What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Tread vs Lumber - What's the difference?

tread | lumber |

In lang=en terms the difference between tread and lumber

is that tread is to copulate; said of (especially male) birds while lumber is to load down with things, to fill, to encumber.

As verbs the difference between tread and lumber

is that tread is to step or walk (on or over something); to trample while lumber is to move clumsily.

As nouns the difference between tread and lumber

is that tread is a step while lumber is (uncountable) wood intended as a building material.

tread

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) treden, from (etyl) {{term, tredan, , to tread, step on, trample, traverse, pass over, enter upon, roam through , lang=ang}}, from (etyl) , Norwegian treda.

Verb

  • To step or walk (on or over something); to trample.
  • He trod back and forth wearily.
    Don't tread on the lawn.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Fools rush in where angels fear to tread .
  • * Milton
  • ye that stately tread , or lowly creep
  • To step or walk upon.
  • Actors tread the boards.
  • To beat or press with the feet.
  • to tread''' a path; to '''tread''' land when too light; a well-'''trodden path
  • To go through or accomplish by walking, dancing, etc.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • I am resolved to forsake Malta, tread a pilgrimage to fair Jerusalem.
  • * Shakespeare
  • They have measured many a mile, / To tread a measure with you on this grass.
  • To crush under the foot; to trample in contempt or hatred; to subdue.
  • * Bible, Psalms xliv. 5
  • Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
  • To copulate; said of (especially male) birds.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (of a male bird) To copulate with.
  • (Chaucer)
  • (tread)
  • Usage notes
    * "(term)" is not commonly used in the UK and is less common in the US as well. It is apparently used more often in (tread water). * (term) is sometimes used as a past and past participle, especially in the US.
    Derived terms
    * betread * * tread water * untrod * treading on eggshells Use of expression in delicate situations; be nice

    Etymology 2

    From the above verb.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A step.
  • A manner of stepping.
  • * Tennyson
  • She is coming, my own, my sweet; / Were it ever so airy a tread , / My heart would hear her and beat.
  • (obsolete) A way; a track or path.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • The grooves carved into the face of a tire, used to give the tire traction.
  • The grooves on the bottom of a shoe or other footwear, used to give grip or traction.
  • The horizontal part of a step in a flight of stairs.
  • The sound made when someone or something is walking.
  • * 1886 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde)
  • The steps fell lightly and oddly, with a certain swing, for all they went so slowly; it was different indeed from the heavy creaking tread of Henry Jekyll. Utterson sighed. "Is there never anything else?" he asked.
  • * 1896 , (Bret Harte), Barker's Luck and Other Stories
  • But when, after a singularly heavy tread and the jingle of spurs on the platform, the door flew open to the newcomer, he seemed a realization of our worst expectations.
  • (biology) The chalaza of a bird's egg; the treadle.
  • The act of copulation in birds.
  • (fortification) The top of the banquette, on which soldiers stand to fire over the parapet.
  • A bruise or abrasion produced on the foot or ankle of a horse that interferes, or strikes its feet together.
  • Synonyms
    * (horizontal part of a step) run
    Antonyms
    * (horizontal part of a step) rise, riser
    Derived terms
    *

    See also

    * (wikipedia)

    Anagrams

    *

    References

    lumber

    English

    (wikipedia lumber)

    Noun

    (-)
  • (uncountable) Wood intended as a building material.
  • * 1782, H. de Crèvecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer
  • Here they live by fishing on the most plentiful coasts in the world; there they fell trees, by the sides of large rivers, for masts and lumber ;
  • Useless things that are stored away
  • * 1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
  • The bookful blockhead ignorantly read, / With loads of learned lumber in his head,
  • A pawnbroker's shop, or room for storing articles put in pawn; hence, a pledge, or pawn.
  • * Lady Murray
  • They put all the little plate they had in the lumber , which is pawning it, till the ships came.

    Synonyms

    * timber * wood

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to move clumsily
  • * 1816, Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary
  • ...he was only apprized of the arrival of the Monkbarns division by the gee-hupping of the postilion, as the post-chaise lumbered up behind him.
  • to load down with things, to fill, to encumber
  • * 1822, Sir Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak
  • The mean utensils, pewter measures, empty cans and casks, with which this room was lumbered , proclaimed it that of the host, who slept surrounded by his professional implements of hospitality and stock-in-trade.
  • To heap together in disorder.
  • * Rymer
  • stuff lumbered together
  • To fill or encumber with lumber.
  • to lumber up a room