TRUNK
proboscis, trunk
(noun) a long flexible snout as of an elephant
trunk
(noun) luggage consisting of a large strong case used when traveling or for storage
torso, trunk, body
(noun) the body excluding the head and neck and limbs; “they moved their arms and legs and bodies”
trunk, tree trunk, bole
(noun) the main stem of a tree; usually covered with bark; the bole is usually the part that is commercially useful for lumber
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
trunk (plural trunks)
(heading, biological) Part of a body.
The usually single, more or less upright part of a tree, between the roots and the branches: the tree trunk.
The torso.
The conspicuously extended, mobile, nose-like organ of an animal such as a sengi, a tapir or especially an elephant. The trunks of various kinds of animals might be adapted to probing and sniffing, as in the sengis, or be partly prehensile, as in the tapir, or be a versatile prehensile organ for manipulation, feeding, drinking and fighting as in the elephant.
(heading) A container.
A large suitcase, chest, or similar receptacle for carrying or storing personal possessions, usually with a hinged, often domed lid, and handles at each end, so that generally it takes two persons to carry a full trunk.
A box or chest usually covered with leather, metal, or cloth, or sometimes made of leather, hide, or metal, for holding or transporting clothes or other goods.
(US, Canada, automotive) The luggage storage compartment of a sedan/saloon style car; a boot
(heading) A channel for flow of some kind.
(US, telecommunications) A circuit between telephone switchboards or other switching equipment.
A chute or conduit, or a watertight shaft connecting two or more decks.
A long, large box, pipe, or conductor, made of plank or metal plates, for various uses, as for conveying air to a mine or to a furnace, water to a mill, grain to an elevator, etc.
(archaic) A long tube through which pellets of clay, peas, etc, are driven by the force of the breath. A peashooter
(mining) A flume or sluice in which ores are separated from the slimes in which they are contained.
(software engineering) In software projects under source control: the most current source tree, from which the latest unstable builds (so-called "trunk builds") are compiled.
The main line or body of anything.
(transport) A main line in a river, canal, railroad, or highway system.
(architecture) The part of a pilaster between the base and capital, corresponding to the shaft of a column.
A large pipe forming the piston rod of a steam engine, of sufficient diameter to allow one end of the connecting rod to be attached to the crank, and the other end to pass within the pipe directly to the piston, thus making the engine more compact.
Shorts used for swimming (swim trunks).
Synonyms
• (luggage storage compartment of a sedan/saloon style car): boot (UK, Aus), dicky (India)
• (upright part of a tree): tree trunk
• (nose of an elephant): proboscis
Hyponyms
• (a large suitcase; a chest for holding goods): footlocker
Verb
trunk (third-person singular simple present trunks, present participle trunking, simple past and past participle trunked)
(transitive, obsolete) To lop off; to curtail; to truncate.
(transitive, mining) To extract (ores) from the slimes in which they are contained, by means of a trunk.
Anagrams
• K-turn
Source: Wiktionary
Trunk, n. Etym: [F. tronc, L. truncus, fr. truncus maimed, mutilated;
perhaps akin to torquere to twist wrench, and E. torture. Trunk in
the sense of proboscis is fr. F. trompe (the same word as trompe a
trumpet), but has been confused in English with trunk the stem of a
tree (see Trump a trumpet). Cf. Truncate.]
1. The stem, or body, of a tree, apart from its limbs and roots; the
main stem, without the branches; stock; stalk.
About the mossy trunk I wound me soon, For, high from ground, the
branches would require Thy utmost reach. Milton.
2. The body of an animal, apart from the head and limbs.
3. The main body of anything; as, the trunk of a vein or of an
artery, as distinct from the branches.
4. (Arch)
Definition: That part of a pilaster which is between the base and the
capital, corresponding to the shaft of a column.
5. (Zoöl.)
Definition: That segment of the body of an insect which is between the head
and abdomen, and bears the wings and legs; the thorax; the truncus.
6. (Zoöl.)
(a) The proboscis of an elephant.
(b) The proboscis of an insect.
7. A long tube through which pellets of clay, p
He shot sugarplums them out of a trunk. Howell.
8. A box or chest usually covered with leather, metal, or cloth, or
sometimes made of leather, hide, or metal, for containing clothes or
other goods; especially, one used to convey the effects of a
traveler.
Locked up in chests and trunks. Shak.
9. (Mining)
Definition: A flume or sluice in which ores are separated from the slimes
in which they are contained.
10. (Steam Engine)
Definition: A large pipe forming the piston rod of a steam engine, of
sufficient diameter to allow one end of the connecting rod to be
attached to the crank, and the other end to pass within the pipe
directly to the piston, thus making the engine more compact.
11. A long, large box, pipe, or conductor, made of plank or metal
plates, for various uses, as for conveying air to a mine or to a
furnace, water to a mill, grain to an elevator, etc. Trunk engine, a
marine engine, the piston rod of which is a trunk. See Trunk, 10.
– Trunk hose, large breeches formerly worn, reaching to the knees.
– Trunk line, the main line of a railway, canal, or route of
conveyance.
– Trunk turtle (Zoöl.), the leatherback.
Trunk, v. t. Etym: [Cf. F. tronquer. See Truncate.]
1. To lop off; to curtail; to truncate; to maim. [Obs.] "Out of the
trunked stock." Spenser.
2. (Mining)
Definition: To extract (ores) from the slimes in which they are contained,
by means of a trunk. See Trunk, n., 9. Weale.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition