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. --Shak.
{To tread on} or {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.
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.'' --Beau. & Fl.
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. --Chaucer.
{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.
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.] --Shak.
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.