Trench

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Trench \Trench\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Trenched}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Trenching}.] [OF. trenchier to cut, F. trancher; akin to Pr.
     trencar, trenchar, Sp. trinchar, It. trinciare; of uncertain
     origin.]
     1. To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision,
        hewing, or the like.


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              The wide wound that the boar had trenched
              In his soft flank.                    --Shak.
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              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. --Shak.
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     2. (Fort.) To fortify by cutting a ditch, and raising a
        rampart or breastwork with the earth thrown out of the
        ditch; to intrench. --Pope.
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              No more shall trenching war channel her fields.
                                                    --Shak.
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     3. To cut furrows or ditches in; as, to trench land for the
        purpose of draining it.
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     4. To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging
        parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each
        from the next; as, to trench a garden for certain crops.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Trench \Trench\, n. [OE. trenche, F. tranch['e]e. See {Trench},
     v. t.]
     1. A long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch; as, a trench for
        draining land. --Mortimer.
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     2. An alley; a narrow path or walk cut through woods,
        shrubbery, or the like. [Obs.]
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              In a trench, forth in the park, goeth she.
                                                    --Chaucer.
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     3. (Fort.) An excavation made during a siege, for the purpose
        of covering the troops as they advance toward the besieged
        place. The term includes the parallels and the approaches.
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     {To open the trenches} (Mil.), to begin to dig or to form the
        lines of approach.
  
     {Trench cavalier} (Fort.), an elevation constructed (by a
        besieger) of gabions, fascines, earth, and the like, about
        half way up the glacis, in order to discover and enfilade
        the covered way.
  
     {Trench plow}, or {Trench plough}, a kind of plow for opening
        land to a greater depth than that of common furrows.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Trench \Trench\, v. i.
     1. To encroach; to intrench.
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              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? --I. Taylor.
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     2. To have direction; to aim or tend. [R.] --Bacon.
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     {To trench at}, to make trenches against; to approach by
        trenches, as a town in besieging it. [Obs.]
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              Like powerful armies, trenching at a town
              By slow and silent, but resistless, sap. --Young.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  trench
       n 1: a ditch dug as a fortification having a parapet of the
            excavated earth
       2: a long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor [syn: {deep},
           {oceanic abyss}]
       3: any long ditch cut in the ground
       v 1: impinge or infringe upon; "This impinges on my rights as an
            individual"; "This matter entrenches on other domains"
            [syn: {impinge}, {encroach}, {entrench}]
       2: fortify by surrounding with trenches; "He trenched his
          military camp"
       3: cut or carve deeply into; "letters trenched into the stone"
       4: set, plant, or bury in a trench; "trench the fallen
          soldiers"; "trench the vegetables"
       5: cut a trench in, as for drainage; "ditch the land to drain
          it"; "trench the fields" [syn: {ditch}]
       6: dig a trench or trenches; "The National Guardsmen were sent
          out to trench"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  260 Moby Thesaurus words for "trench":
     Bassalia, abri, abysm, abyss, abyssal zone, adit, air-raid shelter,
     approach, approach trench, aqueduct, arroyo, barge in,
     bathyal zone, benthos, bomb shelter, bombproof, bore, bottom,
     bottom glade, bottom waters, bottomless depths, bottoms,
     box canyon, breach, break, break in, break in upon, bunker, burrow,
     burst in, butt in, canal, canalization, canalize, canyon, carve,
     cave, cavity, chamfer, channel, channelize, chap, charge in, chasm,
     check, chimney, chink, chisel, cleave, cleft, cleuch, clough, col,
     concealment, conduct, conduit, convey, corrugate, coulee, couloir,
     countermine, coupure, course, cover, covert, coverture, crack,
     cranny, crash, crash in, crash the gates, creep in, crevasse,
     crevice, crimp, crowd in, cut, cut apart, cut in, cwm,
     cyclone cellar, dado, dale, defile, dell, delve, dig, dig out,
     dike, dingle, ditch, donga, double sap, drain, draw, dredge, drill,
     drive, duct, dugout, earth, edge in, egress, elbow in, encroach,
     engrave, entrance, entrench, entrenchment, excavate, excavation,
     exit, fallout shelter, fault, fire trench, fissure, flaw, flume,
     flute, flying sap, foist in, fortified tunnel, fosse, foxhole,
     fracture, funk hole, funnel, furrow, gallery, gap, gape, gash,
     gill, glen, goffer, gorge, gouge, gouge out, groove, ground, grove,
     grub, gulch, gulf, gully, gutter, ha-ha, hole, horn in, impinge,
     impose, impose on, impose upon, incise, incision, infiltrate,
     infringe, ingress, inner space, insinuate, interfere, interlope,
     interpose, intervale, intervene, intrude, invade, irrupt, joint,
     kennel, kloof, leak, lower, lunar rill, mine, moat, notch, nullah,
     obtrude, ocean bottom, ocean depths, ocean floor, open, opening,
     parallel, pass, passage, passageway, pelagic zone, pipe, pleat,
     plow, press in, push in, put on, put through, put upon, quarry,
     rabbet, ravine, rent, rifle, rift, rime, rive, rupture, rush in,
     rut, safety zone, sap, scissure, scoop, scoop out, score, scrabble,
     scrape, scratch, seam, shelter, shovel, sink, siphon, slink in,
     slip in, slit, slit trench, slot, smash in, sneak in, spade, split,
     squeeze in, steal in, storm cave, storm cellar, storm in, strath,
     streak, striate, sunk fence, the deep, the deep sea, the deeps,
     the depths, throng in, thrust in, trespass, trough, troughing,
     troughway, tunnel, vale, valley, verge, void, wadi, way, work in,
     worm in, wrinkle