Adjacent Words

Treat definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TREAT, v.t. [L. tracto.]
1. To handle; to manage; to use. Subjects are usually faithful or treacherous, according as they are well or ill treated. To treat prisoners ill, is the characteristic of barbarians. Let the wife of your bosom be kindly treated.
2. To handle in a particular manner, in writing or speaking; as, to treat a subject diffusely.
3. To entertain without expense to the guest.
4. To negotiate; to settle; as, to treat a peace. [Not in use.]
5. To manage in the application of remedies; as, to treat a disease or a patient.
TREAT, v.i. To discourse; to handle in writing or speaking; to make discussion. Cicero treats of the nature of the gods; he treats of old age and of duties.
1. To come to terms of accommodation.
Inform us, will the emp'ror treat?
2. To make gratuitous entertainment. It is sometimes the custom of military officers to treat when first elected.
To treat with, to negotiate; to make and receive proposals for adjusting differences. Envoys were appointed to treat with France, but without success.
TREAT, n. An entertainment given; as a parting treat.
1. Something given for entertainment; as a rich treat.
2. Emphatically, a rich entertainment.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: something considered choice to eat [syn: dainty, delicacy, goody, kickshaw, treat]
2: an occurrence that causes special pleasure or delight v
1: interact in a certain way; "Do right by her"; "Treat him with caution, please"; "Handle the press reporters gently" [syn: treat, handle, do by]
2: subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition; "process cheese"; "process hair"; "treat the water so it can be drunk"; "treat the lawn with chemicals" ; "treat an oil spill" [syn: process, treat]
3: provide treatment for; "The doctor treated my broken leg"; "The nurses cared for the bomb victims"; "The patient must be treated right away or she will die"; "Treat the infection with antibiotics" [syn: treat, care for]
4: act on verbally or in some form of artistic expression; "This book deals with incest"; "The course covered all of Western Civilization"; "The new book treats the history of China" [syn: cover, treat, handle, plow, deal, address]
5: provide with a gift or entertainment; "Grandmother always treated us to the circus"; "I like to treat myself to a day at a spa when I am depressed"
6: provide with choice or abundant food or drink; "Don't worry about the expensive wine--I'm treating"; "She treated her houseguests with good food every night" [syn: regale, treat]
7: engage in negotiations in order to reach an agreement; "they had to treat with the King"
8: regard or consider in a specific way; "I treated his advances as a joke"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: Middle English treten, from Anglo-French treter, traiter, traitier, from Latin tractare to drag about, handle, deal with, frequentative of trahere to drag, pull Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. to discuss terms of accommodation or settlement ; negotiate 2. to deal with a matter especially in writing ; discourse — usually used with of <a book treating of conservation> 3. to pay another's expenses (as for a meal or drink) especially as a compliment or as an expression of regard or friendship transitive verb 1. a. to deal with in speech or writing ; expound b. to present or represent artistically c. to deal with ; handle <food is plentiful and treated with imagination — Cecil Beaton> 2. a. to bear oneself toward ; use <treat a horse cruelly> b. to regard and deal with in a specified manner — usually used with as <treat the matter as confidential> 3. a. to provide with free food, drink, or entertainment <they treated us to lunch> b. to provide with enjoyment or gratification 4. to care for or deal with medically or surgically <treat a disease> 5. to act upon with some agent especially to improve or alter <treat a metal with acid> • treater noun II. noun Date: 1651 1. a. an entertainment given without expense to those invited b. the act of providing another with free food, drink, or entertainment <dinner will be my treat> 2. an especially unexpected source of joy, delight, or amusement <seeing her again was a treat>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. act or behave towards or deal with (a person or thing) in a certain way (treated me kindly; treat it as a joke). 2 tr. deal with or apply a process to; act upon to obtain a particular result (treat it with acid). 3 tr. apply medical care or attention to. 4 tr. present or deal with (a subject) in literature or art. 5 tr. (often foll. by to) provide with food or drink or entertainment at one's own expense (treated us to dinner). 6 intr. (often foll. by with) negotiate terms (with a person). 7 intr. (often foll. by of) give a spoken or written exposition. --n. 1 an event or circumstance (esp. when unexpected or unusual) that gives great pleasure. 2 a meal, entertainment, etc., provided by one person for the enjoyment of another or others. 3 (prec. by a) extremely good or well (they looked a treat; has come on a treat). Derivatives: treatable adj. treater n. treating n. Etymology: ME f. AF treter, OF traitier f. L tractare handle, frequent. of trahere tract- draw, pull

