heavy tread and an occasional loud, coarse laugh.

4) VERB If you tread carefully, you behave in a careful or cautious way.

[V adv] If you are hoping to form a new relationship tread carefully and slowly to begin with...

[V adv] There are three reasons for treading warily in such matters.

5) N-COUNT The tread of a step or stair is its flat upper surface.

He walked up the stairs. The treads were covered with a kind of rubber and very quiet.

6) N-VAR The tread of a tyre or shoe is the pattern of thin lines cut into its surface that stops it slipping.

The fat, broad tyres had a good depth of tread.

7) PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR between pl-n If someone is treading a fine line or path, they are acting carefully because they have to avoid making a serious mistake, especially in a situation where they have to deal with two opposing demands.

They have to tread the delicate path between informing children and boring them...

The President will therefore have to tread a very fine line when he addresses the parliament.

8) PHRASE: V inflects If you tread a particular path, you take a particular course of action or do something in a particular way.

He continues to tread an unconventional path...

Stylistically, Weller is treading a similar path to that of Lenny Kravitz.

9) PHRASE: V inflects If someone who is in deep water treads water, they float in an upright position by moving their legs slightly.

10) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that someone is treading water, you mean that they are in an unsatisfactory situation where they are not progressing, but are just continuing doing the same things.

I could either tread water until I was promoted, which looked to be a few years away, or I could change what I was doing.

11) to tread on someone's toes → see toe