tread /ˈtrɛd/
 踏,步態,梯級,交尾,鞋底(vi.)踏,行走,交尾(vt.)踩,踏,踐踏,跳
 Tread, n.
 1. 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.
 2. Manner or style of stepping; action; gait; as, the horse has a good tread.
 3. Way; track; path. [R.]
 4. The act of copulation in birds.
 5. Arch. The upper horizontal part of a step, on which the foot is placed.
 6. Fort. The top of the banquette, on which soldiers stand to fire over the parapet.
 7. Mach. (a) The part of a wheel that bears upon the road or rail. (b) The part of a rail upon which car wheels bear.
 8. Biol. The chalaza of a bird's egg; the treadle.
 9. Far. A bruise or abrasion produced on the foot or ankle of a horse that interferes. See Interfere, 3.
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 Tread v. i. [imp. Trod p. p. Trodden Trod; p. pr. & vb. n. Treading.]
 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 walk or go; especially, to walk with a stately or a cautious step.
    Ye that . . . stately tread, or lowly creep.   --Milton.
 3. To copulate; said of birds, esp. the males.
 To tread on or To tread 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.
 Tread, v. t.
 1. To step or walk on.
    Forbid to tread the promised land he saw.   --Prior.
    Methought she trod the ground with greater grace.   --Dryden.
 2. To beat or press with the feet; as, to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well-trodden path.
 3. To go through or accomplish by walking, dancing, or the like. “ I am resolved to forsake Malta, tread a pilgrimage to fair Jerusalem.”
 They have measured many a mile,
 To tread a measure with you on this grass.   --Shak.
 4. 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.
 5. To copulate with; to feather; to cover; -- said of the male bird.
 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.
 tread
      n 1: a step in walking or running [syn: pace, stride]
      2: the grooved surface of a pneumatic tire
      3: the part (as of a wheel or shoe) that makes contact with the
         ground
      4: structural member consisting of the horizontal part of a
         stair or step
      v 1: put down or press the foot, place the foot; "For fools rush
           in where angels fear to tread"; "step on the brake"
           [syn: step]
      2: tread or stomp heavily or roughly; "The soldiers trampled
         across the fields" [syn: trample]
      3: crush as if by treading on; "tread grapes to make wine"
      4: brace (an archer's bow) by pressing the foot against the
         center
      5: apply (the tread) to a tire
      6: mate with; "male birds tread the females"
      [also: trodden, trod]