3 March 2017

treadle

[tred-l]

noun

1. a lever or the like worked by continual action of the foot to impart motion to a machine.
2. a platform, as on a bus or trolleycar, for opening an exit door.
verb (used without object), treadled, treadling.
3. to work a treadle.

Origin of treadle

Middle English

1000, before 1000; Middle English tredel stairstep, Old English. See tread, -le

Related forms

treadler [tred-ler], noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for treadle

Contemporary Examples

treadle water pumps in Africa and Asia allowed women farmers to irrigate small plots and increase their harvests and incomes.
Women | Tools | Technology: A Global Leapfrog, An ExxonMobil-sponsored Series
Daily Beast Promotions
March 1, 2011

Historical Examples

A treadle is provided which instantly releases both jaws upon the completion of the weld.
Oxy-Acetylene Welding and Cutting
Harold P. Manly

The father’s voice relaxed, and his foot lay limp on the treadle.
Stories By English Authors: London
Various

Anagram

altered

Today’s quote

That is how you get to be a writer, incidentally: you feel somehow marginal, somehow slightly off-balance all the time.

– Kurt Vonnegut

Today’s quote

3 March 1923 – the first edition of Time magazine is published featuring Joseph Gurney Cannon, a U.S. congressman.

3 March 1931 – the Star Spangled Banner becomes the United States national anthem. The song was written by Francis Scott Key on 14 September 1814.

3 March 1991 – In Los Angeles, three white police officers are filmed viciously bashing African American, Rodney King. The video of police brutality is shown publicly. Four police officers are charged in relation to the bashing, but are later acquitted. News of the acquittal led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.