| 释义 |
▪ I. trunk, n.|trʌŋk|
Forms: 5–7 tronk, tronke, troncke, (7 tronck), 5–7 trunke, 6 trounk, trounke, (tronque, troonke, trouncke), 6–7 truncke, 6–8 trunck, 6– trunk.
[a. F. tronc (12th c.), ad. L. truncum, acc. of truncus main stem or stock of a tree, the human body, a piece cut or broken off, etc. In branch III app. associated with trump n.1, F. trompe. With IV cf. trunk-hose.]
I. The main part of something as distinguished from its appendages.
1. a. The main stem of a tree, as distinct from the roots and branches; the bole or stock.
1490Caxton Eneydos iv. 17 Eneas..hewe the troncke of a tree oute of the whiche yssued bloode. 1605Camden Rem. 161 A golden truncke of a tree. 1615W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 14 Cut away all his twigs..burying his trunck in the crust of the earth. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 580 With Trunks of Elms and Oaks the Hearth they load. 1787Winter Syst. Husb. 103 The roots of trees grow in proportion to their trunks and branches. 1872Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 21 These were formed from a single trunk of oak.
b. fig. or in fig. context.
1586A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 140 In stead of a louing and contented husband, to giue her a withered old Truncke. Ibid. ii. 97 For his stature, a dwarffe; for his person, a trunke; for his qualities, a dog. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 72 You consenting too't, Would barke your honor from that trunke you beare, And leaue you naked. 1663Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xv. (1687) 117 His endowments were divine;..yet blocks and trunks are wont now to lift up themselves higher in their own conceit than he could be tempted to do. 1839H. Rogers Ess. II. iii. 140 While the trunk of the language remains the same, the twigs and frailer branches are torn away by the storm. 1876C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 81 Different offshoots which had from time to time separated themselves from the main trunk of Presbyterianism.
c. transf. The shaft of a column; also, the dado or die of a pedestal.
1563Shute Archit. C ij b, Scapus,..being the troncke or body of the pillor. 1664Evelyn tr. Freart's Archit. 124 [The Pedestal] is likewise called Truncus the Trunk..also Abacus, Dado, Zocco, etc. 1727–41in Chambers Cycl. 1842–76in Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss.
d. (See quot. 1950.) Cf. trunk dial, sense 18.
1899F. J. Britten Old Clocks and Watches 316, I am able to give an engraving of a very early specimen of a long-case clock... This case is of oak and panelled. The head is fixed on the trunk, and will not take off. 1950D. de Carle Watchmakers' & Clockmakers' Encyclopædic Dict. 188/1 Trunk, refers to the body or main part of the case of a long-case clock. The case is formed of three parts, the trunk, the Hood..and the Plinth. 1978Times 17 June 9/5 A dial clock is basically a clock with a round dial which hangs on the wall, or a round dial with a trunk underneath, which is called a trunk dial or drop dial.
2. a. The human body, or that of an animal, without the head, or esp. without the head and limbs, or considered apart from these; in Entom. the thorax. Also transf. and fig.
1494Fabyan Chron. vi. clxiii. 156 There was heddys, armys, leggys, and trunkys of dede mennys bodyes, lyinge as thycke as flowres growe in tyme of May. Ibid. vii. 495 His hed stryken of, & the trunke of his body hanged by chaynes vpon y⊇ common gybet of Parys. 1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 G ij, In diuiding y⊇ tronke which is betwene the necke & the legges, is two great capacytees. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. x. 90 There [will I] cut off thy most vngracious head;..Leauing thy trunke for Crowes to feed vpon. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 336 His head smitten off, and the truncke of his body throwen into the fire. 1711Addison Spect. No. 229 ⁋1 The Trunk of a Statue which has lost the Arms, Legs, and Head. 1715Rowe Lady Jane Gray v. ad fin., Blasted be the hand That struck my Guilford! Oh, his bleeding trunk Shall live in these distracted eyes for ever! 1804Abernethy Surg. Obs. 26 The front, or back part of the trunk of the body. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxviii. III. 48 The second portion of the body is the Trunk, which is interposed between the head and the abdomen. 1837Emerson Address, Amer. Schol. Wks. (Bohn) II. 175 The state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk. 1870Rolleston Anim. Life 7 In the trunk [of the Rat] we observe that the spines of the dorsal vertebræ..point backwards. 1913Times 9 Aug. 4/1 A tendency to hairlessness on the trunk and limbs.
†b. Her. The head of a beast cut off immediately behind the horns or ears, i.e. caboched; cf. trunked ppl. a.1 2. Obs. rare—1.
1486Bk. St. Albans, Her. b v, Tronkys be calde in armys any bestys hede or neck Ykytt chagikli [= jaggedly] a sonder.
†3. A dead body, a corpse; also, the body considered apart from the soul or life. Obs.
1588Shakes. Tit. A. v. iii. 152 Vnckle draw you neere, To shed obsequious teares vpon this Trunke. 1605― Lear i. i. 180 If on the tenth day following, Thy banisht trunke be found in our Dominions. 1611B. Jonson Catiline v. vi, His troops Couer'd that earth, they had fought on, with their trunkes. 1709Steele Tatler No. 83 ⁋3 This poor meagre Trunk of mine is a very ill Habitation for Love.
4. a. Anat. The main body or line of a blood-vessel, nerve, or similar structure, as distinct from its branches; also transf. the main line of a river, railway, telegraph or telephone, road or canal system; see trunk-drainage, -glacier, -line, etc. in 18. Also fig.
