trencher
Americannoun
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a person or thing that digs trenches.
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a rectangular or circular flat piece of wood on which meat, or other food, is served or carved.
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such a piece of wood and the food on it.
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Archaic. food; the pleasures of good eating.
noun
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(esp formerly) a wooden board on which food was served or cut
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Also called: trencher cap. another name for mortarboard
noun
Etymology
Origin of trencher
1275–1325; Middle English trenchour something to cut with or on < Anglo-French; Middle French trencheoir. See trench, -ory 2
Explanation
A trencher is an old-fashioned wooden plate for serving or eating food. It was most common to use a trencher in Medieval Europe. The original trencher was a piece of bread that other food would be served on and eaten from. With this type of trencher, a diner could either eat her plate or donate it to someone who was poor and hungry. Later, trenchers evolved into small wooden or metal plates. The original, 1300s meaning of trencher was "wooden platter for cutting meat," from the Old North French trencheor, "a cutting place," with its Old French root of trenchier, "to cut."
Vocabulary lists containing trencher
Johnny Tremain
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 1
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Trencher said he wasn't aware of any new pledges that would significantly change their findings and pointed to historical trends as reason to take oil companies' promises with a grain of salt.
From Salon • Mar. 10, 2022
The company's target of reducing exploration by 2025, Trencher said, may have "triggered a rush before the deadline for them."
From Salon • Mar. 10, 2022
"It's sort of difficult for a company to have a justification to destroy its own business model," Trencher said.
From Salon • Mar. 10, 2022
Look for the black awning on Portia Street, just steps north of Sunset Boulevard: That’s Trencher, a rustic, handmade sandwich shop opened by longtime L.A.-area friends Justin Foster, Hussein Katz and Danny Zackery.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2014
Trencher, looking slantwise to the south, could see them plainly.
From From Place to Place by Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
