TRENCH • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Trench

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/trɛntʃ/ Listen

Trench

noun

1.

A ditch dug as a fortification having a parapet of the excavated earth.

2.

A long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor. Synonyms: deep, oceanic abyss.

3.

Any long ditch cut in the ground.

verb

(past & past part. trenched; pres. part. trenching)

1.

Impinge or infringe upon. Synonyms: encroach, entrench, impinge. "This matter entrenches on other domains"

2.

Fortify by surrounding with trenches.

3.

Cut or carve deeply into.

4.

Set, plant, or bury in a trench. "Trench the vegetables"

5.

Cut a trench in, as for drainage. Synonym: ditch. "Trench the fields"

6.

Dig a trench or trenches.

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Etymology of 'Trench'

Related searches:

approach trench

Bougainville Trench

communication trench

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Trench" Quotes from Famous Books

... another,—does you at least good service, in showing how trenchant the separation is between the two orders of artists,[H]—how exclusively we may follow out the history of all the 'goffi nell' arte,' and write our Florentine Dunciad, and Laus Stultitiae, in peace; and never trench upon the thoughts or ways of these proud ones, who showed their fathers' nakedness, and snatched ...

— Ariadne Florentina - Six Lectures on Wood and Metal Engraving • John Ruskin

... men themselves, it does require an effort to make them leave it in the face of danger; but when the enemy is intrenched, it becomes absolutely necessary to permit each brigade and division of the troops immediately opposed to throw up a corresponding trench for their own protection in case of a sudden sally. We invariably did this in all our recent campaigns, and it had no ill effect, though sometimes our troops were a little too slow in leaving their well-covered lines to assail the enemy in position or on retreat. Even our skirmishers ...

— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan

... its democratic equality and constancy to its nature in seeking its own level: its vastness in the ocean of Mercator's projection: its unplumbed profundity in the Sundam trench of the Pacific exceeding 8000 fathoms: the restlessness of its waves and surface particles visiting in turn all points of its seaboard: the independence of its units: the variability of states of sea: its hydrostatic quiescence in calm: its hydrokinetic ...

— Ulysses • James Joyce

... The shrieking shell, The quaking trench, the startled yell, The fury of the battle hell Shall wake you not; for all is well. Sleep ...

— Poems Teachers Ask For • Various

... interesting as the Rosetta Stone itself is the story of its discovery. During the French occupation of Egypt soldiers were digging out the foundations of a fort, and in the trench the famous tablet was found. At the peace of Alexandra the Rosetta Stone passed to the English, who (1801) housed it in the British Museum, where it remains. The text when translated showed that the inscription is a "decree of the priests of Memphis, conferring divine honors ...

— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 1 • Various

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