1615Crooke Body of Man 906 The lesser Trunke creepeth along the inside of the Legge..and in his progresse sprinkleth diuers surcles into the skine. 1707Floyer Physic. Pulse-Watch 352 The Arteries join'd on each side in the same Original Trunk. 1817J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 246 Small rivers that fall immediately into the great trunk of the Mississippi. 1841–71T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 156 The ovigerous canals..uniting on each side of the body into two principal trunks. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxx. 396 Not only the nervous filaments..may be affected, but also the main trunk of the nerve. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xxviii, Like the main trunk of an exorbitant egoism.
b. pl. In Stock Exchange language, short for Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, or its stock.
1892Pall Mall G. 9 Feb. 5/3 Trunks have risen, partly in sympathy with American, and also on a much better traffic than was expected. 1898Westm. Gaz. 1 Dec. 8/1 A bull account in Trunks is always followed by a bad revenue statement.
c. Teleph. (a) A telephone line connecting two exchanges a long way apart or in different telephone areas; also (U.S.), a line connecting exchanges within the same area (cf. toll call s.v. toll n.1 3); (b) a line connecting selectors or the like of different rank within an exchange.
1889Preece & Maier Telephone 249 This switchboard is required to distribute the trunks between the different offices [sc. exchanges], and also to enable the testing of all the trunk and subscribers' lines to be carried on from one central point. 1908Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engineers XLI. 120 In America the local term remains the same, the junction is called ‘trunk’, and our trunk is called a ‘toll’ or ‘long-distance’ line. 1921W. Aitken Autom. Telephone Syst. I. 4 The designation of the lines interconnecting apparatus at different switching stages..is somewhat confusing. The American generally speaks of these as trunks, which practically is equivalent to our junctions... For example, the circuits between first and second preselectors,..second and third selectors, and third selectors and connectors, are all trunks or junctions... Very commonly the lines between exchanges in this country [sc. Britain], and for the use of which an extra charge is made.., are known as trunks. For these the American terms toll line or long-distance line is used. 1925Wright & Puchstein Telephone Communication ii. 33 It is necessary in central-energy systems to serve districts of more than ten thousand lines by means of a number of central offices connected by trunk circuits or trunks. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XIII. 433/1 When the extension user dials the first digit, the wipers of the first selector step upward to the level corresponding to the digit dialed, and automatically step around in a horizontal arc..until they find an idle trunk. 1978Sci. Amer. June 90/2 A modern telephone exchange is connected not only to its own subscribers but also, through special lines called trunks, to other exchanges serving other subscribers. 1978P. H. Smale Telecommunication Syst. I vii. 60 There are various grades of exchange in order of importance... There are also various grades of interconnecting line, for example subscribers lines, junctions and trunks, and again the number gets fewer as length, importance and cost increase.
(c) pl. The operators who deal with trunk calls. colloq.
[1889Preece & Maier Telephone xx. 353 As the trunk operators had too much to do..a special plan was arranged by which a subscriber requiring a connection to another town mentions the word ‘trunk’ to the ordinary operator.] 1947N. Cardus Autobiogr. iii. 233 He rang me up at my Manchester house; he was speaking from Harrogate. When ‘trunks’ gave me notice of his call I expected something urgent. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds ix. 203 Give me trunks, please, switch... I want to put an urgent call through.
†5. The scale of a map or plan; see scale n.3 9. Obs. rare.
1561Eden Arte Nauig. iii. ii. 58 This the Maryners call the truncke or scale of leaques. 1574Bourne Regiment for Sea xviii. (1577) 47 b, As you may see in measuring it by the trunke of your carde there. 1594Blundevil Exerc. vii. xxviii. (1636) 692 To know the distance of places,..there is wont to be set downe in the Mariners Card, a scale, otherwise called by the Mariners a Trunk.
II. A chest, box, case, etc. (supposed to have been orig. made out of a tree-trunk).
†6. A chest, coffer, box. Obs. in gen. sense.
1462Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 150 Item, payd ffor a new tronke ffor my lord whych was delyvared to Willyam off Wardrope x. s. 1494Fabyan Chron. cxxxi. 113 He ordeyned a cheste, or trunke of clene syluer, to thentent yt all suche iuellys and ryche gyftes..shuld therein be kepte. 1591Greene Art Conny Catch. iii. (1592) 34 At the beds feete stood a hansome truncke, wherein was very good linnen. a1648Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 190 Having the copies of all my dispatches in a great trunk in my House in London. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 62 So curious and elaborate a Work might deserve a better Fate, than to lye moulding in the bottom of a Trunk. 1702Addison Dial. Medals ii. (1726) 51 The little trunk she holds in her left hand is the acerra.., in which the frankincense was preserv'd. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World Pref. 17 No chests, boxes, or trunks, which shall be found in the ship when taken, shall be open'd.
7. a. A box, usually lined with paper or linen, and with a rounded top, for carrying clothes and other personal necessaries when travelling; originally covered with leather, now often of canvas, painted metal, etc. Cf. portmanteau 1.
1609Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 181 To the porter, for the carridge of the gentlewomens truncke..xvd. 1662–3Pepys Diary 8 Jan., We were forced to send for a smith, to break open her trunk. 1709Steele & Addison Tatler No. 93 ⁋3 He had got his Trunk and his Books all packed up to be transported into Foreign Parts. 1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii. i, I like to see their horses and trunks taken care of. 1841Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. viii, Away I went..with a couple of bran new suits from Von Stiltz's in my trunk. 1859W. Collins Q. of Hearts iii, Ring the bell, and have your trunks packed.
b. N. Amer. The luggage compartment of a motor vehicle; = boot n.3 4 c.
