Meanings
plural trenchers
- archaichistoricalA 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 - Someone who trenches; especially, one who cuts or digs ditches.
- 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
Origin
- Old Northern Frenchtrencheor
- Anglo-Normantrenchour
- Middle Englishtrenchour
- Englishtrencher
From Middle English trenchour, from Anglo-Norman trenchour and Old Northern French trencheor (French tranchoir), from trenchier (“to cut, to carve”). See trench (verb).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek πίναξ
- πίναξ (pínax)(archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served
Bulgarian поднос, окопна машина
- поднос (podnos)(archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served
- окопна машина (okopna mašina)machine for digging trenches
Catalan tallador
- tallador(archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served
Finnish ojankaivaja, ojajyrsin
- ojankaivajaone who trenches
- ojajyrsinmachine for digging trenches
Scottish Gaelic truinnsear
- truinnsear(archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served
Welsh trensiwr, cloddiwr
- trensiwr(archaic or historical) a plate on which food is served
- cloddiwrone who trenches
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with trencher
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
trencher. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trencher
“trencher.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trencher. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “trencher,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trencher.
Source: trencher on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.