Forms: 4–5 trencheour, -chour, 4 -chur, 4–6 -chor, 5 -chowre, trenschowre, -shoure, ? 4, 5– trencher, (6 Sc. trunsch(e)our, -owr, -zour), 7 trentcher. [a. AF. trenchour = ONF. trencheor (1206 in Godef.), tren-, trancheur, = OF. tranchouoir (14th c. in Littré), trencheoir (Cotgr.), mod.F. tranchoir, f. † trenchier, trancher to cut, TRENCH v., with suffix -oir, representing L. -ātorium. Godef. exemplifies the word in senses corresp. to both our branches I. and II.]
I. † 1. A cutting or slicing instrument; a knife.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 166. Fulle broþely & brim he kept vp a trencheour, & kast it at Statin,… His nese & his ine he carfe at misauentoure.
c. 1400. Songs Costume (Percy Soc.), 50. My baselard hath a trencher kene, Fayr as rasour scharp and schene.
c. 1410. Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), xxxiii. With a sharpe trenshoure kut as thyk as he canne þe flessh a doune to þe necke bone.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 501/2. Trenchowre, knyfe.
1553. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scotl., X. 204. For ane cais to put sylver trunscheouris in of my lord governoures.
II. 2. A flat piece of wood, square or circular, on which meat was served and cut up; a plate or platter of wood, metal, or earthenware. arch. and Hist.
c. 1308. Song Times, in Pol. Songs (Camden), 204. A rowȝ bare trenchur, other a crust.
1360–70. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 175. In j pare de Trenchours pro priore, xij s.
1505. in Exch. Rolls Scotl., XII. 673. xxiiij poter dischis, xxiiij saw[s]aris, xij trunzouris.
1529. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. (1883), 177. A half galloun, a quart … a dische, a salsar and a trunscheour, extending to 13/4 stanis of puder.
1547. Bk. Marchauntes, b ij. Thei mak them kisse a trenchor or a small platter of gold, siluer, or lead: which thei name the platine.
1573–80. Baret, Alv., T 357. A Trencher to eate meate on,… A broad trencher … A round trencher.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, III. ii. 48. They inagined the world to be flat and round, like a trencher.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), Trencher, a square, thin Plate of Wood, for People to cut their Meat upon.
1801. Mar. Edgeworth, Angelina, ii. The first dinner which she ate on wooden trenchers delighted her.
1895. Lyon, Chron. Finchampstead, 90. A very ancient oak table, which had round places scooped out in it to receive a trencher or wooden basin for each person who dined at it.
† 3. A slice of bread used instead of a plate or platter. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 115. Siche whelpis shulden ete trenchours of lordis.
1392. Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 218. In pane pro trenchors, v duc. di.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 41. Take whyte Brede, & kytte to trenchours.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxxiv. 121. They sette hemselfe atte dyner, & made trenchers of brede for to putte theyr mete vpon.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. iii. 26. Ne spair thai nocht at last … Their fatale four nukit trunschowris for to eit.
4. A trencher and that which it bears; a supply of food; cf. TABLE 6 c. arch.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 238. What benefites are obteined, by the sweate of other mennes labours, and also by the fatte crumbes of other mennes trenchers.
1612. Dekker, If it be not Good, Wks. 1873, III. 280. Waite on the Priors Trencher soberly.
1659. W. Brough, Schism, 535. These new rabbis … are chaplains extraordinary to the trencher.
1667. L. Stucley, Gospel-Glass, xxii. (1670), 224. We have … brought our Children to live upon others trenchers.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., Spectre Bridegroom. Even the poor relations paused for a moment from the indefatigable labours of the trencher.
b. In proverbial phrases, chiefly of obvious meaning. To lick the trencher, to toady; to play the parasite. Trim as a trencher: see quot. 1542.
1543. Udall, Erasm. Apophth., II. 246 b. Fillyng vp as trymme as a trencher ye space that stood voide.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxv. (Arb.), 307. To speake faire to a mans face, and foule behinde his backe, to set him at his trencher and yet sit on his skirts.
1602. [see LICK v. 1 b].
1649. Bp. Hall, Cases Consc., III. iii. (1654), 189. Carve you for your selfe and looke to your owne trencher.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. Pop., viii. M.’s Wks. 1851, VIII. 185. You were there a few years ago, and began to lick a Cardinal’s Trencher.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, II. xv. He will be at Roncq time enough to lick my Lord Duke’s trenchers at supper.
5. transf. A fat board, circular or otherwise.
c. 1511. 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.), Introd. 28/1. That Lande is so full of sande yat they muste goo vpon brode trenchers that they falle not & synke.
