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The hardened part of a casting, as the tread of a car wheel. Knight. Chill and fever, fever and ague.

To tread heavily or clumsily; to clump. The policeman with clamping feet. Thackeray.

To tread clumsily; to clamp. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

To tread or trample under foot. [Obs.] Bp. Montagu -- Con`cul*ca"tion (, n. [Obs.]

To furnish or fit with cork; to raise on cork. Tread on corked stilts a prisoner's pace. Bp. Hall.

to move as a child on the hands and knees; to crawl. Ye that walk The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep. Milton.

Easily crumbled; friable; brittle. [R.] Now the fowler . . . treads the crimp earth. J. Philips.

To tread down. [Obs.] Wyclif.

tment, by which to go in and out; an entrance way. To the same end, men several paths may tread, As many doors into one temple lead. Denham.

bone dust. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Gen. iii. 19. Stop! -- for thy tread is on an empire's dust. Byron.

ize); hence, huge; immense; heavy; as, of elephantine proportions; an elephantine step or tread. Elephantine epoch (Geol.), the epoch distinguished by the existence of large pachyderms. Mantell. -- Elephantine tortoise (Zoöl.), a huge land tortoise; esp., Testudo elephantina, from islands in the Indian Ocean; and T. e…

A stairway or incline arranged like an endless belt so that the steps or treads ascend or descend continuously, and one stepping upon it is carried up or down; -- a trade term.

God. Deut. xxviii. 58. Death is a fearful thing. Shak. In dreams they fearful precipices tread. Dryden.

To tread, as a cock. Dryden. To feather one's nest, to provide for one's self especially from property belonging to another, confided to one's care; -- an expression taken from the practice of birds which collect feathers for the lining of their nests. -- To feather an oar (Naut), to turn it when it leaves the water s…

, an ancient mode of trial, in which the test was the ability of the accused to handle or tread upon red-hot irons. Abbot. -- Fire pan, a pan for holding or conveying fire, especially the receptacle for the priming of a gun. -- Fire plug, a plug or hydrant for drawing water from the main pipes in a street, building,…

Indicating firmness; as, a firm tread; a firm countenance.

To tread under foot; to trample. King Richard . . . caused the ensigns of Leopold to be pulled down and foiled under foot. Knoless. Whom he did all to pieces breake and foyle, In filthy durt, and left so in the loathely soyle. Spenser.

To tread to measure or music; to dance; to trip; to skip. Dryden.

A treadle.

Tread; step; especially, measured tread. Hark, I hear the footing of a man. Shak.