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. 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.