trench

trench
    n 1: a ditch dug as a fortification having a parapet of the
         excavated earth
    2: a long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor [syn:
       {trench}, {deep}, {oceanic abyss}]
    3: any long ditch cut in the ground
    v 1: impinge or infringe upon; "This impinges on my rights as an
         individual"; "This matter entrenches on other domains"
         [syn: {impinge}, {encroach}, {entrench}, {trench}]
    2: fortify by surrounding with trenches; "He trenched his
       military camp"
    3: cut or carve deeply into; "letters trenched into the stone"
    4: set, plant, or bury in a trench; "trench the fallen
       soldiers"; "trench the vegetables"
    5: cut a trench in, as for drainage; "ditch the land to drain
       it"; "trench the fields" [syn: {trench}, {ditch}]
    6: dig a trench or trenches; "The National Guardsmen were sent
       out to trench"
    

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]
    

Trench \Trench\, n. [OE. trenche, F. tranch['e]e. See {Trench},
   v. t.]
   1. A long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch; as, a trench for
      draining land. --Mortimer.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. An alley; a narrow path or walk cut through woods,
      shrubbery, or the like. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            In a trench, forth in the park, goeth she.
                                                  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Fort.) 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.
      [1913 Webster]

   {To open the trenches} (Mil.), to begin to dig or to form the
      lines of approach.

   {Trench cavalier} (Fort.), an elevation constructed (by a
      besieger) of gabions, fascines, earth, and the like, about
      half way up the glacis, in order to discover and enfilade
      the covered way.

   {Trench plow}, or {Trench plough}, a kind of plow for opening
      land to a greater depth than that of common furrows.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Trench \Trench\, v. i.
   1. To encroach; to intrench.
      [1913 Webster]

            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.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To have direction; to aim or tend. [R.] --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

   {To trench at}, to make trenches against; to approach by
      trenches, as a town in besieging it. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Like powerful armies, trenching at a town
            By slow and silent, but resistless, sap. --Young.
      [1913 Webster]
    

260 Moby Thesaurus words for "trench":
      Bassalia, abri, abysm, abyss, abyssal zone, adit, air-raid shelter,
      approach, approach trench, aqueduct, arroyo, barge in,
      bathyal zone, benthos, bomb shelter, bombproof, bore, bottom,
      bottom glade, bottom waters, bottomless depths, bottoms,
      box canyon, breach, break, break in, break in upon, bunker, burrow,
      burst in, butt in, canal, canalization, canalize, canyon, carve,
      cave, cavity, chamfer, channel, channelize, chap, charge in, chasm,
      check, chimney, chink, chisel, cleave, cleft, cleuch, clough, col,
      concealment, conduct, conduit, convey, corrugate, coulee, couloir,
      countermine, coupure, course, cover, covert, coverture, crack,
      cranny, crash, crash in, crash the gates, creep in, crevasse,
      crevice, crimp, crowd in, cut, cut apart, cut in, cwm,
      cyclone cellar, dado, dale, defile, dell, delve, dig, dig out,
      dike, dingle, ditch, donga, double sap, drain, draw, dredge, drill,
      drive, duct, dugout, earth, edge in, egress, elbow in, encroach,
      engrave, entrance, entrench, entrenchment, excavate, excavation,
      exit, fallout shelter, fault, fire trench, fissure, flaw, flume,
      flute, flying sap, foist in, fortified tunnel, fosse, foxhole,
      fracture, funk hole, funnel, furrow, gallery, gap, gape, gash,
      gill, glen, goffer, gorge, gouge, gouge out, groove, ground, grove,
      grub, gulch, gulf, gully, gutter, ha-ha, hole, horn in, impinge,
      impose, impose on, impose upon, incise, incision, infiltrate,
      infringe, ingress, inner space, insinuate, interfere, interlope,
      interpose, intervale, intervene, intrude, invade, irrupt, joint,
      kennel, kloof, leak, lower, lunar rill, mine, moat, notch, nullah,
      obtrude, ocean bottom, ocean depths, ocean floor, open, opening,
      parallel, pass, passage, passageway, pelagic zone, pipe, pleat,
      plow, press in, push in, put on, put through, put upon, quarry,
      rabbet, ravine, rent, rifle, rift, rime, rive, rupture, rush in,
      rut, safety zone, sap, scissure, scoop, scoop out, score, scrabble,
      scrape, scratch, seam, shelter, shovel, sink, siphon, slink in,
      slip in, slit, slit trench, slot, smash in, sneak in, spade, split,
      squeeze in, steal in, storm cave, storm cellar, storm in, strath,
      streak, striate, sunk fence, the deep, the deep sea, the deeps,
      the depths, throng in, thrust in, trespass, trough, troughing,
      troughway, tunnel, vale, valley, verge, void, wadi, way, work in,
      worm in, wrinkle