TRENCH

vi to have direction; to aim or tend.

2. trench ·vi to encroach; to intrench.

3. trench ·vt a long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch; as, a trench for draining land.

4. trench ·vt an alley; a narrow path or walk cut through woods, shrubbery, or the like.

5. trench ·vt to cut furrows or ditches in; as, to trench land for the purpose of draining it.

6. trench ·vt to cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, or the like.

7. trench ·vt to fortify by cutting a ditch, and raising a rampart or breastwork with the earth thrown out of the ditch; to intrench.

8. trench ·vt 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.

9. trench ·vt 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.