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Treat Treat, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Treated; p. pr. & vb. n. Treating.] [OE. treten, OF. traitier, F. traiter, from L. tractare to draw violently, to handle, manage, treat, v. intens. from trahere, tractum, to draw. See Trace, v. t., and cf. Entreat, Retreat, Trait.] 1. To handle; to manage; to use; to bear one's self toward; as, to treat prisoners cruelly; to treat children kindly. 2. To discourse on; to handle in a particular manner, in writing or speaking; as, to treat a subject diffusely. 3. To entertain with food or drink, especially the latter, as a compliment, or as an expression of friendship or regard; as, to treat the whole company. 4. To negotiate; to settle; to make terms for. [Obs.] To treat the peace, a hundred senators Shall be commissioned. --Dryden. 5. (Med.) To care for medicinally or surgically; to manage in the use of remedies or appliances; as, to treat a disease, a wound, or a patient. 6. To subject to some action; to apply something to; as, to treat a substance with sulphuric acid. --Ure. 7. To entreat; to beseech. [Obs.] --Ld. Berners.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Treat Treat, v. i. 1. To discourse; to handle a subject in writing or speaking; to make discussion; -- usually with of; as, Cicero treats of old age and of duties. And, shortly of this story for to treat. --Chaucer. Now of love they treat. --Milton. 2. To negotiate; to come to terms of accommodation; -- often followed by with; as, envoys were appointed to treat with France. Inform us, will the emperor treat! --Swift. 3. To give a gratuitous entertainment, esp. of food or drink, as a compliment.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Treat Treat, n. 1. A parley; a conference. [Obs.] Bid him battle without further treat. --Spenser. 2. An entertainment given as an expression of regard. 3. That which affords entertainment; a gratification; a satisfaction; as, the concert was a rich treat.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(treats, treating, treated) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you treat someone or something in a particular way, you behave towards them or deal with them in that way. Artie treated most women with indifference... Police say they're treating it as a case of attempted murder... She adored Paddy but he didn't treat her well... VERB: V n with n, V n as/like n, V n adv 2. When a doctor or nurse treats a patient or an illness, he or she tries to make the patient well again. Doctors treated her with aspirin... The boy was treated for a minor head wound... An experienced nurse treats all minor injuries. VERB: V n with n, V n for n, V n 3. If something is treated with a particular substance, the substance is put onto or into it in order to clean it, to protect it, or to give it special properties. About 70% of the cocoa acreage is treated with insecticide... It was many years before the city began to treat its sewage. VERB: be V-ed with n, V n 4. If you treat someone to something special which they will enjoy, you buy it or arrange it for them. She was always treating him to ice cream... Tomorrow I'll treat myself to a day's gardening... If you want to treat yourself, the Malta Hilton offers high international standards. VERB: V n to n, V pron-refl to n, V pron-refl, also V n 5. If you give someone a treat, you buy or arrange something special for them which they will enjoy. Lettie had never yet failed to return from town without some special treat for him. N-COUNT 6. If you say that something is your treat, you mean that you are paying for it as a treat for someone else. (SPOKEN) N-SING: poss N 7. If you say, for example, that something looks or works a treat, you mean that it looks very good or works very well. (BRIT INFORMAL) The first part of the plan works a treat... PHRASE: PHR after v 8. to treat someone like dirt: see dirt

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Use, behave to, behave toward, deal with, deal by. 2. Entertain, feast. 3. Handle, manage. 4. Discourse on, treat of, handle, discuss. II. v. n. 1. Negotiate, bargain, come to terms, make terms. 2. Discourse. III. n. 1. Entertainment, feast, banquet. 2. Pleasure, entertainment, luxury, delight, refreshment, enjoyment, gratification.

Moby Thesaurus

act on, act toward, act upon, affect, air, ambrosia, analyze, arrange, attend, bandage, banquet, bathe, behave toward, blow to, board, bonne bouche, bonus, boon, canvass, care for, cate, celebration, choice morsel, clear for action, clear the decks, comment upon, concentrate on, consider, contend with, controvert, cope with, criticize, critique, cure, dainty, deal by, deal with, debate, deliberate, deliberate upon, delicacy, deploy, descant, dessert, diagnose, discourse, discourse about, discuss, dissert, dissertate, do by, do with, doctor, dress, entertain, entertainment, examine, exchange views, explore, favor, feast, feed, festivity, fix, fix up, flux, focus on, freebie, get ready, gift, give care to, go into, go treat, goody, handle, heal, influence, inquire into, intern, investigate, joyance, jubilation, kickshaw, knock around, look after, mad round, maintain, maintenance, make arrangements, make preparations, make ready, manage, manna, marshal, massage, meal, meat, medicate, merrymaking, mess, minister to, mobilize, morsel, nectar, nurse, operate on, pass under review, pay for, pay the bill, paying the bills, physic, plan, plaster, poultice, prearrange, premium, prep, prepare, prescribe, prescribe for, present, pretreat, probe, process, provide, purge, put in shape, rap, ready, ready up, reason, reason about, reason the point, refection, refreshment, regale, regalement, remark upon, remedy, repas, repast, respond to, revel, revelment, revelry, review, round of pleasures, rub, savory, scrutinize, set up, settle preliminaries, sift, splint, spread, stand drinks, stand to, stand treat, standing treat, steward, strap, study, subsidize, subsidy, support, survey, table, take out, take up, talk, talk about, talk of, talk over, tan, thresh out, tidbit, titbit, touch on, touch upon, treat of, treat to, trim, try out, use, ventilate, wine and dine, work on, write up