Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Trench
Trench
,Verb.
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.
The wide wound that the boar had
In his soft flank.
trenched
In his soft flank.
Shakespeare
This weak impress of love is as a figure
Dissolves to water, and doth lose its form.
Trenched
in ice, which with an hour’s heatDissolves to water, and doth lose its form.
Shakespeare
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.
No more shall
trenching
war channel her fields. Shakespeare
3.
To cut furrows or ditches in;
as, to
. trench
land for the purpose of draining it4.
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 cropsTrench
,Verb.
I.
1.
To encroach; to intrench.
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.
2.
To have direction; to aim or tend.
[R.]
Bacon.
To trench at
, to make trenches against; to approach by trenches, as a town in besieging it.
[Obs.]
Like powerful armies,
By slow and silent, but resistless, sap.
trenching at
a townBy slow and silent, but resistless, sap.
Young.
1.
A long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch;
as, a
. trench
for draining landMortimer.
2.
An alley; a narrow path or walk cut through woods, shrubbery, or the like.
[Obs.]
In a
trench
, forth in the park, goeth she. Chaucer.
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.
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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Trench
TRENCH
, v.t.1.
To cut or dig, as a ditch, a channel for water, or a long hollow in the earth. We trench land for draining. [This is the appropriate sense of the word.]2.
To fortify by cutting a ditch and raising a rampart or breast-work of earth thrown out of the ditch. [In this sense, entrench is more generally used.]3.
To furrow; to form with deep furrows by plowing.4.
To cut a long gash. [Not in use.]TRENCH
,Verb.
I.
TRENCH
,Noun.
1.
In fortification, a deep ditch cut for defense, or to interrupt the approach of an enemy. The wall or breast-work formed by the earth thrown out of the ditch, is also called a trench, as also any raised work formed with bavins, gabions, wool-packs or other solid materials, Hence, the phrases, to mount the trenches, to guard the trenches, to clear the trenches, &c.open the trenches, to begin to dig, or to form the lines of approach.