Dictionary

trencher en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɹɛnt͡ʃə(ɹ)/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English trenchour, from Anglo-Norman trenchour and Old Northern French trencheor (French tranchoir), from trenchier (“to cut, to carve”). See trench (verb).

Meanings

1. (archaic, historical) A plate on which food is served or cut.
   • Mrs Partridge, upon this, immediately fell into a fury, and discharged the trencher on which she was eating, at the head of poor Jenny […] 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
2. Someone who trenches; especially, one who cuts or digs ditches.
3. A machine for digging trenches.
   • The milling action of the bucket line enables the trencher to cut through difficult materials, such as stone rubble and brick filling, and to leave a good trench with clean side walls. 1956 January, “New Permanent Way Equipment on British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 57:

Forms

Coordinates

entrenching tool

Deriveds

trencher friend · lick-trencher · trencherman · trencherlike · spin the trencher · trenchermaker · fruit-trencher · trencher mate · trencher-fed · trencher cap · trencherful · trencherwoman · trencher fly · trencher-man

Translations (10)

cy trensiwr ((archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served) · fi ojajyrsin (machine for digging trenches) · cy cloddiwr (one who trenches) · ca tallador ((archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served) · gl tallador ((archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served) · gd truinnsear ((archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served) · grc πίναξ ((archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served) · bg поднос ((archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served) · bg окопна машина (machine for digging trenches) · fi ojankaivaja (one who trenches)