from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Trench \Trench\, v. i.
1. To encroach; to intrench.
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Does it not seem as if for a creature to challenge
to itself a boundless attribute, were to trench upon
the prerogative of the divine nature? --I. Taylor.
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2. To have direction; to aim or tend. [R.] --Bacon.
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{To trench at}, to make trenches against; to approach by
trenches, as a town in besieging it. [Obs.]
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Like powerful armies, trenching at a town
By slow and silent, but resistless, sap. --Young.
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