Etymology From Middle English tramplen, trampelen (“to walk heavily”), equivalent to tramp + -le. Cognate with Saterland Frisian trampelje (“to trample”), Dutch trampelen (“to trample”), German Low German trampeln (“to trample”), German trampeln (“to trample”).
1
To crush something by walking on it.
to trample grass or flowers
Our conquering ſwords ſhal marſhal vs the way UUe vſe to martch vpon the ſlaughtered foe: Trampling their bowels with our horſes hoofes: […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
2 more examples
neither caſt ye your pearles before ſwine: leſt they trample them vnder their feete, […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 7:6:
Everything a living animal could do to destroy and to desecrate bed and walls had been done. […] A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
2
Broadly To treat someone harshly.
3
To walk heavily and destructively.
June 9, 1960, Charles Dickens, All the Year Round […] horses proud of the crimson and yellow shaving-brushes on their heads, and of the sharp tingling bells upon their harness that chime far along the glaring white road along which they trample […]
4
Broadly To cause emotional injury as if by trampling.
to trample on our Maker's laws1782, William Cowper, “Conversation”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC:
Etymology From Middle English tramplen, trampelen (“to walk heavily”), equivalent to tramp + -le. Cognate with Saterland Frisian trampelje (“to trample”), Dutch trampelen (“to trample”), German Low German trampeln (“to trample”), German trampeln (“to trample”).
1
A heavy stepping.
Newly harvested grapes are poured into a vast vat for everyone to have a good trample upon […]2015, Lucy Corne, Josephine Quintero, Lonely Planet Canary Islands: