treat (treats plural & 3rd person present) (treating present participle) (treated past tense & past participle )
1 verb 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... V n with n
Police say they're treating it as a case of attempted murder... V n as/like n
She adored Paddy but he didn't treat her well... V n adv
2 verb 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... V n with n
The boy was treated for a minor head wound... V n for n
An experienced nurse treats all minor injuries. V n
3 verb If something is treatedwith 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... be V-ed with n
It was many years before the city began to treat its sewage. V n
4 verb 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... V n to n
Tomorrow I'll treat myself to a day's gardening... V pron-refl to n
If you want to treat yourself, the Malta Hilton offers high international standards. V pron-refl, Also V n
5 n-count 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.
6 n-sing If you say that something is your treat, you mean that you are paying for it as a treat for someone else.
SPOKEN 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
a treat phrase PHR after v
The first part of the plan works a treat...
8 →
to treat someone like dirt →
dirt
ill-treat (ill-treats 3rd person present) (ill-treating present participle) (ill-treated past tense & past participle )If someone ill-treats you, they treat you badly or cruelly. verb
(=mistreat, abuse)
They thought Mr Smith had been ill-treating his wife... V n
trick or treat
Trick or treat is an activity in which children knock on the doors of houses at Halloween and shout `trick or treat'. If the person who answers the door does not give the children a treat, such as sweets or candy, they play a trick on him or her. n-uncount