[1929Hearst's Internat. Mag. Nov. 210 (Advt.), Six wire wheels and trunk rack standard equipment. 1930Automobile Topics 6 Dec. 359/3 Rear-end trunks were larger and more prevalent. In one line of cars they were designed into the rear of the body itself.] 1931Amer. Home Apr. 197 The luggage belongs in the trunk on the rear of the car. 1937Sat. Even. Post 2 Oct. 28/3 The enlarged trunks will hold enough luggage to carry you around the world. 1951J. W. Vale Mod. Auto Body & Fender Repair xiii. 162 The deck compartment, sometimes referred to as the rear trunk compartment or the turtle back..may be repaired in the same way. 1960Times 14 Sept. 12/6 When we hired a car in California we found that a car..bristles with surprises. You..find the spare wheel in the trunk. 1964Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 24 Apr. (1970) 119 Lyndon had transferred to an open convertible. Along the way he made three unscheduled stops, standing on the trunk of his car. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 49/9 (Advt.), Extra lighting inside, in hood, in trunk. 1975N. Luard Robespierre Serial v. 34 The Belgian unlocked the trunk, stood by the porter while he lifted out two suitcases.
8. a. A perforated floating box in which live fish are kept.
c1440Promp. Parv. 504/1 Trunke, for kepynge of fysche, gurgustium. 1450–1Abingdon Rolls (Camden) 130 In factura j tronke pro piscibus custodiendis. 1540in Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (1894) I. 99 He toke the tronke in his hands and hallyd it up to the land and there put forth alle the fysh that was in the tronke into a basket. 1674tr. Scheffer's Lapland 70 Fishes also, of which they have so great draughts, that they are forced to keep them in trunks and ponds. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. xxv. 393 If the pheasants escape from the mew, or the fishes from the trunk,..they become ferae naturae again. 1898J. K. Fowler Rec. Old Times 108 In the midst was a large shallow pond,..in which was kept an eel trunk, consisting of a strong iron⁓bound box about four feet long and two feet wide and deep, perforated with holes, and a lid fastened with lock and key... In this trunk or box were kept live eels, the trunk having a strong iron chain attached to it..; this enabled the trunk to be hauled up a sloping bank.
b. An open box or case (containing from 80 to 90 lb.) in which fresh fish are sold wholesale.
1883S. Plimsoll in 19th Cent. July 147 The box, which is called by many names, as ‘van’, ‘machine’, ‘tank’, ‘trunk’, &c. 1883Daily News 27 July 7/1 Soles and such fish are sold in open boxes, without any covering whatever, called trunks. 1909Times 12 Aug. 11/6 Two trunks of plaice made the remarkably high price of {pstlg}3 10s. per trunk.
c. A net or trap for lobster-catching. dial.
1835‘S. Oliver’ Rambles Northumbld. v. 210 For catching lobsters the fishermen of Holy Island mostly use small hoop-nets, called by them trunks. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Trunk,..an iron hoop with a bag, used to catch crabs and lobsters.
9. Mining. A long shallow trough in which lead or tin ore is dressed.
1653E. Manlove Lead Mines 273 (E.D.S.) The miner's Tearms..Fleaks, Knockings, Coestid, Trunks and Sparks of oar. 1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornw. etc. xv. 579 The trunk was a pit ten feet long, three wide, and nine inches deep. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 1244 The rough is washed in buddles..the slimes in trunks. 1851Tapping Manlove's Lead Mines Gloss. s.v., The trunks are agitated with water, and thereby the metals separated from the base minerals.
10. a. A box-like passage for light, air, water, or solid objects, usually made of boards; a shaft, conduit; a chute. Now chiefly techn.
1610North Plutarch 1117 He was newly come from Trophonius truncke or hole. 1632in E. B. Jupp Carpenters' Co. (1887) 301 Truncks for bringing in of light into mens howses..truncks for Jackewaights or conveyance of water. 1642C. Vernon Consid. Exch. 42 Which Bill they..put..downe through a Trunke made for that purpose, into the Chamberlaines Court. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. H j, As to..having the Trunks in the Roof of the Drift, that never does well. 1759Smeaton in Phil. Trans. LI. 126 A trunk, for bringing the water upon the wheel, was fixed. 1861R. Willis in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) III. 173 An opening or horizontal trunk through the rising seats, by which the solar ray may be directed upon the Lecture-table. 1886Act. 49 & 50 Vict. c. 38 §6 Any bridge, waggon-way, or trunk for conveying minerals or other product from any mine or quarry. 1888Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Trunk..a wooden tube much used in corn mills to convey grain or flour to or from the mills. Any wooden tube.
b. spec. A chute through which coal is emptied from the wagons into lighters, etc. dial.
1725T. Thomas in Portland Papers VI. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 104 Those [steathes] that are covered with timber work are called trunks. 1893–4Northumbld. Gloss., Trunk⁓staith, a coal-spout at a shipping place. In former times a coal-staith was called a ‘dyke’, or trunk if a shoot or spout was used.
c. Organ-building. Short for wind-trunk.
1852Seidel Organ 44 The principal canal..into which the wind passes from the bellows, is called the trunk.
d. In a steam-engine, A tubular piston-rod large enough to allow of the lateral movement of the connecting-rod when jointed directly to the piston.
1859Rankine Steam Engine (1861) 481 In large engines there are sometimes more than one piston rod and stuffing⁓box, and sometimes a tubular piston rod called a trunk.
e. Naut. A water-tight shaft passing through the decks of a vessel, for loading, coaling, etc.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xii. 2/1 The lower deck..is made of iron, water-tight, and fitted with water-tight trunks, to communicate with the upper deck, so that access can be had at all times distinct from the other decks. 1877W. H. White Man. Naval Archit. i. 29 Where openings have to be made in a watertight deck or platform, either watertight covers must be fitted to the openings or water⁓tight trunks, carried to a sufficient height above the load⁓line, must be built around them.
f. See quot.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., Trunk 5 (Hatting), the conduit, tube, or guiding-box which guides the air-currents and directs the fur fibers from the picker to the cone, in hat-body forming machines.
g. Salt-making. A box-like cover placed over an evaporating-pan.
1885C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 155 In..Cheshire..the evaporating-pans are at times employed quite open and exposed to the sky, but nowadays they are mostly surrounded with sheds,..furnished with ventilating openings in the roof... On the Continent, all except the fine and butter-salt pans are generally covered in with wooden trunks, flat on top with sides converging upwards, thus forming an elongated truncated cone about 5 ft. high over the pan.
h. The water-tight case in which the centreboard of a sailing-boat works.
1894Westm. Gaz. 20 Aug. 7/2 The centre board had not been lost, but had been jammed in the trunk and was held fast. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 228/2 The centerboard trunk is made long so that the board may be dropped at any desired point forward or aft.
i. U.S. A floodgate or sluice controlling the flow of water into and out of rice-fields.
1856in Documentary Hist. Amer. Industr. Society (1910) I. 120 Trunk-minders undertake the whole care of the trunks. 1903‘P. Pennington’ Woman Rice Planter (1913) i. 8 Each field has a very small flood-gate (called a trunk), which opens and closes to let the water in and out. 1939Sat. Even. Post 10 June 37/2, I opened all my rice-field trunks, so that the flowed field inside would equalize the pressure from the flood outside, thus saving my banks.
III. A pipe or tube.
†11. A cylindrical case to contain or discharge explosives or combustibles; the barrel of a mortar, the case of a rocket, etc. Obs.
1548Privy Council Acts (1890) II. 177, ij dosan of tronques for wild fyer. 1581Styward Mart. Discipl. i. 12 To haue such gouernours as are..skilfull..in the making of trunkes, bawles, arrowes, and all other sortes of wilde fire. 1634I. B. Myst. Nat. & Art 57 Fire-works..as Crackers, Trunks, etc. a1660Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) I. 61 None could passe the same without eminent danger of fallinge under the fumie reache of that murtheringe troncke. Ibid. 102 Within the truncke some wilde fire in maner and forme of a bombe and granados. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 7 The cases, or trunks, of rockets.
†12. A pipe used as a speaking-tube or ear-trumpet. Obs.
1546Bale Eng. Votaries i. (1550) 70 The roode spake these wordes, or else a knaue monke behynde hym in a truncke through the wall. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxv. (Arb.) 311 Not to heare but by a trunke put to his eare. 1631Shirley Traitor iii. i, Ha! are there no trunks to convey secret voices? 1680C. Nesse Church-Hist. 75 Which..did but pass through him as a trunk through which a man speaks. 1704Swift Battle of Bks. Misc. (1711) 245 They whisper to each other thro a large hollow Trunk.
†13. A hollow tube from which a dart or pellet is shot by blowing; a blow-gun, a pea-shooter.
1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 20 They..blowe them [arrows] oute of a trunke as we doe pellets of claye. a1652Brome New Acad. iv. i, All my..tops, gigs, balls, cat and catsticks, pot guns, key guns, trunks, tillers, and all. 1755B. Martin Misc. Corr. Oct. 170 Two youths..in the gallery of Covent-garden Play-house..shooting Peas thro' a Tin Trunk in the Faces of the Audience. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iv. iv. §1 A substitute for the gun,..a long hollow tube called a trunk.
†14. More fully perspective trunk: A telescope; cf. trunk-glass, -spectacle in 18.
1610I. Heydon in Camden's Lett. (1691) 130 With one of our ordinary Trunks I have told eleven stars in the Pleiades. 1620B. Jonson New World in Moon Wks. (Rtldg.) 615/1 From the Moon!.. Oh, by a trunk! I know it, a thing no bigger than a flute-case: a neighbour of mine, a spectacle⁓maker, has drawn the moon through it at the bore of a whistle. 1620Wotton Let. to Bacon in Reliq. (1651) 414 A long perspective-trunke with the convexe glasse fitted to the said hole [in a camera obscura], and the concave taken out at the other end.
15. a. The elongated proboscis of the elephant; also transf. the prolonged flexible snout of the tapir, etc.
c1565R. Baker in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 150 The Elephant..With water fils his troonke right hie, and blowes it on the rest. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 816 There was another strange creature in Nicaragua..like a blacke Hogge, with..a short truncke or snowt like an Elephant. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 45 An Elephant..his Governour can make him do what he pleases with his Trunck. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 273 Two tame elephants..that caress the indignant animal with their trunks. c1850Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 685 The trunks, ears, and other parts of these elephants, were painted red and other colours.
b. slang. The human nose.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Trunk, a Nose. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Trunk, a nose [in various phrases]. 1901Lawson Remin. Dollar Acad. 87 The deep bass rumbling sound, which was emitted from his trunk.
†c. The long pointed bill of the heron. Obs. rare—1.
1575Turberv. Falconrie 160 A live hearon uppon the upper part of whose bill or truncke you must convey the joynt of a reed or cane.
d. The proboscis of some molluscs; also the proboscis of various insects. Now rare or Obs.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., The Mollusca,..some have acetabula, and two long trunks, which they use as anchors in storms. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 2 At his [the flea's] snout is fixed a Proboscis, or hollow trunk or probe. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. 125 Insects, which wound the tender buds with a long hollow trunk, and deposit an egg in the hole. 1805P. Wakefield Dom. Recreat. i. (1806) 5 There is as great a variety in the trunks of insects as in their antennae.
†16. pl. Also small trunks: an old game: = troll-madam; cf. trucks. Obs.
