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.
More soup gets served, Sister’s Stew, “in a trencher hollowed out of a stale loaf.”
From Slate • Jul. 5, 2017
In this opener, we're treated to a look at traditional British loaves, from the humble white bloomer to the relatively lavish lamb-leg trencher.
From The Guardian • Mar. 18, 2013
The meals alone involved prodigious waste: one massive, carved, 14-foot-long wooden trencher held 120 gallons of fish stew.
From Time Magazine Archive
This time it was the constable’s wife, with a wooden trencher of mush.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
Hannah had set a wooden trencher on the table with a small comcake studded with blueberries, and beside it a gourd filled with yellow goat’s milk.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
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.
