trench

Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenche.

noun

1. A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.
   The trenches for installing the underground cables were dug with a trencher.
2. (military) A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.
   The soldiers in the trenches rely on logistical support.
3. (archaeology) A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.
4. (informal) A trench coat.
   I was the first person in my high school to wear a trench and fedora constantly, and Ben was one of the first to wear a black trench. 1999, April 24, Xiphias Gladius, "Re: trenchcoat mafia", ne.general.selected, Usenet
   A classic trench can work in any kind of weather and goes well with almost anything. 2007, Nina Garcia, The Little Black Book of Style, HarperCollins, as excerpted in Elle, October, page 138

verb

1. (usually followed by upon) To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.
   Shee is the Judge, Thou Executioner, Or if thou needs would'st trench upon her power, Thou mightst have yet enjoy'd thy crueltie, With some more thrift, and more varietie. 1640, Ben Jonson, Underwoods, page 68
   He could make what laws he pleased, as long as those laws did not trench upon property rights. 1949, Charles Austin Beard, American Government and Politics, page 16
   [O]ur ideas, therefore, must trench upon the province of tactics. 2005, Carl von Clausewitz, J. J. Graham, On War, page 261
2. (military, infantry) To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.
3. (archaeology) To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.
4. To have direction; to aim or tend.
5. To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.
6. To cut furrows or ditches in.
   to trench land for the purpose of draining it
7. To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.
   to trench a garden for certain crops