1607Christmas Prince ii. (1816) 45 Why say you not that Munday will bee drunke, Keepes all vnruly wakes, and playes at trunkes? 1611Cotgr., Trou Madame, the Game called Trunkes, or the Hole. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. iv, The ordinary recreations which we haue in Winter..are Cardes, Tables,..the Philosophers game, small truncks [etc.]. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iv. iv. 196 Billiards, Kettle-pins, Noddy-boards, Tables, Truncks, Shovell-boards, Fox and Geese, or the like. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Trunks, a kind of Play otherwise call'd Troll-Madame and Pigeon⁓holes. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Nine-holes, or Trunks, a game played with a long piece of wood or bridge with nine arches cut in it... Each player has two flattened balls, which he aims to bowl edge-ways under the arches; he scores the number marked over the arch he bowls through.
IV.
17. pl. †a. = trunk-hose. Obs.
1583Rates of Custome Ho. F j, Truncks the dosen xii. s. 1610B. Jonson Alch. iii. iii, Sixe great slopps, Bigger then three Dutch hoighs, besides round trunkes. 1652in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 490 There are Pages in trunks that ride behind the coches..cloath trunks billited or garded with velvet. 1672Lond. Gaz. No. 656/4 His Trunks and Stockings are of grey Worsted.
b. Short breeches of silk or other thin material; in theatrical use, often worn over tights; in quot. 1896 applied to ordinary breeches or knickerbockers.
1825Hone Every-day Bk. I. 1463 Theatrical ‘trunks’, or short breeches. 1837Dickens Pickw. xv, The appearance of Mr. Snodgrass in blue satin trunks and cloak, white silk tights and shoes, and Grecian helmet. 1874R. Buchanan Kitty Kemble 86 A slim fairy prince in trunks and tights. 1896Crockett Grey Man xvi, David had donned the trunks and laid by the bairn's kilts. 1906N. Munro in Blackw. Mag. Dec. 802/1 A right smart Alick in short trunks.
c. orig. U.S. Short tight-fitting drawers worn by swimmers and athletes. swimming trunks: see swimming vbl. n. 6.
1883Pall Mall G. 26 July 7/1 Captain Webb attempted his perilous feat of swimming the Niagara Rapids... He wore a pair of silk trunks. 1889Gunter That Frenchman xi, Black-velvet trunks cover his [the wrestler's] hips and thighs. 1891Daily News 30 May 5/5 The men are together in front of Harvard boathouse in caps, ‘sweaters’, trunks, and canvas shoes. 1894Ralph in Harper's Mag. Aug. 341 Nude bathing will not be permitted... The use of tights or ‘trunks’ will not be allowed. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 78 Trunks, swimming shorts. 1956P. Scott Male Child i. vi. 86 Except for a pair of swimming trunks he was naked. 1964L. Deighton Funeral in Berlin xviii. 107 A blond man in very small knitted swimming-trunks. 1982S. B. Flexner Listening to Amer. 61 Men's trunks had been in use by professional swimmers and athletes since the 1880s.
d. Knickers; underpants with short legs.
[1926–7Army & Navy Stores Catal. 705/1 Gent's underwear..Trunk drawers— 18/6.] 1936[see ankle-sock s.v. ankle n. 3]. 1970Kay & Co. (Worcester) Catal. 1970–71 Autumn–Winter 452 Meridian trunks. New style with shorter leg and continental front.
V.
18. attrib. and Comb., as, in senses 1 and 2, trunk-armour, trunk-bark, trunk-bone, trunk-diameter, trunk-muscle, trunk-rib, trunk-root, trunk-scar; in senses 4 and 4 b, trunk-dealer, trunk-drainage, trunk exchange, trunk-glacier, trunk-jack (Jack n.1 15 d), trunk-market (market n. 1 d), trunk-road, trunk route, trunk-sewer, trunk-sheath, trunk stream, trunk-telegraph, trunk-telephone, trunk-traffic, trunk-train, trunk-wire; in sense 4 c, trunk circuit; in senses 6 and 7, trunk-boot (boot n.3 4 c), trunk-buddle (see quot.), trunk-castor, trunk-check, trunk-lid, trunk-liner, trunk-lock, trunk-mail (mail n.2), trunk room, trunk-seller, trunk-shop, trunk strap; in sense 10 (c and d), trunk-hole, trunk-piston, trunk-plunger; in sense 15, trunk-bearer; trunk-nosed adj.; also trunk-alarm, an alarum which sounds when the trunk-lid is lifted (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877); trunk-back = trunk-turtle (U.S.); trunk-band Organ-building, a shallow box in the horizontal bellows to which the wind-trunk is attached; also called trunk-lining; † trunk-board, a platform for a trunk or trunks at the back of a carriage; trunk-brace, a support or stay for a trunk-lid, to prevent it from falling again when raised (Knight); trunk-cabin, a ship's cabin partly above and partly below the upper deck; cf. sense 10 e and trunk-deck (Cent. Dict. 1891); trunk-call, a call from one telephone exchange to another; trunk-case, that part of a chrysalis case which covers the thorax; trunk-deck, the top of a hatchway trunk projecting above the deck, or a row of these joined so as to form a kind of raised deck (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909); trunk dial, a clock having a long case to accommodate the pendulum; trunk dialling (see quot. 1971); trunk-engine, an engine having a tubular piston-rod; see sense 10 d; † trunk-glass = sense 14; trunk-leg, -limb, in Crustaceans, a leg attached to the thorax; trunk-light, a skylight placed over a trunk or shaft (Cassell's Encycl. Dict. 1888); trunk-lining, (a) = trunk-band; (b) material for lining trunks: cf. trunk-maker; trunk-machine, a tube or shaft for the conveyance of cotton from one machine to another during the preparatory processes (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909); trunk main, a large pipe for the conveyance of water, etc. under pressure, as distinguished from the reticulation of smaller mains fed therefrom; † trunk-manna: see quot.; trunk murder, a murder after which the body is hidden in a trunk; also trunk murderer; trunk-nail, a short nail with broad convex brass head used for ornamenting trunks and coffins (Knight); trunk-nose, the sea-elephant or elephant-seal (Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895); trunk-road, a main road; spec. in Grand (also Great) Trunk Road, the great highway between Calcutta and Amritsar constructed during the British Raj; trunk-rod, a fishing-rod composed of short joints for convenience in packing (U.S.); † trunk-saddle, ? a packsaddle adapted for carrying a trunk or chest; † trunk sleeve, a full, puffed sleeve; cf. sense 17 a; so trunk slops (slop n.1 4); † trunk-spectacle = sense 14; trunk-staithe, a wharf at which coal is loaded into vessels by a trunk or shoot; trunk-stay = trunk-brace (Knight); trunk-turtle, the Leathery Turtle or Leather-back, Dermatochelys (Sphargis) coriacea, of warm seas, having a flexible leathery carapace with osseous deposits and several longitudinal ridges; trunk-valve, in a steam-engine, a D slide-valve long enough to cover direct steamports when placed near the end of the cylinder (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909); † trunk-wame, a fiddle (dial.); trunk-way: see quot.; trunk-weed, ? a species of sea-weed; trunk-work, secret or clandestine action, as by means of a trunk. See also trunk-fish, trunk line, -maker.