1669. Boyle, Contn. New Exp., I. xli. (1682), 144. In the midst of the fixed Trencher (as we call a piece of solid wood shap’d like a Milstone).
1710. J. Clarke, Rohault’s Nat. Phil. (1729), I. 61. Water in a Pail is made to ascend up a Trunk, such as they shoot with, open at both Ends, and one End fixed in a Hole in a Trencher which exactly fits the whole Superficies; upon depressing the Trencher, the Water is forced up.
1825. Scott, Talism., vi. At the barriers, when swords are blunted at point and edge, and spears are tipped with trenchers of wood, instead of steel pikes.
b. Applied to a butcher’s ‘tray.’
1903. F. Markham, Recoll. Town Boy Westminster, 97. The butcher had his long trencher in which he carried his meat about.
6. spec. = TRENCHER-CAP.
1834. [implied in trencherless: see below].
1848. Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xiv. [The Master of a College’s] crawler would have no objection to carry his trencher.
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, i. The boys began to file out, putting on their trenchers, as they clattered down the steps.
1906. Daily Chron., 26 Sept., 5/6. The girl students … in their red gowns and trenchers adorned with a red tassel.
7. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as trencher-basket, -food, -house, -room, -side; in sense 4, or in allusion to presence or entertainment at the table of a patron, as trencher-analect, -art, -attendant, -buffoon, -companion, -critic, -fury, -hero, -knight, -labourer, law, -mate, -philosopher, -poetry, -rascal, -saint, -schoolmaster, -service, -slave, -squire, -waiter. b. objective, etc., as trencher-carrier, -licker (see 4 b), -maker, -making, -scraper, -shifter; also trencher-like adj. c. Special Combs.: trencher-beard, a beard resembling a trencher, i.e., large, flat, and square or round; † trencher-bread, bread made of unbolted flour for use as trenchers (sense 3); trencher-coat, in gilding: see quotation; trencher-fed a., of fox-hounds: kept and fed by the several owners or members of the hunt, as distinguished from a pack that is kept in the hunt kennels; † trencher-fee, scraps of food given in alms; † trencher-knife, a pantry knife for cutting bread into ‘trenchers’; † trencher-loaf, cf. trencher-bread; trencher-plate, a plate shaped like or used as a trencher; spec. in Ceramics, a flat earthenware plate with a narrow rim; also (collective) plate or precious metal of which trenchers were made; † trencher-salt, -salt-cellar, a small salt-cellar placed near a guest’s trencher at table; trencher-time, dinner-time, meal-time. See also TRENCHER-CAP, -CHAPLAIN, etc.
a. 1643. W. Cartwright, Ordinary, III. v. No gleanings, James? No *trencher-analects?
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal (1673), 64. No man to rarer *trencher-art aspir’d.
1592. Nashe, Four Lett. Confut., Wks. (Grosart), II. 224. Your *trenchor attendant … intends to tickle vp a Treatise of the barly kurnell, which you set in your garden.
1630. Maldon, Essex, Documents, Bundle 217, No. 22. 1 *trentcher basket 6d.
a. 1668. Davenant, News fr. Plymouth, Wks. (1673), 3. Her Parent With a soure brow, and *Trencher Beard.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 56. *Trencher bred iiij. dayes [old] is convenyent & agreable.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, Wks. (Grosart), III. 143. He was to make a iourney to London … to haue his blue coate (being destitute of euer another *trencher-carrier) credit him vp, though it were thrid bare.
1847–78. Halliwell, *Trencher-cloak, a kind of cloak worn formerly by servants and apprentices.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 613. Coat of assiette; *trencher coat. This is the composition on which the gold is to be laid.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., iii[i]. The ci-devant laird, once his patron, but now glad to be his *trencher-companion.
1598. Bp. Hall, Sat., IV. iv. 23. Neuer haue I Salerne rimes profest To be some Ladies *trencher-criticke guest.
1887. A. E. Pease (title), The Cleveland Hounds as a *Trencher-Fed Pack.
1892. Daily Tel., 27 Aug. The oldest pack of regular, as distinguished from trencher-fed foxhounds.
1641. Brome, Joviall Crew, III. Wks. 1873, III. 396. Dainty *Trencher-Fees, from a Gentleman’s house; Such as the Serving-men themselves, sometimes, Would have been glad of.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, I. II. lxxx. Our mind cannot attend our *trencher-food.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., II. Wks. 1851, III. 149. A work … like that which flows at wast from … the *trencher fury of a riming parasite.
