trencher

[tren-cher]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR trencher ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

Origin of trencher

1275–1325; Middle English trenchour something to cut with or on < Anglo-French; Middle French trencheoir. See trench, -ory²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for trencher

serving, platter, bowl, dish, disk, tray, disc, service, helping, course, portion, casserole, record, salver, charger

Examples from the Web for trencher

Contemporary Examples of trencher

A knife or fork with horizontal handles does not sit naturally in the curved structure of a trencher or a pottage bowl.
The Strange Way We Eat: Bee Wilson’s ‘Consider the Fork’
Bee Wilson
October 13, 2012

Historical Examples of trencher

Tom was up now, saw it was the master, and touched his trencher.
The Channings
Mrs. Henry Wood
If you're eating for honour, you mustn't leave anything on the trencher.'
Despair's Last Journey
David Christie Murray
One of the most important articles for setting the table was the trencher.
Home Life in Colonial Days
Alice Morse Earle
The trencher on his tressel was empty; and he had not wherewithal to re-fill it.
Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos of Ouida
Ouida
For the moment it was this hundredth man Trencher would have to fear.
From Place to Place
Irvin S. Cobb

British Dictionary definitions for trencher

trencher

noun

(esp formerly) a wooden board on which food was served or cut

Also called: trencher cap another name for mortarboard (def. 1)

Word Origin for trencher

C14 trenchour knife, plate for carving on, from Old French trencheoir, from trenchier to cut; see trench

trencher

noun

a person or thing that digs trenches

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

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).