trencher
[tren-cher]
- a person or thing that digs trenches.
- ditchdigger(def 3).
- a rectangular or circular flat piece of wood on which meat, or other food, is served or carved.
- such a piece of wood and the food on it.
- Archaic. food; the pleasures of good eating.
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Origin of trencher
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for trencher
Contemporary Examples
A knife or fork with horizontal handles does not sit naturally in the curved structure of a trencher or a pottage bowl.
Historical Examples
Tom was up now, saw it was the master, and touched his trencher.
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
If you're eating for honour, you mustn't leave anything on the trencher.'
Despair's Last JourneyDavid Christie Murray
One of the most important articles for setting the table was the trencher.
Home Life in Colonial DaysAlice Morse Earle
The trencher on his tressel was empty; and he had not wherewithal to re-fill it.
For the moment it was this hundredth man Trencher would have to fear.
From Place to PlaceIrvin S. Cobb
trencher1
- (esp formerly) a wooden board on which food was served or cut
- Also called: trencher cap another name for mortarboard (def. 1)
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Word Origin
C14 trenchour knife, plate for carving on, from Old French trencheoir, from trenchier to cut; see trench
trencher2
- a person or thing that digs trenches
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for trencher
n.
c.1300, "wooden platter on which to cut meat," from Anglo-French trenchour, from Old North French trencheor "a trencher," literally "a cutting place," from Old French trenchier "to cut" (see trench).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper