Treadmill
['tredmɪl] or ['trɛdmɪl]
Definition
(noun.) a job involving drudgery and confinement.
(noun.) a mill that is powered by men or animals walking on a circular belt or climbing steps.
(noun.) an exercise device consisting of an endless belt on which a person can walk or jog without changing place.
Edited by Elsie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A mill worked by persons treading upon steps on the periphery of a wide wheel having a horizontal axis. It is used principally as a means of prison discipline. Also, a mill worked by horses, dogs, etc., treading an endless belt.
Edited by Flo
Examples
- Was it right, even to soothe his grief--would it be possible, even if she promised--to work as in a treadmill fruitlessly? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- We might as well be in a treadmill. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- We trudge in the treadmill and call it love of our ancient institutions. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Cheered by this prospect, the precocious boy applied himself to his infantile treadmill, with increased vigour. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
Checked by Bernie