Definition Definition

trench - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'trench' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Trench [ v. i.]
- To encroach; to intrench.
- To have direction; to aim or tend.
2 . Trench [ v. t.]
- To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, or the like.
- To fortify by cutting a ditch, and raising a rampart or breastwork with the earth thrown out of the ditch; to intrench.
- To cut furrows or ditches in; as, to trench land for the purpose of draining it.
- To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next; as, to trench a garden for certain crops.
- A long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch; as, a trench for draining land.
- An alley; a narrow path or walk cut through woods, shrubbery, or the like.
- An excavation made during a siege, for the purpose of covering the troops as they advance toward the besieged place. The term includes the parallels and the approaches.

Meaning of 'trench' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . trench [ v]
Meaning (1):
- cut a trench in, as for drainage
Example in sentence:
  • ditch the land to drain it;
  • trench the fields
Meaning (2):
- fortify by surrounding with trenches
Example in sentence:
  • He trenched his military camp
Meaning (3):
- cut or carve deeply into
Example in sentence:
  • letters trenched into the stone
Meaning (4):
- dig a trench or trenches
Example in sentence:
  • The National Guardsmen were sent out to trench
Meaning (5):
- impinge or infringe upon
Example in sentence:
  • This impinges on my rights as an individual;
  • This matter entrenches on other domains
Meaning (6):
- set, plant, or bury in a trench
Example in sentence:
  • trench the fallen soldiers;
  • trench the vegetables