1854Owen Skel. & Teeth in Orr's Circ. Sc. I. Org. Nat. 165 In these colossal armadillos..the *trunk-armour was in one immovable piece, covering the back and sides, and was not divided by bands.
1883S. Garman Rept. & Batrach. N. Amer. Introd. 6 Sea Turtles are numerous off the coasts of Florida. ‘*Trunk-backs’ or ‘Leather-backs’, Sphargis, are the largest.
1876Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Organ Construction, On it [the middle board] rests a strong ridge called the *trunk-band or lining, to which the wind trunks can be at any point joined. 1881W. E. Dickson Organ-Build. vi. 73 A shallow box, say 4 inches deep, upon the middle board, of the same size as the top board. This is called a trunk-band, and is introduced to allow of fixing the wind-trunks.
1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 37 It [Cinchona Condaminea] once yielded great quantities of thick *trunk bark, but..is now almost exterminated. Ibid. 81 From the trunk-bark of a plant of this species [Cinchona Calisaya]..he obtained..5 per cent. of alkaloids.
1861P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1860, 174 The shell of the *Trunk-bearers may almost always be known by a notch or canal at the base.
1819B. H. Latrobe Jrnl. (1905) 224 A girl of thirteen or fourteen years old sat up on the *trunk board behind.
1904Westm. Gaz. 23 Sept. 7/3 A second skull..but no trace of *trunk bones can be found.
1794W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. 54 The carriage..; an iron coach-box on a square *trunk-boot, raised on neat, carved blocks.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 751 The *trunk buddle is..composed of two parts; of a cistern or box into which a stream of water flows, and of a large tank with a smooth level bottom.
1878F. Davenport On Man-of-War 197 The captain had a small *trunk cabin, a little higher and abaft ours.
1910Times 19 Aug. 4/6 The telephone is still open, but..a message into the country usually involves a *trunk call.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxi. 250 The *Trunk-case, divided into the thorax, or upper surface, extending from the head to the dorsal segments of the abdomen.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Trunk-caster.
1906M. Nicholson House of 1000 Candles iii, I gave him my *trunk-checks.
1896*Trunk circuit [see trunking vbl. n.2 2]. 1921Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engineers LIX. 390/2 (caption) Trunk circuits radiating from London to provincial towns.
1909Westm. Gaz. 3 Mar. 9/1 *Trunk dealers received another disappointment in the traffic, which showed a decrease.
1896Nautical Mag. LXV. 1076 Oscar II..a *trunk deck vessel of the type invented by Mr. W. Hök.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 274 Generally *trunk dials have half seconds pendulums.
1952, etc. *Trunk dialling [see subscriber trunk dialling s.v. subscriber 3]. 1959Ann. Reg. 1958 505 Trunk dialling from Bristol began in December. 1971Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) iii. ii. 20 Trunk dialling, control of an exchange's automatic switching equipment from an exchange in another multi-exchange area over trunk or toll circuits. 1976Times 20 Dec. (Istanbul Suppl.) p. iv/3 Although international trunk-dialling is promised..it can take anything up to 15 minutes to get a dialling tone..in Istanbul.
1909Chamb. Jrnl. Sept. 561/2 The Rajah-tree..with a *trunk-diameter of six or eight feet.
1864C. S. Read in W. White Norfolk 67 Some better system of *trunk drainage should be at once adopted.
1864Webster, *Trunk-engine. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Trunk-engine, a direct-acting steam-engine, in which the end of the connecting-rod is attached to the bottom of a hollow trunk, passing steam-tight through the cylinder cover.
1908Daily Chron. 9 Dec. 1/4 Telephonists employed in *trunk exchanges.
1860Tyndall Glac. i. xiv. 99 The medial moraine of the *trunk glacier. 1875Wond. Phys. World i. ii. 55 To coalesce in one great trunk-glacier.
1613M. Ridley Magn. Bodies 28 A thing worthy of better observation from the *Truncke-glasse.
1881W. E. Dickson Organ-Build. v. 60 In one of these cheeks a *trunk-hole may have to be cut for the entrance of the wind.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXX. 479/2 Of the corresponding pairs of appendages..three..may be all maxillipeds or may help to swell the number of *trunk⁓legs.
