Middle English Dictionary Entry
trēding(e ger.
Entry Info
| Forms | trēding(e ger. Also (error) credyng. |
| Etymology | From trēden v. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
Moving, walking.
Associated quotations
- (a1398) Trev.Barth.(Add 27944:Seymour)1382/33 : Vestigium is þe fore þat leueþ in þe grounde after goynge and tredynge.
- ?a1425 Chauliac(1) (NY 12:Wallner)5.25/7 : Þe rachete..is restored in settyng þe foote vpon þe grounde or þe erþe And tredyng [L calcando] wiþ þi fote.
2.
The act of stepping on something.
Associated quotations
- c1450 *Bk.Marchalsi (Hrl 6398)2b : He [horse] shal teyin hym-self mani tyme wyht tredyng of his fete on the reyne.
3.
(a) The beating or pressing down of something with the feet, trampling; (b) the threshing of grain [1st quot.];—used with punning ref. to sense 5.; also, the threshing of grain on (a threshing floor) by oxen; (c) the packing down of a path.
Associated quotations
a
- a1450(1408) Vegetius(1) (Dc 291)161/21 : In þe makynge of þese walles, fille vp þat voyde space þat is bytwene hem with þe erthe of þe outcastyng of þi diches and loke hit be wel beten & rammed wiþ beteles & tredyng of manis feet.
- c1475(1392) *MS Wel.564 (Wel 564)78a/a : A brusure þat is maad wiþ a wounde, as of swerd or knyf..haþ a greet difference from brusuris maad wiþouten wounde, as wiþ staf or stoon, wiþ fallynge or lepynge, smytynge, or tredynge of an hors.
- a1500 Leg.Cross BC(1) (Wor F.172)221 : Þe Jewis driewen out that beame from the piscyne and made suche a litel brigge ouer the brooke of Siloe, seyeng thus: 'So that the vertu that is in that holy tree shuld be fordon and brought to nough[t] bi the tredyng of the feete of synners that gon theron.'
b
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.Mk.(Manly-Rickert)B.3145 : Religioun hath take vp al the corn Of tredyng [vrr. tredeinge, credyng] and we borel men been shrympes.
- (a1398) Trev.Barth.(Add 27944:Seymour)1151/7 : Þey ledeþ hem aboute vpon corn to breke þe strawe in þreisshynge and tredynge þe floor.
c
- (c1410) York MGame (Vsp B.12)77 : Putt your hound in þe fourme of þe foot and..fynde how þe erþe is broke wiþ þe clees of þe foot..and þan ȝe mowe iuge it a gret hert or for an hert chaceable..bi þe tredyng of þe gras.
4.
Fig. The crushing or destroying of an enemy.
Associated quotations
- (a1382) WBible(1) (Bod 959)Is.10.6 : I shal bidde to hym þat he take awei spoilis & deuyde prey & putte it in to treding, as þe clei of stretis.
- (c1384) WBible(1) (Dc 369(2))Luke 10.19 : I have ȝouun to ȝou power of defoulinge, othir tredinge [WB(2): to trede; L calcandi], or [read: on] serpents and scorpiouns.
5.
Copulation by birds.
Associated quotations
- (a1398) Trev.Barth.(Add 27944:Seymour)615/16 : Aristotel..saiþ þat þe coluer is a lecherous bridde and cusseþ eueriche oþir tofore þe tredynge [L coitum].
- (a1398) Trev.Barth.(Add 27944:Seymour)642/12 : The vulture..haþ noȝt swyfte fliȝt, And som men meneþ þat here tredynge [L concubitu] is nouȝt imedlid but þat sche conceyueþ and be conceyued and gendred and beþ igendred wiþoute ioynynge of tredinge [L copula].
- (a1398) Trev.Barth.(Add 27944:Seymour)1340/11 : Some eiren ben conceyued in eueriche wynd but þey beþ barayne but he be conceyued of tredynge or worchinge of the male.
- (a1398) Trev.Barth.(Add 27944:Seymour)1342/26 : Þe hen ey is ful scharp [read: schap] þe enleuenþe day after þe tredynge [L coitum].
6.
In misc. senses: (a) ~ togeder, contrition [literal transl. of L contritio]; (b) ~ of ded menes bodies, a cemetery [mistransl. of L coemeterium]; (c) ?error for trendinge ger.
Associated quotations
a
- a1425(c1384) WBible(1) (Corp-O 4)Ezek.7.7 : Contricioun, or tredynge to gider, cometh vpon thee.
b
- c1450 Capgr.Rome (Bod 423)20 : Cimiterium in latyn is not ellis for to sey but tredyng of deed mennis bodies.
c
- (a1398) Trev.Barth.(Add 27944:Seymour)1382/30 : Orbita is þe forow of a whele þat makeþ a deepe fore in þe wyndynge and tredynge aboute.