2. to establish in a position from which dislodgement is difficult; to place firmly in a strong position. [ PJC ]

3. To cut in; to furrow; to make trenches in or upon.
Syn. -- intrench. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. the act or process of entrenching. [ PJC ]

1. To cut in; to furrow; to make trenches in or upon. [ 1913 Webster ]

It was this very sword intrenched it. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

His face
Deep scars of thunder had intrenched. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To surround with a trench or with intrenchments, as in fortification; to fortify with a ditch and parapet; as, the army intrenched their camp, or intrenched itself. “In the suburbs close intrenched.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

We are not to intrench upon truth in any conversation, but least of all with children. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

As easy mayest thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of intrenching or the state of being intrenched. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mil.) Any defensive work consisting of at least a trench or ditch and a parapet made from the earth thrown up in making such a ditch. [ 1913 Webster ]

On our side, we have thrown up intrenchments on Winter and Prospect Hills. Washington. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Any defense or protection. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An encroachment or infringement. [ 1913 Webster ]

The slight intrenchment upon individual freedom. Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy exuberant parts retrench. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To lessen; to abridge; to curtail; as, to retrench superfluities or expenses. [ 1913 Webster ]

But this thy glory shall be soon retrenched. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To confine; to limit; to restrict. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

These figures, ought they then to receive a retrenched interpretation? I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Fort.) To furnish with a retrenchment; as, to retrench bastions. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To lesen; diminish; curtail; abridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

The retrenchment of my expenses will convince you that &unr_; mean to replace your fortune as far as I can. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Fort.) A work constructed within another, to prolong the defense of the position when the enemy has gained possession of the outer work; or to protect the defenders till they can retreat or obtain terms for a capitulation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Lessening; curtailment; diminution; reduction; abridgment. [ 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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

2. Fig.: Keen; biting; severe; as, trenchant wit. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A large wooden plate or platter, as for table use. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The table; hence, the pleasures of the table; food. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A feeder; a great eater; a gormandizer. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A cook. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The skillfulest trencher-men of Media. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A table companion; a trencher mate. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the windows in the town dance new trenchmore. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]