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Exact historical dictionary sense

Treat in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels treat as verb. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913verb
Treat

[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.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordtreat
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[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.]
Selected historical definitionTo handle; to manage; to use; to bear one's self toward; as, to treat prisoners cruelly; to treat children kindly.
Signed record IDwebster1913-treat-verb-bf912735c634
Source locatorCIDE.T, paragraph 8770; Gutenberg eBook 669
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 669Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "treat" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[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.]" The selected historical definition says: "To handle; to manage; to use; to bear one's self toward; as, to treat prisoners cruelly; to treat children kindly."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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