trench

English

Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenche.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɹɛntʃ/, /tɹɛnʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɛntʃ

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

trench (plural trenches)

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

   • Ditch definition

     A trench; a long, shallow indentation, as for irrigation or drainage. (1 of 2 ditch definitions)

   • Hole definition

     A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure. (1 of 21 hole definitions)
2. (military) A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.

   • Military definition

     Characteristic of members of the armed forces. (1 of 4 military definitions)

   • Excavation definition

     The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass. (1 of 6 excavation definitions)

   • Warfare definition

     The waging of war or armed conflict against an enemy. (1 of 2 warfare definitions)

   • Besieging definition

     present participle of besiege

   • Emplaced definition

     simple past tense and past participle of emplace
3. (archaeology) A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.

   • Archaeology definition

     The study of the past by excavation and analysis of its material remains:

     1. the actual excavation, examination, analysis and interpretation. (1 of 4 archaeology definitions)

   • Pit definition

     A hole in the ground. (1 of 22 pit definitions)

   • Rectangular definition

     Having a shape like a rectangle. (1 of 2 rectangular definitions)

   • Excavate definition

     To make a hole in (something); to hollow. (1 of 3 excavate definitions)
4. (informal) A trench coat.
   • 1999, April 24, Xiphias Gladius , "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.

   • Trench Coat definition

     A military-style raincoat with a belt and deep pockets and often epaulettes.

Derived terms

Related terms

• tranche

Translations

Verb

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 2619891:

     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.

   • Upon definition

     Physically above and in contact with. (1 of 5 upon definitions)

   • Invade definition

     To move into. (1 of 5 invade definitions)

   • Right definition

     Straight, not bent. (1 of 13 right definitions)

   • Exclusive definition

     Excluding items or members that do not meet certain conditions. (1 of 6 exclusive definitions)

   • Authority definition

     Power or right to make or enforce rules or give orders; or a position having such power or right. (1 of 6 authority definitions)

   • Encroach definition

     to seize, appropriate (1 of 3 encroach definitions)
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.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:

     No more shall trenching war channel her fields.

   • 1715–1720, Homer; [Alexander] Pope, transl., “(please specify the book of the Iliad or chapter quoted from)”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], OCLC 670734254:

     Advanc'd upon the field there stood a mound
     Of earth congested, wall'd , and trench'd around

   • Elongate definition

     To make long or longer by pulling and stretching; to make elongated. (1 of 4 elongate definitions)

   • Perpendicular definition

     at or forming a right angle (to something). (1 of 3 perpendicular definitions)

   • Line Of Sight definition

     A straight line along which an observer has a clear view. (1 of 2 line of sight definitions)
3. (archaeology) To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.
4. To have direction; to aim or tend.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Judicature”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, OCLC 863521290:

     the reason and consequence thereof may trench to point of estate

5. To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.
   • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], OCLC 837166078; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], 4th edition, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, OCLC 19803734:

     The wide wound that the boar had trenched / In his soft flank.

   • c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

     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.

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

French

Etymology

From English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁɛntʃ/

Noun

trench m (plural trenchs)

1. trench coat

Italian

Etymology

From English trench coat.

Noun

trench m (invariable)

1. trench coat

Middle English

Noun

trench

1. Alternative form of trenche

   • Trenche definition

     a path or way through a forest. (1 of 4 trenche definitions)