TREAD

(STEP) [verb] [past simple] trod or US also treaded, [past participle] trodden or [US and ANZ] also trod - to put the foot down; stepI kept treading on his toes when we were dancing. [I usually + adverb or preposition]Mind you don't tread in the oil when you get out of the car. [I usually + adverb or preposition]He trod all over my nice clean floor in his filthy boots! [I usually + adverb or preposition]He trod (= walked) heavily and reluctantly up the stairs. [I usually + adverb or preposition]Some of the grass is trodden down where people have been playing football. [T]Yuck! Look what I've just trodden in! [I usually + adverb or preposition]A load of food had been trodden into (= crushed by people's feet into) the carpet. [T]Before the days of automation, they used to tread grapes to make wine. [T](literary) I sometimes see him flash past in his sports car as I tread my weary way (= walk in a tired way) to work. [T]To tread carefully is to speak or behave carefully to avoid upsetting or causing offence to anyone.The government know they have to tread carefully on this issue. [I usually + adverb](figurative) Well, that's how you get to the top - you tread on other people (= treat them badly). [I usually + adverb or preposition](humorous) To tread the boards is to act in plays:It's three years now since you've trodden the boards, Ken - how does it feel to be back?To tread water is to float vertically in the water by moving the legs and the arms up and down.(figurative) I think she feels that she's just treading water in that job (= not advancing in any way). tread [noun]Your tread is the sound that your feet make on the ground as you walk.Then I heard someone's tread on the stairs.A tread is also the horizontal part of a step on which you put your foot.