treadle
Americannoun
-
a lever or the like worked by continual action of the foot to impart motion to a machine.
-
a platform, as on a bus or trolleycar, for opening an exit door.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
- treadler noun
Etymology
Origin of treadle
before 1000; Middle English tredel stairstep, Old English. See tread, -le
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I had to stretch to reach the treadle.
From Literature
She’d thread it and throw the shuttle and start working the foot treadles.
From Literature
If you have room, there are treadle feeders that are rat resistant you can use in the coop.
From Salon
Imitating the English, whose male weaving guilds had produced fine cloths on foot-powered treadle looms since the 1300s, the Danes trained North Atlantic men to weave on these faster looms.
From Scientific American
Dozens of mechanized needles pumping up and down sounded a continuous clickety-clack, clickety-clack over the rumble of foot treadles and the whir of spinning spools of thread.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
