trench

Definitions

1. 1.(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. Shak.
2. 2.To cut furrows or ditches in; as, to trench land for the purpose of draining it.
3. 3.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.
4. 4.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.
5. 5.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, trenching at a town By slow and silent, but resistless, sap. Young.
6. 6.A long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch; as, a trench for draining land. Mortimer.
7. 7.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.
8. 8.(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.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "trench" mean?
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Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is trench.

• What is 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. Shak called?
• What is to cut furrows or ditches in; as, to trench land for the purpose of draining it called?
• What is 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 called?
• What is 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 called?
• What is a long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch; as, a trench for draining land. Mortimer called?
• What is 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 called?