Etymology From re- + tread (“grooves carved into the face of a tire”, noun).
1
To replace the traction-providing surface of a vehicle that employs tires, tracks or treads.
2
UK To renew the tread of a tyre, providing a cheaper alternative to buying a new tyre, but potentially introducing a risk of premature failure if performed improperly.
There was no evidence to suggest that the fact that both tyres had been retreaded 3 times was a factor in the failure occurrence. This type of aircraft tyre (Type VII) is routinely retreaded 6 times or more before being taken out of service.1993 June, Presidency of Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, “1.12.13.6.3 Visual and Microscopic Examinations”, in McDonnell-Douglas DC-8-61, C-GMXQ, accident at King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 11 July 1991, archived from the original on 14 May 2022:
In Our War the Retreads usually slinked in over-aged, over-weight and overcautious in the face of a new generation.1950, Air Force Association, United States Army, Air Force Magazine:
They were retreads and recruits under a small cadre of Regular Army officers and noncoms.1971, Brian Garfield, The thousand-mile war: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians:
2 more examples
We retreads upset everybody.1976, James Jones, Art Weithas, WW II: a chronicle of soldiering:
As with the 100th Division, many of the replacements joining the 103d were "retreads" from the technical services or antiaircraft and aviation troops...2006, Keith E Bonn, When the Odds Were Even:
retread
verb
Etymology From re- + tread (verb).
1
To tread again, to walk along again, to follow a path again.
As a child I had not been content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural science. With a confusion of ideas only to be accounted for by my extreme youth and my want of a guide on such matters, I had retrod the steps of knowledge along the paths of time and exchanged the discoveries of recent inquirers for the dreams of forgotten alchemists. Besides, I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy.1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein:
retread
noun
Etymology From re- + tread (verb).
1
Figuratively, Sometimes A return over ground previously covered; a retraversal or repetition.
But The West Side Waltz is otherwise a tedious retread of Mr. Thompson's previous effort, On Golden Pond.1998, Frank Rich, Hot seat: theater criticism for the New York times, 1980–1993:
It uses a howitzer to shoot drugged fish in a barrel, inserts flabby lite-surrealism where the comedy might otherwise go and the plot turns out to be a retread of JM Barrie’s stage-play The Admirable Crichton.2022 May 21, Peter Bradshaw, “Triangle of Sadness review – heavy-handed satire on the super-rich loses its shape”, in The Guardian: