truckle
Americannoun
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a small wheel; caster
-
a small barrel-shaped cheese
verb
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(intr) to roll on truckles
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(tr) to push (a piece of furniture) along on truckles
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of truckle
First recorded in 1375–1425 truckle for def. 2; truckle def. 1 was first recorded in 1630–40; truckle def. 3 in 1665–75; late Middle English noun trocle, trokel “sheave, roller,” from Anglo-French, from Latin trochlea; the verb is a special use of obsolete truckle “to sleep on a truckle bed” (because such beds were stored underneath a standard bed); see origin at trochlea
Explanation
A truckle is a trundle, a bed that tucks neatly underneath a higher bed. It's also a verb meaning to figuratively slide beneath, or submit to, the will of a more powerful person. If you're in thrall to a charismatic, famous, or fearsome person, you may find yourself tempted to truckle: in other words, to agree with whatever they say, yield to their opinions, and otherwise make yourself (metaphorically) smaller. The original 16th-century meaning of truckle was "small wheel," like the wheels on the bottom of a trundle — or truckle — bed. The figurative truckle, "to bend obsequiously to another person," emerged in the 1800s.
Vocabulary lists containing truckle
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.
See Examples For:
“A criminal could hide tonnes away and then pass them slowly, truckle by truckle, into supply chains,” says Ben Lambourne of the online retailer Pong Cheese.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2024
“It was only where there was this defiance, this refusal to truckle, this distrust of all authority, political or social, that institutions would express human aspirations, not crush them.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 7, 2020
Now would the assembly truckle to Parliament’s authority?
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
“His paintings make small people large, and large people tiny,” she writes, adding, “he doesn’t truckle to either.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2016
He had decided not to truckle with Might any more—to cut it out root and branch, by establishing another standard altogether.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Dramatists have stumbled and truckled so many times attempting true-life inspirational films and TV movies; Gibson eschewed sentiment to focus on two strong wills locked in battle.
From Time ● Sep. 30, 2010
Broad-faced Brauchitsch truckled to Hitler, became Commander in Chief of the German Army in 1938.
From Time Magazine Archive
In a series of major speeches, he has not truckled to their prejudices, but has candidly explored the duties and limitations of free societies.
From Time Magazine Archive
Since the "wishes" of a King's Messenger can scarcely be other than those of His Majesty's Government, Sir Austen had said nothing to disprove the unparliamentary charge that he had truckled.
From Time Magazine Archive
Their host, an antiquarian architect, had never truckled under to modern civilization and kept his house free of gas and electricity.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
Lesser invests Matt with plenty of naturalistic authenticity, but cannot prevent his character from coming across as a gutless wonder whose unfaltering deference towards his wife seems more truckling than tender.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2014
Instead, it meant to skewer the tone of TV news, by turns omniscient and truckling, in the production of what the show called "genutainment."
From Time ● Nov. 19, 2010
But does the film, written by Susannah Grant, have to be both heckling and truckling?
From Time Magazine Archive
The Daily Mail accused Owen of truckling to Saudi oil interests: "So down on your knees, Dr. Owen, before they cut off supplies."
From Time Magazine Archive
We had all seen bandits standing at a corner of a wood truckling for copper halfpence, and after their benefactors were gone spitting out injuries and curses.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 20 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis
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.
