truck

[truhk]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR truck ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any of various forms of vehicle for carrying goods and materials, usually consisting of a single self-propelled unit but also often composed of a trailer vehicle hauled by a tractor unit.

any of various wheeled frames used for transporting heavy objects.

Also called hand truck. a barrowlike frame with low wheels, a ledge at the bottom, and handles at the top, used to move heavy luggage, packages, cartons, etc.

a low, rectangular frame on which heavy boxes, crates, trunks, etc., are moved; a dolly.

a tiered framework on casters.

a group of two or more pairs of wheels in one frame, for supporting one end of a railroad car, locomotive, etc.

Movies. a dolly on which a camera is mounted.

British. a freight car having no top.

a small wooden wheel, cylinder, or roller, as on certain old-style gun carriages.

Nautical. a circular or square piece of wood fixed on the head of a mast or the top of a flagstaff, usually containing small holes for signal halyards.

verb (used with object)

to transport by truck.

to put on a truck.

dolly(def 11).

verb (used without object)

to convey articles or goods on a truck.

to drive a truck.

dolly(def 12).

adjective

of, relating to, or for a truck or trucks: a truck drive; truck tires.

Origin of truck

1605–15; back formation from truckle wheel. See truckle²

Related formstruck·a·ble, adjective

truck

[truhk]

noun

vegetables raised for the market.

miscellaneous articles of little worth; odds and ends.

Informal. trash or rubbish: That's a lot of truck.

Informal. dealings: I'll have no truck with him.

barter.

a bargain or deal.

the payment of wages in goods instead of money.

truck system.

verb (used with object)

to exchange; trade; barter.

verb (used without object)

to exchange commodities; barter.

to traffic; have dealings.

Origin of truck

1175–1225; Middle English trukien to exchange < Old French troquer to exchange

truck

[truhk]

noun

a shuffling jitterbug step.

verb (used without object)

to dance with such steps.

Slang. to walk or stroll, especially in a jaunty manner: trucking down the avenue on a Sunday afternoon.

Origin of truck

First recorded in 1935–40; special use of truck¹

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

Related Words for truck

goods, traffic, wagon, van, car, crate, pickup, rig, jeep, freighter, lorry, stuff, intercourse, barter, exchange, communication, wares, trade, dealings, connection

Examples from the Web for truck

Contemporary Examples of truck

Instead, the man and woman in the truck wanted to know where the crash site was and whether would I show them.
The 7-Year-Old Plane Crash Survivor’s Brutal Journey Through the Woods
James Higdon
January 7, 2015
“When Tanveer realized what was happening, he jumped out of the truck, but the Iranians shot him,” Abdullah says.
The Dangerous Drug-Funded Secret War Between Iran and Pakistan
Umar Farooq
December 29, 2014
Each well requires 1,500—2,000 truck trips over the lifetime of the well.
New York’s Conservative Fracking Ban
Jay Michaelson
December 20, 2014
Houses were evacuated and stripped bare, and civilians vanished at the sight of a truck.
‘Argo’ in the Congo: The Ghosts of the Stanleyville Hostage Crisis
Nina Strochlic
November 23, 2014
They have a preconceived idea of who should be driving that truck.
The Moms of Monster Jam Drive Trucks, Buck Macho Culture
Eliza Krigman
November 22, 2014

Historical Examples of truck

Give him that truck you've been pouring down me for the last week.
Chip, of the Flying U
B. M. Bower
The porter wheeled a truck, bearing John's trunk and bag, up to them as he spoke.
The Foolish Lovers
St. John G. Ervine
They all look alike to me, I must admit; I never had any truck with 'em.
Good Indian
B. M. Bower
Don't pay to have any truck with 'em while you feel that way about it.
Good Indian
B. M. Bower
And then under went the truck that Andy had run to borrow, and the stove was out.
The Widow O'Callaghan's Boys
Gulielma Zollinger

British Dictionary definitions for truck

truck

noun

British a vehicle for carrying freight on a railway; wagon

US, Canadian and Australian a large motor vehicle designed to carry heavy loads, esp one with a flat platformAlso called (esp in Britain): lorry

a frame carrying two or more pairs of wheels and usually springs and brakes, attached under an end of a railway coach, etc

nautical

a disc-shaped block fixed to the head of a mast having sheave holes for receiving signal halyards
the head of a mast itself

any wheeled vehicle used to move goods

verb

to convey (goods) in a truck

(intr) mainly US and Canadian to drive a truck

Word Origin for truck

C17: perhaps shortened from truckle ²

truck

noun

commercial goods

dealings (esp in the phrase have no truck with)

commercial exchange

archaic payment of wages in kind

miscellaneous articles

informal rubbish

US and Canadian vegetables grown for market

verb

archaic to exchange (goods); barter

(intr) to traffic or negotiate

Word Origin for truck

C13: from Old French troquer (unattested) to barter, equivalent to Medieval Latin trocare, of unknown origin

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 truck

"vehicle," 1610s, "small wheel" (especially one on which the carriages of a ship's guns were mounted), probably from Latin trochus "iron hoop," from Greek trokhos "wheel," from trekhein "to run" (see truckle (n.)). Sense extended to "cart for carrying heavy loads" (1774), then in American English to "motor vehicle for carrying heavy loads" (1913), a shortened form of motor truck in this sense (1901).

There have also been lost to the enemy 6,200 guns, 2,550 tanks and 70,000 trucks, which is the American name for lorries, and which, I understand, has been adopted by the combined staffs in North-West Africa in exchange for the use of the word petrol in place of gasolene. [Winston Churchill, address to joint session of U.S. Congress, May 19, 1943]

Truck stop is attested from 1956.

v.1

"to exchange, barter," early 13c., from Old North French troquer "to barter, exchange," from Medieval Latin trocare "barter," of unknown origin. Rare before 1580. Sense of "have dealings with" is first recorded 1610s. The noun is first recorded 1550s, "act or practice of barter." Sense of "vegetables raised for market" is from 1784, preserved in truck farm (1866).

v.2

"to convey on a truck," 1809, from truck (n.). Verbal meaning "dance, move in a cool way," first attested 1935, from popular dance of that name in U.S., supposedly introduced at Cotton Club, 1933. Related: Trucked; trucking.

Idioms and Phrases with truck

truck

see have no truck with.