trench

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.

   • The trenches for installing the underground cables were dug with a trencher.
   • The milling action of the bucket line enables the trencher to cut through difficult materials, such as stone rubble and brick filling, and to leave a good trench with clean side walls.
   • Figure 114 shows how pegs driven into the bottom of a foundation trench to establish a horizontal level for the concreter to work to, can be levelled with a boning rod held upright on the pages at either end of the trench.
2. 2

   A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.

   • The soldiers in the trenches rely on logistical support.
   • Following in the tank's wake, the cameliers reached the first line of Turkish trenches, where they confronted a handful of Ottoman soldiers too wounded to retreat.
3. 3

   A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an…

   A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.

4. ›+ 10 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A trench coat.

      • I was the first person in my high school to wear a trench and fedora constantly, and Ben was one of the first to wear a black trench.
      • A classic trench can work in any kind of weather and goes well with almost anything.
   2. 5

      To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another

      To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.

      • Shee is the Judge, Thou Executioner, Or if thou needs would'st trench upon her power, Thou mightst have yet enjoy'd thy crueltie, With some more thrift, and more varietie.
      • Does it not seem as if for a creature to challenge to itself a boundless attribute, were to trench upon the prerogative of the divine nature?
      • He could make what laws he pleased, as long as those laws did not trench upon property rights.
   3. 6

      To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually…

      To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.

      • No more shall trenching war channel her fields.
      • Advanc'd upon the field there stood a mound Of earth congested, wall'd , and trench'd around
   4. 7

      To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.

   5. 8

      To have direction

      To have direction; to aim or tend.

      • the reason and consequence thereof may trench to point of estate
   6. 9

      To cut

      To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.

      • The wide wound that the boar had trenched / In his soft flank.
      • This weak impress of love is as a figure / Trenched in ice, which with an hour's heat Dissolves to water, and doth lose its form.
   7. 10

      To cut furrows or ditches in.

      • to trench land for the purpose of draining it
   8. 11

      To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in…

      To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.

      • to trench a garden for certain crops
   9. 12

      A suburb of Telford, Telford and Wrekin borough, Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SJ6912).

   10. 13

       A habitational surname.

The neighborhood

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• neighbortrenchant