- Trenching
- Trench Trench, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Trenched}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Trenching}.] [OF. trenchier to cut, F. trancher; akin to Pr.
trencar, trenchar, Sp. trinchar, It. trinciare; of uncertain
origin.]
1. To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision,
hewing, or the like.
[1913 Webster]
The wide wound that the boar had trenched In his soft flank. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
This weak impress of love is as a figure Trenched in ice, which with an hour's heat Dissolves to water, and doth lose its form. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
2. (Fort.) To fortify by cutting a ditch, and raising a rampart or breastwork with the earth thrown out of the ditch; to intrench. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
No more shall trenching war channel her fields. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3. To cut furrows or ditches in; as, to trench land for the purpose of draining it. [1913 Webster]
4. 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. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
