Definition of trench

• v. t. - To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, or the like.
• v. t. - To fortify by cutting a ditch, and raising a rampart or breastwork with the earth thrown out of the ditch; to intrench.
• v. t. - To cut furrows or ditches in; as, to trench land for the purpose of draining it.
• v. t. - 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.
• v. i. - To encroach; to intrench.
• v. i. - To have direction; to aim or tend.
• v. t. - A long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch; as, a trench for draining land.
• v. t. - An alley; a narrow path or walk cut through woods, shrubbery, or the like.
• v. t. - 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.