Dictionary

treadmill en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈtɹɛd.mɪl/

Etymology

From tread + mill. Its figurative senses refer to the idea that running on a treadmill requires continued effort and motion to remain in the same place.

Meanings

1. A piece of indoor sporting equipment used to allow for the motions of running or walking while staying in one place.
2. (historical) A mill worked by persons treading upon steps on the periphery of a wide wheel having a horizontal axis. It was used principally as a means of prison discipline.
   • Their paternal house of Drummington, Foker could very seldom be got to visit. He swore he had rather go on the treadmill than stay there. 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 40, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
3. A mill worked by horses, dogs, etc., treading an endless belt.
   • Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal. 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
4. (figuratively) A process or situation in which continued effort leads to or is required for remaining at a particular state or level without moving ahead.
   • Elizabeth Schor (1999) has long argued that this status treadmill, even if not universal, has worked to “ratchet” global conceptualizations of need and desire upward over time. 2021 August 12, Paul Roscoe, Cindy Isenhour, Consumption, Status, and Sustainability: Ecological and Anthropological Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN:
   • 1 As a result, people can easily find themselves alternating between various treadmills: the hedonic treadmill of pursuing happiness, the status treadmill requiring conspicuous consumption, and the treadmill of work undertaken to finance one's activity on the other two treadmills. 2018 April 3, Emrys Westacott, The Wisdom of Frugality: Why Less Is More - More or Less, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 205:

Forms

Coordinates

merry-go-round · musical chairs

Deriveds

euphemism treadmill · treadmiller · hedonic treadmill · dreadmill

Relateds

treadwheel

Synonyms

everlasting staircase · mill · stepper

Translations (78)

ms sawat injak (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ka სირბილის ტრენაჟორი (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · nl tredmolen (mill worked by persons) · ja トレッドミル (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ja 踏み車 (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · es andadora (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · sv löpband (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · es cinta de correr (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ko 런닝머신 (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ar جِهَاز الْمَشْي (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · mk нагазно тркало (mill worked by persons) · sv trampkvarn (mill worked by persons) · nl loopband (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · fr tapis roulant (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · da trædemølle (mill worked by persons) · nn tredemølle (mill worked by persons) · is hlaupabretti (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · es máquina de correr (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · fr tapis de marche (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ar مَمْشىً رِيَاضِيٌّ (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · vi máy chạy bộ (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · sk bežecký pás (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · nb tredemølle (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · cs běžecký pás (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · nn tredemølle (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ar مَمْشىً كَهْرَبَائِيٌّ (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · mk подвижна патека (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · tr koşu bandı (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · pl kierat (mill worked by persons) · ru бегу́щая доро́жка (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · nn løpebrett (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · es caminadora (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ar آلَةُ الْْجَرْيِ (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · de Laufband (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ka სარბენი ბილიკი (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · he הֲלִיכוֹן (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · fr roue de carrier (mill worked by persons) · mr पायगिरणी (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · nb løpebrett (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ja ランニングマシン (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · pt esteira ergométrica (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · es cinta ergométrica (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · nn trømylne (mill worked by persons) · ru тредба́н (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · it tapis roulant (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ga meaisín reatha (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · fo renniband (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · da løbebånd (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ar جِهَاز سَيْر (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · uk бігова́ дорі́жка (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ar جِهَاز الْجَرْي (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · fr tapis de course (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ru бегова́я доро́жка (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · fi polkumylly (mill worked by persons) · hu futópad (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ru тредми́л (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · pl młyn (mill worked by persons) · pl bieżnia (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · vo tridamül (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · hu taposómalom (mill worked by persons) · ga muileann coise (mill worked by persons) · es trotadora (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · es máquina de caminar (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · nb tredemølle (mill worked by persons) · cmn 跑步機 /跑步机 (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ar آلَةُ الرَكْضِ (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · sv gångspel (mill worked by persons) · es rueda de correr (mill worked by persons) · ar مَشَّايَة (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · mn гүйлтийн зам (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · pt passadeira (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · de Tretmühle (mill worked by persons) · lt bė́gtakis (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ru тре́дмил (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · ota طولاب (mill worked by persons) · fi juoksumatto (piece of indoor sporting equipment) · vo tridamül (mill worked by persons) · it tappeto (piece of indoor sporting equipment)

treadmill en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈtɹɛd.mɪl/

Etymology

From tread + mill. Its figurative senses refer to the idea that running on a treadmill requires continued effort and motion to remain in the same place.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To exercise on a treadmill.
2. (broadly, figuratively, intransitive) To keep busy, for example, with work or with other tasks, without being able to get ahead or make progress towards long-term goals.
   • Most of us are so busy "earning each day our daily bread" that we have but little "open" time. […] Occasionally one wonders "What's it all for, anyway?" For years he's been treadmilling it, day in and day out, and presently the graying hair at the temples will shock him into the grim reality that he is getting old—and getting little else. 1918, Walter E. Webb, “Add Yourself Up”, in Coast Banker and Pacific Banker and California Banker, page 377:
   • Back we were in the rat race, treadmilling sixty hours a week and sleeping forty, our sex life was like that of most busy cohabiters I suppose: fun, frolicky, and squeezed in haphazardly when we had a minute—or thirty. 2009 July 1, Janna Cawrse Esarey, The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman's Search for the Meaning of Wife, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 127:

Forms

Relateds

Red Queen hypothesis · treadmilling