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tread the boards

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tread the boards

to act in the theatre So you're treading the boards these days, Emma. Earning any money?

See also: board, tread

tread the boards

Act on the stage, as in Her main ambition was to tread the boards in a big city. This idiom uses boards in the sense of "a theatrical stage," a usage dating from the mid-1700s. It dates from the mid-1800s but was preceded by the idiom tread the stage, first recorded in 1691.

See also: board, tread

tread the boards

To act on the stage: "We who tread the boards are not the only players of parts in this world" (John Fowles).

See also: board, tread