treading

Verb

tread (third-person singular simple present treads, present participle treading, simple past trod or tread or treaded, past participle trodden or trod or tread or treaded)

1. (intransitive) To step or walk (on or across something); to trample.
   • He trod back and forth wearily.
2. (transitive) To step or walk upon.
   • Actors tread the boards.
3. (figuratively) To proceed, to behave (in a certain manner).
   • to tread lightly, to tread gently
4. To beat or press with the feet.
   • to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well-trodden path
5. To work a lever, treadle, etc., with the foot or the feet.
   • Round about them was a circle of girls and wives of the neighbouring tenants; "they trod the spinning-wheels with diligent feet, or were using the scraping carding-combs," as an author has it.1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 251
6. To go through or accomplish by walking, dancing, etc.
   • I am resolved to forsake Malta, tread a pilgrimage to fair Jerusalem.1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Knight of Malta”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […]...

See all 21 meanings of tread