1905Daily Chron. 4 Oct. 9/7 *Trunk Liner wanted; must be used to glue work. 1876*Trunk-lining [see trunk-band]. 1907Times 29 Mar. 6/2 Second⁓hand booksellers..know more about books, have a sounder judgment as to what is literature and what is trunk-lining.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. ii. 21 Chest Locks, *Trunk Locks, Pad-locks, &c.
1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 17 Apr., Tell Gwyllim that she forgot to pack up my flannels and wide shoes in the *trunk mail. 1820Scott Monast. xv, I hope, a'gad, they have not forgotten my trunk-mails of apparel.
1663Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. iv. 101 The Calabrians..by Incisions obtain from the common Ash Tree..a sweet Juice, so like to the Manna..that the Natives call it in their Language, Manna del corpo, or *Trunk-manna.
1902Westm. Gaz. 3 Apr. 9/1 A *Trunk market wit. 1907Ibid. 25 Mar. 9/3 Just come into the Trunk market for a second. 1884Birmingham Daily Post 23 Feb. 2/4 Trunk⁓moulding machine, 32 in. long, with dies complete.
1905Daily Mail 15 Apr. 5/4 (heading) The *trunk murder. How the bodies were found. 1936G. Greene Journey without Maps i. i. 11 Another clue in a trunk murder case. 1976S. Hynes Auden Generation v. 136 The crimes..are actual-sounding crimes: a trunk murder at Paddington station, a girl killed on Streatham Common.
1925P. Selver tr. K. Capek's Lett. from Eng. 54 At Madame Tussaud's..in the catalogue I found..Arthur Devereux, hanged 1905, known as the ‘*trunk murderer’, because he hid the corpses of his victims in trunks. 1962G. Butler Coffin in Oxford xiv. 176 Discovered your trunk murderer yet?
1872Humphry Myology 32 Where the fibres diverge from the *trunk-muscle. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 59 Rarely the spasm [of tetany] begins in the trunk muscles.
1887Kipling From Sea to Sea (1899) I. 114 The Englishman..took off his hat to the tun-bellied, *trunk-nosed God of Good-Luck. 1900― in Daily News 9 Mar. 6/2 The temple wherein the ‘tun-bellied’, ‘trunk-nosed’ god Ganesha (the divine Elephant) receives his worshippers.
1888Hasluck Model Engin. Handybk. (1900) 108 The feed-pump..is on the *trunk principle.
1885Nicholson Man. Zool. (ed. 4) 495 The anterior *trunk-ribs [of the Dinosauria] were double⁓headed.
1848J. Bourne Let. 24 Apr. in Railways in India (ed. 2) 19 The grand *trunk road, connecting Calcutta with the north west provinces..is already a railway all but the rails. 1851Ret. Public Works India 146 in Parl. Papers XLI. 513 Documents..report the progress of the works on the Great Trunk Road. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xlvi, Englebourn was situated on no trunk road. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 398 In India, on some of the trunk roads there are regular halting grounds. 1888Kipling Departm. Ditties (1890) 19 All those hairy gentlemen..Swaggered down the Grand Trunk Road into Bow Bazar. 1890R. S. Ferguson Hist. Cumberld. x. 149 The trunk-road itself passes Waverton. 1931J. W. Gregory Story of Road xviii. 274 In 1839 it was decided to construct a metalled road, the Grand Trunk Road, from Calcutta to Delhi... By 1849 about {pstlg}300,000 had been spent on it. 1937Archit. Rev. LXXXI. 155 The Trunk Roads Act comes into operation on April 1st. 1974Listener 2 May 574/3 Bentinck's Governor-Generalship..was not a complete failure, as the Great Trunk Road shows.
1893Outing (U.S.) XXII. 121/2 *Trunk rods made to pack in small space often have six or seven [joints].
1698J. Verney Let. 16 June in M. M. Verney Verney Lett. (1930) I. iii. 31 The little long room that is under the *Trunk room of the Purple Chamber. a1752Ld. Verney Will in Ibid. II. xxxiii. 246, I give to her..all the money & Jewels in the cabinet in the Trynk Room. 1860J. G. Holland Miss Gilbert's Career (1866) 293 Cheek was..led to the trunk-room of the lodging-hall. 1952E. Wilson Lilly's Story i, in Equations of Love 133 A trunk-room full of the trunks which accompany a large English family in migration. 1970Times 2 June (Container Suppl.) p. i/5 Container ships,..capable of carrying as much general cargo in a year on a trunk-route shuttle service as an entire fleet of traditional break-bulk cargo liners.
1671Grew Anat. Plants iii. App. §1 *Trunk-Roots are of two kinds:..those that vegetate by a direct descent... The other sort..shoot forth at right Angles with the Trunk.
1569in Richmond Wills (Surtees) 219 In his owen stable..iiij hackney sadles..one *trouncke sadle.
1857Gosse Omphalos xii. 364 The Palm and the Tree-fern show, in their *trunk-scars, evidences of organs which have completely died away and disappeared.
1855Trollope Warden xvi. 264 He remembered the shop distinctly; it was next door to a *trunk-seller's.
1899Daily News 6 Dec. 6/6 We cannot possibly deal with local floodings..unless you give us the necessary additional *trunk sewers.
1893A. S. Eccles Sciatica 15 The nerves of the *trunk⁓sheath have been stimulated by the cold impression.
1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 142 A loose bodied gowne..With a small compast cape..a *trunke sleeue. 1603Florio Montaigne ii. xii. (1632) 301 They make trunk-sleeves of wyre and whale-bone bodies. 1606Marston Parasit. iv. F iij b, A simple, country Ladie, wore gold buttons, trunck sleeues, and flaggon bracelets.
1592Nashe P. Penilesse (ed. 2) 6 b, A paire of *trunke slops, sagging down like a Shoomakers wallet.
