• tread behind

A doubling; an endeavor to escape by doubling. "His tricks and tracks and tread - behinds." Naylor: Reynard the Fox , p. 20. tread-softly, s. Bot.: Cnidoscolus stimulans ; a euphorbiaceous plant growing in the Southern States of America. It has palmately-lobed leaves, with spreading hairs, which, when trodden upon by the bare feet of the negroes, sting them severely; hence the English name.