trench

¹ American  

[trench] / trɛntʃ /

noun

1. Fortification.  a long, narrow excavation in the ground, the earth from which is thrown up in front to serve as a shelter from enemy fire or attack.

2. trenches, a system of such excavations, with their embankments, etc.

3. a deep furrow, ditch, or cut.

4. Oceanography.  a long, steep-sided, narrow depression in the ocean floor.

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verb (used with object)

1. to surround or fortify with trenches; entrench.

2. to cut a trench in.

3. to set or place in a trench.

4. to form (a furrow, ditch, etc.) by cutting into or through something.

5. to make a cut in; cut into; carve.

verb (used without object)

1. to dig a trench.

verb phrase

1. trench on / upon

   1. to encroach or infringe on.

   2. to come close to; verge on.

      His remarks were trenching on poor taste.

Trench ² American  

[trench] / trɛntʃ /

noun

1. Richard Chenevix 1807–86, English clergyman and scholar, born in Ireland.

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trench British  

/ trɛntʃ /

noun

1. a deep ditch or furrow

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

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verb

1. to make a trench in (a place)

2. (tr) to fortify with a trench or trenches

3. to slash or be slashed

4. (intr; foll by on or upon) to encroach or verge

trench Scientific  

/ trĕnch /

1. A long, steep-sided valley on the ocean floor. Trenches form when one tectonic plate slides beneath another plate at a subduction zone. The Marianas Trench, located in the western Pacific east of the Philippines, is the deepest known trench (10,924 m or 35,831 ft) and the deepest area in the ocean.

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Other Word Forms

• subtrench noun
• untrenched adjective

Etymology

Origin of trench

1350–1400; Middle English trenche path made by cutting < Old French: act of cutting, a cut, derivative of trenchier to cut < Vulgar Latin *trincāre , for Latin truncāre to lop; truncate

Example Sentences

It will, according to Nick Card, involve "keyhole surgery" to open a small trench to investigate "this anomaly".

From BBC

“They’re about to go to war, and I want to be in the trench with them.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“It’s actually infuriating people because people know what they’re paying at the grocery store,” she said, while urging Republicans to “show we are in the trenches with them” rather than denying their experience.

From Los Angeles Times

At the southern edge of the city, they saw corpses piled up in the huge trench the RSF had dug to surround it.

From Barron's

Burberry, famed for its trench coats, has refocused also on outerwear in a bid to improve its fortunes.

From Barron's

Related Words

• dike
• foxhole
• gorge
• gully
• moat
• pit
• trough
• waterway