treadle
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.
to work a treadle.
Origin of treadle
1Other words from treadle
- tread·ler [tred-ler], /ˈtrɛd lər/, noun
Words Nearby treadle
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use treadle in a sentence
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 2, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTA little black girl sat on the floor, and with her hands worked the treadle of the machine.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinBent low over the machine, he seems absorbed in the work, his hands deftly manipulating the shuttle, his foot on the treadle.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander BerkmanThe wheel propelled by the treadle of the sewing machine will make a good drive wheel.
The Boy Mechanic, Book 2 | VariousYou stood before this and turned a large wheel at the left to start it, after which you kept it going with one foot on a treadle.
The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson
All that is necessary is to leave an extension to the arm or heel of the treadle to catch over the jaw of the trap.
Fifty Years a Hunter and Trapper | Eldred Nathaniel Woodcock
British Dictionary definitions for treadle
/ (ˈtrɛdəl) /
a rocking lever operated by the foot to drive a machine
(as modifier): a treadle sewing machine
to work (a machine) with a treadle
Origin of treadle
1Derived forms of treadle
- treadler, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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