treaty

Etymology

which make up the Treaty of Waitangi (sense 2.2), regarded as the founding document of New Zealand. This sheet was the first to be signed by the consul for the British Crown and Māori chiefs at Waitangi on 6 February 1840.]] The noun is derived from Middle English trete, trety (“bargaining, negotiation; discussion; conference, meeting; entreaty, persuasion; agreement, contract, covenant; arrangement, settlement; agreement between two rulers, states, etc.; written work on a particular subject, treatise; subdivision of a written work, section”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman treté, traité, treaté, and Old French traité, traitié [and other forms] (modern French traité (“agreement between two rulers, states, etc.; treatise”)); traité or traitié is: * a noun use of the past participle of traiter (“to treat; to deal with, handle”), from Latin tractāre, the present active infinitive of tractō (“to drag, haul, tug; to handle, manage; to debate, discuss; to exercise, practise; to perform, transact”), from trahō (“to drag, pull”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ- (“to drag, pull (?)”), a variant of *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)) + -tō (frequentative suffix); and * also from Latin tractātum (“written work on a particular subject, treatise”), from Latin tractātus (“dragged, hauled, tugged; handled, managed; exercised, practised; performed, transacted”), the perfect passive participle of tractō (see above). The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (countable, international law) A formal binding agreement concluded by subjects of international law, namely, states and international organizations; a convention, a pact.
   to sign a peace treaty
   to write up a treaty touching climate change
2. (archaic)
   1. (uncountable) Chiefly in in treaty: discussions or negotiations in order to reach an agreement.
   2. (countable) Chiefly in private treaty: an agreement or settlement reached following negotiations; a compact, a contract, a covenant.
3. (obsolete)
   1. (uncountable) The manner or process of treating someone or something; treatment; also, the manner in which someone or something acts or behaves; behaviour.
   2. (uncountable) The addressing or consideration of a subject; discussion, treatment.
   3. (countable) A formal, systematic discourse on some subject; a treatise.
   4. (countable) An act of beseeeching or entreating; an entreaty, a plea, a request.

verb

1. (transitive) To get into (a specific situation) through a treaty.
2. (intransitive) To enter into a treaty.