1607. G. Wilkins, Miseries Enforced Marr., V. I iv. You knaue Slaue—*trencher-groome. Who is your maister?
1792. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Churchwarden, iv. Wks. 1812, III. 111. The *Trencher Heroes hate All Obstacles that keep them from the plate.
1691. Case of Exeter Coll., 18. A little Room in the Colledge, called the *Trencher-house.
1392–3. Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 195. Clerico panetrie per manus eiusdem, pro j *trenchurknyff per ipsum empto.
1459. Paston Lett., I. 488. Item, j. trencher knyfe.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 464. Some mumble-newes, some *trencher-knight.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 506. This *Trencher-labourer will not drink with that Divine.
1597–8. Bp. Hall, Sat., IV. iv. 21. When splenish morsels cram the gaping Maw, Withouten diets care, or *trencher-law.
1812. W. Tennant, Anster F., IV. i. A *trencher-licker in Apollo’s court.
1727. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Blowing of Flower, To shade it … with a *Trencher-like Board, or some other Device.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 197. viij. louys bred with iij. or iiij. *trenchere lovis.
1588. in Lyon, Chron. Finchampstead (1895), 212. James Redinge of Fynchamsted in the County of Barkes *Trenchermaker.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 98. The Trencher-maker is … cautious of getting the Sap out of this Wood.
1815. Scott, Guy M., vii. The art of *trencher-making, of manufacturing horn-spoons, and the whole mystery of the tinker.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. ii. § 2. These *trencher-mates … frame to themselues a way more pleasant.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. iii. § 9. Those *Trencher Philosophers, which, in the later age of the Romane State, were vsually in the houses of great persons.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Vne Assiette & trencheoir, a *trencher plate.
1625. in Rymer Fœdera (1726), XVIII. 239/1. Sixe Trencher Plates of Goulde with Armes.
1641. in Rushw., Hist. Coll., III. (1692), I. 281. For the relieving the present Necessity of Money, a Proportion of Plate should be melted for Coyn; and that the same shall be Trencher-Plate, and Dish-Plate.
1597–8. Bp. Hall, Sat., I. i. 13. Such hunger-starven *trencher-poetrie.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., I. i. Away, you *trencher-raskall.
1691. Case of Exeter Coll., 8. And then she went to the *Trencher Room.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., lix. These *Trencher-Sts; full-paunch’t Boetians.
1614. Tomkis, Albumazar, V. i. K j b. Alb. Shall I haue nothing? Ron. No, not a siluer spoone. Fur. Nor couer of a *Trencher-salt.
1625. in Rymer, Fœdera (1726), XVIII. 238/2. A Trencher Salte of Golde in Forme of a Castle.
1681. Lond. Gaz., No. 1614/4. Two Silver *Trencher-Saltsellers, being marked within side S. W. E.
1609. Sir E. Hoby, Lett. to T. H[iggons], 23. The multiplicitie of Schools, needlesse Lecturers, and *trencher Schoolemasters.
1650. Weldon, Crt. Jas. I. (1651), 34. He had starved, had not a *Trencher-scraper, sometime his servant … releived him with scraps.
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., Wks. (Grosart), V. 27. My state, you are not ignorant, depends on *trencher seruice.
1829. Scott, Ho. Aspen, II. ii. Here’s much to do about an old crazy *trencher-shifter.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps., To Rdr. 9. There bee also certein *trencher-slaves, of whom David complaineth.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 113. The English were neuer more idle,… neuer more base … trencher slaues, then in that age, wherein great men keept open houses for all commers.
1706. J. Dunton, Life & Err. (1818), II. xiii. 485. Thou art a *Trencher-snake, a swallow-guest.
1628. Shirley, Witty Fair One, I. iii. How now, my officious *trencher-squire?
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, xxxiv. Trencher-Squires, that spend their time in Hopping from One Great man’s Table to Anothers.
1846. Landor, Exam. Shaks., Wks. II. 280/1. Did he discourse at all at *trencher-time?
1638. Ford, Lady’s Trial, II. ii. In your girl’s days, you fell, forsooth, In love, and married … A *trencher-waiter.
Hence Trencherful, as much as a trencher will hold; Trencherless a., without a trencher (in quot. a trencher-cap).
1660. Pepys, Diary, 16 Feb. We went to the Sun Taverne in expectation of a dinner, where we had sent us only *trencherfulls of meat.
1883. Gilmour, Mongols, xxi. 266. A trencherful of hard sour masses of material.
1921. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12 Feb., 5/3. Here’s a good trencherful for ye mystery hounds!
1834. Blackw. Mag., XXXVI. 779. