Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

trench

 
Dictionary: trench   (trĕnch) pronunciation
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary
n.
  1. A deep furrow or ditch.
  2. A long narrow ditch embanked with its own soil and used for concealment and protection in warfare.
  3. A long, steep-sided valley on the ocean floor.

v., trenched, trench·ing, trench·es.

v.tr.
  1. To cut a trench in.
  2. To fortify with trenches.
  3. To place in a trench.
  4. To make a cut in; carve.
v.intr.
  1. To dig trenches or a trench.
  2. To verge or encroach. Often used with on or upon.

[Middle English trenche, from Old French, from trenchier, to cut, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *trincāre, variant of Latin truncāre, from truncus, trunk.]


Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

US Military Dictionary: trench
Top
Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > US Military Dictionary

n. 1. a long, narrow ditch.

2. such a ditch dug by troops to provide a place of shelter from enemy fire.

3. (trenches) a connected system of such ditches forming an army's line.

4. (the trenches) the battlefields of northern France and Belgium in World War I: the slaughter in the trenches created a new cynicism.

v.

dig a trench or trenches in (the ground): the soldiers trenched a long line of defense.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Archaeology Dictionary: trench
Top
Home > Library > Science > Archaeology Dictionary

[Ge]

In archaeology the term trench is used to refer to any area of ground that is subject to a formal excavation. Although originally archaeological trenches were often long narrow cuttings, since the 1950s there has been a trend towards the use of larger and more open areas.
Wikipedia: Trench
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For other uses of the word, see Trench (disambiguation).
Search Wiktionary Look up trench in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
A gas main being laid in a trench.


Contents

Usage

A number of areas exist in which trenches play a significant role:

Agriculture

Trenches have long been used to carry water. Trenches can be used for draining purposes, leading water away from a swamp or wetland that is to be dried out. Likewise they can be used for irrigation purposes, directing water into dry areas. Both uses generally require a slope for the water to flow down.

Archeology

Archeologists may use the 'trench method', pioneered by Dame Kathleen Kenyon in Israel, for searching and excavating ancient ruins or to dig into strata of sedimented material to get a sideways (layered) view of the deposits - with a hope of being able to place found objects or materials in a chronological order. The advantage of this method is that it destroys only a small part of the site (those areas where the trenches, often arranged in a grid pattern, are located). However, this method also has the disadvantage of only revealing small slices of the whole volume, and modern archeological digs usually employ combination methods.[1] Also used to hold water to keep out waterfrom fludding a place

Geology

Trenches are a natural feature in many landscapes. Some are created by rivers in flow (which may have long since fallen dry), others are features created by geological movement, such as oceanic trenches. The latter form is relatively deep, linear and narrow, and is formed by plate subduction.[2]

Infrastructure

In the civil engineering field of construction or maintenance of infrastructure, trenches play a major role. They may be created to search for pipes and other infrastructure that is known to be underground in the general area, but whose exact location has been lost ('search trench' or 'search slit'). They are also used to underground easily damaged and obstructive infrastructure or utilities (such as gas mains, water mains or telephone lines). A similar use for higher bulk would be in pipeline transport. Finally, trenches may be created as the first step of creating a foundation wall.

Military usage

Main articles: Trench warfare and Battle of the Trench

While trenches have often been dug as defensive measures, in the pre-firearm eras, they were mainly a type of hindrance for an attacker of a fortified location, such as the moat around a castle (this is technically called a ditch). An early example of this can be seen in the Battle of the Trench.

Only with the advent of accurate firearms, and the tactics that evolved in World War I and the Crimean War, did the use of trenches as positions for the defender of a fortification become common, though the Māori of New Zealand were known to have used it earlier in their Pā fortifications in the late 19th Century. The military usage evolved very quickly in the First World War, until whole systems of extensive main trenches, backup trenches (in case the first lines were overrun) and communication trenches had been developed, often stretching dozens of kilometres along a front without interruption, and some kilometres further back from the opponents lines.


Other uses

  • Trenches are often used for mass graves, sometimes even dug by prisoners about to be executed.
  • Sunken trenches may be combined with a wall on one of their sides to form a ha-ha, a type of hidden fence.

