Wiktionary

trench

See also: Trench

English

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A British trench during World War I.

Etymology

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Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenche. Doublet of tranche and traunch.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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trench (plural trenches)

  1. A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.
    The trenches for installing the underground cables were dug with a trencher.
  2. (military) A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.
    The soldiers in the trenches rely on logistical support.
  3. (archaeology) A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.
  4. (informal) A trench coat.
    • 1999, April 24, Xiphias Gladius <ian@schultz.io.com>, "Re: trenchcoat mafia", ne.general.selected, Usenet:
      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.
    • 2007, Nina Garcia, The Little Black Book of Style, HarperCollins, as excerpted in Elle, October, page 138:
      A classic trench can work in any kind of weather and goes well with almost anything.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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trench (third-person singular simple present trenches, present participle trenching, simple past and past participle trenched)

  1. (usually followed by upon) To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.
    • 1640, Ben Jonson, Underwoods, page 68:
      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.
    • 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
      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?
    • 1949, Charles Austin Beard, American Government and Politics, page 16:
      He could make what laws he pleased, as long as those laws did not trench upon property rights.
    • 2005, Carl von Clausewitz, J. J. Graham, On War, page 261:
      [O]ur ideas, therefore, must trench upon the province of tactics.
  2. (military, infantry) To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.
  3. (archaeology) To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.
  4. To have direction; to aim or tend.
  5. To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.
  6. To cut furrows or ditches in.
    to trench land for the purpose of draining it
  7. 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
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French

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Etymology

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From English.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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trench m (plural trenchs)

  1. trench coat

Italian

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Etymology

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From English trench coat.

Noun

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trench m (invariable)

  1. trench coat

Middle English

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Noun

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trench

  1. Alternative form of trenche
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