1613M. Ridley Magn. Bodies 1 The foure attenders vpon Iupiter, lately discouered by the *trunke spectacle. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. iv. (1635) 79 Many [stars] haue lately beene discouered, by reason of the Trunk-spectacle lately found out.
1789Brand Hist. Newcastle II. 256 note, When the waggons are emptied into a keel or vessel by a spout, it is called a *trunk staith.
1887Kipling From Sea to Sea (1899) I. 40 Jey Singh..would have hanged those Globe-trotters in their *trunk-straps. 1970Country Life 31 Dec. 1296/2 The hood, when up, was secured to the front mudguards by two stout trunk straps.
1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxi. 149 All the glaciers..are suddenly turned aside where they meet the great *trunk stream. Ibid. ii. x. 287 The width of the trunk stream is a little better than one-third of that of its tributaries.
1903Daily Chron. 7 Oct. 7/1 An underground *trunk telegraph line to Scotland.
1909Westm. Gaz. 17 Apr. 9/4 Sunday duty by females in the *trunk telephone department should be abolished.
1899Ibid. 32 Aug. 4/3 It is no light task to make up a *trunk train in such satisfactory proportions.
1697W. Dampier Voy. round World (1699) 103 There are 4 sorts of Sea-turtle, viz. the *Trunk-turtle, the Loggerhead, the Hawks-bill and the Green-turtle. 1735Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXIX. 117 Testudo Arcuata: The Trunk-Turtle. 1827Roberts Voy. Centr. Amer. 94 A trunk-turtle, a species of immense size and exceedingly fat.
16..Poems, Ballads, etc. (Percy Soc.) 196, I pray who's this we've met with here, That tickles his *trunk weam?.. If he'll play,..We'll dance you Jumping Joan.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, *Trunk-way, a water course through an arch of masonry, turned over a ditch before a gate. The name arose no doubt, from the trunks of trees used for the same purpose in ancient and simpler times.
1730Capt. W. Wriglesworth MS. Log-bk. of the ‘Lyell’ 5 May, At 6 this morning Saw a bunch of *Trunk Weeds.
1885List of Subscribers, Classified (United Telephone Co.) (ed. 6) 8 The very great cost of running and maintaining the *Trunk wires between the different Exchanges. 1897Daily News 20 Jan. 10/4 The Postmaster-General..states that..efficient working of the trunk wires is engaging his earnest attention.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. iii. iii. 75 This has beene some staire-worke, some *Trunke-worke, some behinde-doore worke. 1920‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 25 Sept. (1928) 46, I heard again from Methuen to-day. They now say they'd like 2 books for next spring. I think there must have been some trunk work, some back stair work in this on your part.
Hence ˈtrunkie Sc., a little trunk (sense 7).
1728Ramsay Bob of Dunblane i, Gang to the ground of ye'r trunkies, Busk ye braw.
Add:[I.] [4.] d. [Back-formation from trunking vbl. n.2 1 c.] A long shift of driving a lorry along trunk roads; a spell of ‘trunking’. colloq.
1968P. G. Hollowell Lorry Driver vi. 155 [The driver's wife] didn't like the night trunk. I used to go away on Sunday night and not get back until Tuesday. 1989Truck & Driver Feb. 37/1 Even with the horrendous road structure of the '50s, you could do this job in a week, provided one night of that week you did a trunk.
▪ II. † trunk, v.1 Obs.
[ad. L. truncāre: see truncate v.]
trans. To cut a part off from; to cut short, truncate; to lop, clip, prune.
c1440Pallad. on Husb. iv. 86 Ek summe her aged vynes wole repare, And trunke hem of al hie abouen grounde. a1550–c 1828 [see trunked ppl. a.1 2]. 1586J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie ii. 38 His coate-armor rased, his Sheeld reuersed, his Speare truncked, his spurres hewed from his heeles. 1611[see trunking vbl. n.1]. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xxii. (Roxb.) 274/1 Termes used by Tobacconists... Trunk it, is to make it in Order for the boxes.
▪ III. trunk, v.2|trʌŋk|
[f. trunk n.]
1. trans. To shut up as in a trunk; to imprison. rare.
1608Middleton Fam. Love ii. iv, I thought thou had'st been cabin'd in thy ship, Not trunk'd within my cruel guardian's house.
2. Mining. To dress (lead or tin ore) by agitating it in water; cf. trunk n. 9.
1758Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornw. 204 What runs off to the hindermost part of the pit..and..is slimy..must be trunked, buddled, and tozed, as the slimy tin. 1778Pryce Min. Cornub. 238 In order to clear the earthy sordes from the slime or loobs, it may be trunked. 1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornw., etc. xv. 579 In 1778 we find that the slime and tails, after having been allowed to dry, were trunked and framed. 1881[see trunking vbl. n.2].
3. To cover or enclose as with a casing; see quots.
1838Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 383/2 The road-way is then to be floored or trunked over with five courses of dry heathy sods. 1883[see trunking vbl. n.2 b].
4. Of an elephant: To pick up, pull, or pluck with the trunk. nonce-use.
1901N. & Q. 9th Ser. VII. 165/1 The elephants went past a garden with cabbages in it, and did not they trunk them up!
Add:5. To make (a minor road) into a trunk road; to upgrade and reclassify as a trunk road.
1954Times 27 Mar. 7/7 You may be interested to know the verbs, to ‘trunk’ and to ‘de-trunk’, used in connexion with roads in Ministry of Transport circles. 1971Country Life 29 July 282/4 There is a possibility that this road will be trunked and heavy lorries and tankers will thunder through the dale. 1972Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 8 Sept. 7/2 The old A594 from Penrith, where the M6 runs, was trunked and rechristened A66. 1983Times 11 Oct. 2/6 Metropolitan roads to be trunked. |