trench

Meanings

Noun

• A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.
• A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.
• A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.
• A trench coat.

Verb

• To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.
• To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.
• To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.
• To have direction; to aim or tend.
• To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.
• To cut furrows or ditches in.
• To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.

Origin

• Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenche.