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.
  ◄ ►
  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]