retread

English

Etymology 1

re- +‎ tread (“grooves carved into the face of a tire”, noun)

Pronunciation

• (verb) enPR: rē-trĕdʹ, IPA^(key): /ɹiːˈtɹɛd/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (noun) enPR: rēʹtrĕd, IPA^(key): /ˈɹiː.tɹɛd/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛd

Verb

retread (third-person singular simple present retreads, present participle retreading, simple past and past participle retreaded)

1. To replace the traction-providing surface of a vehicle that employs tires, tracks or treads.
2. (chiefly UK) To renew the tread of a tyre, providing a cheaper alternative to buying a new tyre, but potentially introducing a risk of premature failure if performed improperly.
   • 1993 June, Presidency of Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, “1.12.13.6.3 Visual and Microscopic Examinations”, in McDonnell-Douglas DC-8-61, C-GMXQ, accident at King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 11 July 1991‎, archived from the original on 14 May 2022:

     There was no evidence to suggest that the fact that both tyres had been retreaded 3 times was a factor in the failure occurrence. This type of aircraft tyre (Type VII) is routinely retreaded 6 times or more before being taken out of service.

Synonyms

• (tyre retread): recap (US)

Translations

Noun

retread (plural retreads)

1. A used tire whose surface, the tread, has been replaced to extend its life and use.
2. (military, slang) A person who re-entered military service in World War II after serving in World War I.
   • 1950, Air Force Association, United States Army, Air Force Magazine:

     In Our War the Retreads usually slinked in over-aged, over-weight and overcautious in the face of a new generation.

   • 1971, Brian Garfield, The thousand-mile war: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians:

     They were retreads and recruits under a small cadre of Regular Army officers and noncoms.

   • 1976, James Jones, Art Weithas, WW II: a chronicle of soldiering:

     We retreads upset everybody.

   • 2006, Keith E Bonn, When the Odds Were Even:

     As with the 100th Division, many of the replacements joining the 103d were "retreads" from the technical services or antiaircraft and aviation troops...

Translations

Etymology 2

re- +‎ tread (verb)

Alternative forms

• re-tread

Pronunciation

• enPR: rē-trĕdʹ, IPA^(key): /ɹiːˈtɹɛd/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛd

Verb

retread (third-person singular simple present retreads, present participle retreading, simple past retrod, past participle retrodden)

1. (transitive) To tread again, to walk along again, to follow a path again.
   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein:

     As a child I had not been content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural science. With a confusion of ideas only to be accounted for by my extreme youth and my want of a guide on such matters, I had retrod the steps of knowledge along the paths of time and exchanged the discoveries of recent inquirers for the dreams of forgotten alchemists. Besides, I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy.

Noun

retread (plural retreads)

1. (sometimes figurative) A return over ground previously covered; a retraversal or repetition.
   • 1998, Frank Rich, Hot seat: theater criticism for the New York times, 1980–1993:

     But The West Side Waltz is otherwise a tedious retread of Mr. Thompson's previous effort, On Golden Pond.

   • 2022 May 21, Peter Bradshaw, “Triangle of Sadness review – heavy-handed satire on the super-rich loses its shape”, in The Guardian‎:

     It uses a howitzer to shoot drugged fish in a barrel, inserts flabby lite-surrealism where the comedy might otherwise go and the plot turns out to be a retread of JM Barrie’s stage-play The Admirable Crichton.

Anagrams

• rerated, retrade, treader