Forms: 4–6 trete, (5 trett, treet, treyte), 5–6 (9 Sc.) tret, 6 Sc. treit, 6–7 treate, (7 trait, trayte), 6– treat. [In branch I, f. TREAT v.; in II. from F. trait, or other derivative of the same stem.]
I. Senses arising ont of TREAT v.
† 1. The action or an act of treating, or discussing terms; parley, negotiation; agreement; treaty.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, X. 125. Schir alexander of Argill … send tretis to þe king, And com his man but tarying. Ibid., XI. 35. [He] tald quhat tretis he had maid, And quhat day he thame [the English] gevyn had.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 248. In þis failen many men in tretes and acordis makynge.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 2222. With-out assaut þe castel were y-ȝolde;… in swyche case longe trete were in veyne.
1448. Paston Lett., I. 75. That comynycasyon and trete schold be had betwyxt hys counsayle and myne.
1529. Registr. Aberdon. (Maitl. Cl.), I. 396. We þe saidis prowest bailȝeis consall and communite riplie auisit … be lang tret conuening togidder.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. viii. 16. [He] Bad that same boaster,… To leave to him that lady for excheat, Or bide him batteill without further treat.
† 2. An entreaty, a beseeching. Obs.
1601. Weever, Mirr. Mart., D iv. The king … Then vowes, prayes, treates; vowes, treates, and prayers vaine, From prayers, treates, and vowes he doth refraine.
1632. Vicars, Æneid, IV. 105. But none of all her treats or bitter teares Remove his thoughts.
a. 1660. Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), II. 133. By word of mouth [he] made faire promises mingled with many treates.
† 3. = TREATMENT 1; an instance of this. Obs.
1671. Butler, Ode to Du.-Val, iii. France … That serves the ruder Northern Nations With Methods of Address and Treat.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., II. iv. (1852), 123. Those harsher and harder treats, which he sometimes had from the frowardness of not a few.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymnotheo, Wks. 1721, III. 286. All … Who had from him receiv’d injurious Treat.
† b. Treatment of guests or visitors; reception, entertainment. Obs.
1689. Andros Tracts, I. 107. After a very unkind Treat, we humbly prayed his Excellency [etc.].
1698. Vanbrugh, Æsop, II. i. I don’t know how I shall return your friendly treat.
c. 1710. Celia Fiennes, Diary (1888), 148. Mr. Wm. Allen … gave me a very civil treate, being an acquaintance of my Brother.
4. concr. An entertainment of food and drink, esp. one given without expense to the recipient; a feast, refection, collation. Obs. or merged in b.
1651. Evelyn, Char. Eng. (1659), 32. They drink their crowned Cups roundly,… daunce after the Fiddle, kiss freely, and tearm it an honourable Treat.
1705. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), V. 536. According to the late acts, no money is to be spent or treats made upon account of elections.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 260. A very handsome table, covered with a cold treat of roasted mutton and beef.
1736. Drake, Eboracum, I. viii. 379. He performed all the exercises and gave the usual treat for the degree of doctor in divinity.
1819. Wordsw., Waggoner, II. 46. Our treat shall be a friendly bowl.
b. Hence, An entertainment of any kind given gratuitously, esp. to children; a pleasure party or the like.
1683. Kennett, trans. Erasm. on Folly, 156. For a concluding Treat you expect a formal epilogue.
1791. Burke, App. Whigs, Wks. VI. 131. The Bastile could inspire no horrours into them. This was a treat for their betters.
1841. Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diamond, ii. I had promised a dozen of them a treat down the river.
1885. L’pool Daily Post, 23 April, 5/2. Vanloads of happy urchins, bent on enjoying their Sunday school treat.
c. The action of treating or entertaining; one’s part or turn to treat; an invitation to eat or drink.
1690. Crowne, Eng. Friar, V. Wks. 1874, IV. 120. The bride is my kinswoman, so the treat to-night is mine, and I invite all this good company.
1888. Lighthall, Yng. Seigneur, 135. ‘Shut up, Potdevin!’ said the only man who understood English, fearful lest the second treat should go astray.
d. To stand treat: to bear the expense of a treat.
1837. Marryat, Dog-fiend, lv. Neither she nor the corporal would stand treat.
1841. Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diamond, ix. We had a very merry party at Vauxhall, Gus insisting on standing treat.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Valerie’s Fate, i. That stingy old thing … would not go into a cake-shop, though I offered to stand treat.
5. Something highly enjoyable; a great pleasure, delight, or gratification. Also rarely applied to a person as an emotional expression of commendation (quot. 1825). colloq.
[1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xix. (ed. 2), 373. Carrion is a treat to dogs, ravens, vultures, fish.]
1805. E. Dayes, Wks., 127. Here the admirer of nature will receive a high treat, from … woods, sinking into deep glens [etc.].
1823. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 385. Her ‘Few Days in Athens’ … has been a treat to me of the highest order.
1825. Lady Granville, Lett. (1894), II. 13. Lord Dudley is a treat, and deserves his cutlets for the admirable despatch he wrote.
1880. McCarthy, Own Times, III. xxx. 4. His speeches were an intellectual treat.
1887–9. T. A. Trollope, What I remember, II. 267. The excursion … was another-guess sort of treat.
1901. Alldridge, Sherbro, xxiii. 237. An open shed-kitchen, so clean that it was quite a treat to look at it.
b. A treat (advb.): so as to gratify highly; extremely well, also (gen. or ironically) extremely, excessively. vulgar colloq.
1899. Daily News, 8 May, 4/2. This air makes yer liver work a fair treat. Ibid. (1910), 24 Dec., 4. I’ve begun with a white-washing job. It pays out my arms a treat.
II. Various obsolete or dialectal senses, not directly from the verb.
† 6. In phr. on (in) treat, (a) ? at full length; in a series; (b) ? continuously, uninterruptedly, at length, at leisure. Obs. [Cf. OF. à trait ‘lentement, posément, a loisir’ (Godef.).]
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3655. The marynerse … Towyne trvsselle one trete, trvssene vpe sailes.
c. 1450. Myrc, Par. Priest, 1174. Hath þy herte be wroth or gret When goddes serues was drawe on tret?
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xxx. 130, For wysely he spekys on trete.
† 7. Med. A plaster or ointment spread on a cloth. Obs. [? Aphetic for ENTRETE, OF. entrait adhesive plaster.]
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 132. Take .iiij. partis of rosyn, & þe .v part of wex, & drawe abrood þat treet on a clooþ, & leie on þe wounde.
a. 1450. Stockh. Med. MS., 87. For to make trete þat ys callyd playster of plombe. Ibid., 111. A tret for iche wound sanatyf.
1483. Cath. Angl., 393/1. Trett, tractura, emplastrum.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 30 b. Wyth a cerote or treat made of waxe.
1639. T. de Gray, Compl. Horsem., 304. This is a most soveraign treate or salve.
† 8. = TREATISE sb. 1, b, c. Obs. [? A curtailed form of tretis, TREATISE, the -is being taken as pl. suffix. But cf. also F. traité treatise.]
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 87. We shhall determyn after by a short trete, of propertez & vertuz of herbes.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 502/2. Trete (H., P. tretye or tretyce, A. tretyng), tractatus.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 307. At the forsaid trist quhar the trete tellis.
c. 1485. Digby Myst., IV. 3. Rede this treyte.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scotland (1821), I. p. liv. To schaw the auld maneris of Scottis … under ane compendius treit.
1548. Gest, Pr. Masse, in H. G. Dugdale, Life (1840), App. 72. Thys matteir … I have chosen … too entreate upon, in respecte ye treate therof is … avaylable and nedeful.
a. 1555. Philpot, Exam. & Writ. (Parker Soc.), 340. Let us proceed unto another treate of Florebell’s.
† 9. = TRACE sb.2 1, 2: chiefly in pl. traces. Obs. rare. [a. F. traits, earlier traiz, trais, whence Eng. trays, TRACE (taken as sing., with pl. traces).]
1611. Cotgr., Traict,… a team-trace, or trait; the cord or chaine that runs betweene the horses, etc.
1613. Markham, Eng. Husbandman, I. I. viii. (1635), 45. The Treates by which the Horses draw, being strong cords made of the best Hempe. Ibid. (1620), Farew. Husb., II. xiii. (1668), 61. To the big end of this harrow you shall fix a strong rope with a swingle-tree with Treats, Coller, and Harness.
[1880. Elworthy, Lett. to Editor. Traces of rope, by which horses drag the plough. Still called traites in Dorsetsh. to distinguish from chain-traces.]
† 10. A feature, lineament: = TRACT sb.3 7; cf. TRAIT 4. Obs.
1721. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc., O’er Bogie, iii. There a’ the beauties do combine Or colour, treats and air.
11. attrib. † Treat net, some kind of fishing net; ? a drag-net (obs.).
1584. in Descr. of Thames (1758), 63. Treat Nets, Peter Nets, must be two Inches large in the Meish.
