Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A pedal or lever operated by the foot for circular drive, as in a potter's wheel or sewing machine.
- v. To work a treadle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A lever designed to be moved by the foot to impart motion to a machine, as a lathe, sewing-machine, or bicycle. It consists usually of a form of lever connected by a rod with a crank; but other forms employ straps or cords for transmitting the power. In the bicycle the treadle is practically the crank itself. In the organ, particularly the pipe-organ, and many machines, the drop press, etc., where the treadle does not impart a rotary motion, but only starts, stops, or otherwise controls the machine or instrument, it is more properly a pedal, but in the reed-organ the foot-levers by which the feeders are operated are called either treadles or pedals. See cuts under pegger, potter, reed-organ, ripple, sewing-machine, and spring-hammer.
- n. The tough ropy or stringy part of the white of an egg; the chalaza: so called because formerly supposed to be the male sperm. Compare tread, 4.
- To operate a treadle; specifically, in playing a reed-organ, to operate the feeders by means of the foot-levers or pedals.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The part of a foot lathe, or other machine, which is pressed or moved by the foot.
- n. (Biol.) The chalaza of a bird's egg; the tread.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a lever that is operated with the foot
- v. tread over
- v. operate (machinery) by a treadle
Etymologies
- Middle English tredel, from Old English, step of a stair, from tredan, to tread. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Cooper-Hewitt Receives 600K to Continue Design for the Other 90% Exhibit The treadle is a bamboo water pump powered by the human foot – Inhabitat about mission submit a story shop advertise with us support us press contact sign up”
“The treadle is a bamboo water pump powered by the human foot”
“We designed a range of affordable irrigation tools such as treadle pumps, and mass-marketed them to small-acreage farmers through the local private sector.”
“Her sewing machine had a "treadle" and our TV was a 5 "black and white with fuzzy images.”
“Ranging from low-tech options such as a treadle pump that is improving irrigation and access to water in villages across Africa, to high-tech geographical information systems utilizing the latest satellite technology and cell phones that allow smallholder farmers to benefit from access to market data, timely weather forecasts, and crop advice.”
The Huffington Post: Robert Hormats: Innovating Our Way to a Second Green Revolution
“She also said it brings back personal memories of helping out around the house, bringing in firewood and watching her Aunt Hilda on the Singer, working the treadle as the bobbin spun out thread for one of Patsy's fringed cowgirl outfits.”
“When she spoke out of turn, she claims she was forced to sew at a treadle machine with no needle for a fortnight.”
The Guardian: Karen Armstrong: The compassionate face of religion
“Evaluations rarely guide us in making the big choices between and among the various sectoral interventions, such as health (primary care, prevention, training health professionals or building hospitals?) versus agriculture (sustainable small farms, treadle pumps or massive irrigation projects?)”
The Huffington Post: Jonathan Lewis: Social Impact Evaluation: Useful? Utopian? (Part 3 of 4)
“Katya, thanks for reminding me of the treadle sewing machine.”
“A team of students from the University of Michigan BLUELab produced their first prototype of a treadle pump in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala last week.”
Sustainable Design Update » Blog Archive » Open Source Treadle Pump
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘treadle’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 351 more...
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common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 more...
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Favorite Words
pablum, maundy, histrionic, adamant, ascribe, verbiage, insouciant, erudite, gregarious, superfluous, banal, obdurate and 280 more...
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GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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Infinite Jest
Words taken from Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
prorector, monograph, post-fourier, snuffle, rototremble, creatus, enfilade, subanimalistic, balletic, espadrilles, leonine, cirri and 1153 more...
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Weaverly Words
Words that relate to, or come from, the weaving trade.
Weave, Warp, Weft, Loom, Weaver, Weaving, woven, handwoven, twill, tabby, plainweave, sleazy and 95 more...
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Some Wednesday words
Just another arbitrary list of words that come up for me today, June 20 2007
tutelage, hobby horse, abracadabra, occipital, martinet, margarita, persona, cute, sharp, acute, confabulate, conspire and 97 more...
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Good Words
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
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Australian
words not found in other
dictionaries,these are from Macquarie
Dictionary and not playable in
scrabbleabdul, abdulled, abdulling, abi, abiu, ablactate, absinthial, absinthian, absoluter, acalypha, acanthodian, acaroids and 5128 more...
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The Voice of the Shuttle
Weaving words
tapestry, treadle, warp, yarn, weft, woof, filling, thread, selvage, inkle, weftfaced, warpfaced and 30 more...
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Sunday
newspaper, element, green, roast, humble, smudge, quilt, rosemary, rabbit, ink, treadle, literature and 3 more...
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Wordle
Instrumental nouns
pestle, handle, thimble, treadle, ladle, spurtle, girdle, needle, spindle, bridle, hurdle, windle and 1 more...
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dodonoodles's Words
provision, royal society, charcoal, shaft, impellant, colliery, valve, physicist, smelter, piston, conduit, trough and 80 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for treadle.

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