TRENCHER

trencher

(noun) a wooden board or platter on which food is served or carved

trencher

(noun) someone who digs trenches

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

trencher (plural trenchers)

(archaic) A long plate on which food is served and/or cut.

One who trenches; especially, one who cuts or digs ditches.

A machine for digging trenches.

Anagrams

• retrench

Source: Wiktionary


Trench"er, n. Etym: [OE. trencheoir, F. tranchoir, fr. trancher to cut, carve. See Trench, v. t.]

1. One who trenches; esp., one who cuts or digs ditches.

2. A large wooden plate or platter, as for table use.

3. The table; hence, the pleasures of the table; food. It could be no ordinary declension of nature that could bring some men, after an ingenuous education, to place their "summum bonum" upon their trenchers. South. Trencher cap, the cap worn by studens at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, having a stiff, flat, square appendage at top. A similar cap used in the United States is called Oxford cap, mortar board, etc.

– Trencher fly, a person who haunts the tables of others; a parasite. [R.] L'Estrange.

– Trencher friend, one who frequents the tables of others; a sponger.

– Trencher mate, a table companion; a parasite; a trencher fly. Hooker.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

26 June 2025

DISPIRITEDLY

(adverb) in a dispirited manner without hope; “the first Mozartian opera to be subjected to this curious treatment ran dispiritedly for five performances”


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Coffee Trivia

In 1884, Angelo Moriondo of Turin, Italy, demonstrated the first working example of an espresso machine.

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