See also

References

  1. ^ Archaeology - Restore! Magazine, Winter 1998
  2. ^ Ocean trench (glossary from Student Resource Center website, Houghton Mifflin college division)

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Translations: Trench
Top
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Translations

Dansk (Danish)
n. - grøft, rende, skyttegrav
v. tr. - reolgrave, kulegrave
v. intr. - grave skyttegrav

idioms:

  • trench coat    trenchcoat
  • trench foot    skyttegravsfod (kredsløbsskader)
  • trench warfare    skyttegravskrig

Nederlands (Dutch)
geul, loopgraaf, greppels graven, inbreuk maken, aanspreken, naderen

Français (French)
n. - tranchée, terrier
v. tr. - creuser des tranchées
v. intr. - creuser des tranchées

idioms:

  • trench coat    imperméable, trench-coat
  • trench foot    (Méd) pied des tranchées
  • trench warfare    guerre des tranchées

Deutsch (German)
n. - Graben, Rinne, Schützengraben, Grabensystem
v. - (Gräben) ausheben, mit Gräben versehen, übergreifen, nahe herankommen

idioms:

  • trench coat    Wettermantel, Trenchcoat
  • trench foot    Schützengrabenfüße
  • trench warfare    Grabenkrieg

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αυλάκι, τάφρος, χαντάκι, χαράκωμα, όρυγμα
v. - αυλακώνω, ανοίγω ή σκάβω αυλάκι/όρυγμα/τάφρο, κάνω χαράκωμα

idioms:

  • trench coat    (ενδυμ.) γκαμπαρντίνα με επωμίδες, τρένσκοουτ
  • trench foot    κρυοπάγημα
  • trench warfare    (στρατ.) πόλεμος χαρακωμάτων

Italiano (Italian)
canale, trincea, trincerare

idioms:

  • trench coat    impermeabile
  • trench foot    assideramento del piede
  • trench warfare    guerra di trincea

Português (Portuguese)
n. - trincheira (f), vala (f), fosso (m)
v. - entrincheirar

idioms:

  • trench coat    impermeável
  • trench foot    pé de trincheira
  • trench warfare    guerra de trincheira

Русский (Russian)
траншея, канава, ров, окоп, (горн.) шурф

idioms:

  • trench coat    походная шинель, шинель военного покроя
  • trench foot    (мед.) траншейная стопа
  • trench warfare    окопная (позиционная) война

Español (Spanish)
n. - zanja, trinchera, acequia
v. tr. - abrir zanjas o trincheras, cortar, avenar (un terreno), atrincherar
v. intr. - hacer surco, abrir cauce, atrincherarse

idioms:

  • trench coat    trinchera, impermeable
  • trench foot    pie de trinchera (enfermedad)
  • trench warfare    guerra de trinchera a trinchera

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - dike, skyttegrav, löpgrav
v. - dika, gräva upp, skära igenom, gräva dike, djupgräva, djupplöja

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
沟渠, 管沟, 堑壕, 蚕食, 侵犯, 挖, 挖战壕, 接近

idioms:

  • trench coat    军用防水短上衣
  • trench foot    战壕脚
  • trench warfare    堑壕战

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 溝渠, 管溝, 塹壕
v. tr. - 蠶食, 侵犯, 挖
v. intr. - 挖戰壕, 侵犯, 接近

idioms:

  • trench coat    軍用防水短上衣
  • trench foot    戰壕腳
  • trench warfare    塹壕戰

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 참호, 도랑, 해구
v. tr. - 도랑을 파다, 갈다, 홈을 파다
v. intr. - 참호를 파다, 침해하다, 접근하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 溝, 堀, 塹壕, 海溝
v. - 溝を掘る, 掘る

idioms:

  • trench coat    トレンチコート
  • trench foot    塹壕足炎, 塹壕足
  • trench warfare    塹壕戦

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) خندق (فعل) ينقش, يحفر خندقا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חפירה, תעלה, שוחה‬
v. tr. - ‮חפר תעלה, ביצר בחפירות‬
v. intr. - ‮התחפר‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Trench".  Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more