The Collaborative International Dictionary
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.]
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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. -
To walk or go; especially, to walk with a stately or a cautious step.
Ye that . . . stately tread, or lowly creep.
--Milton. -
To copulate; said of birds, esp. the males. --Shak. To tread on or To tread upon.
To trample; to set the foot on in contempt. ``Thou shalt tread upon their high places.''
--Deut. xxxiii. 29.-
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.
Usage examples of "to tread on".
Trying not to tread on the violets and lupine that marked the narrow path, he went around the house to the back and into a rose garden.
The one who'd been about to grab for her arm some more crawfished back as if he'd just noticed a diamondback he'd been fixing to tread on barefoot.
Riddle and the other guards ran forward to examine the place where the man had stood even as Chade shouted at them not to tread on the snow there.
He was biding his time, building his market and strength, taking care not to tread on any giant toes.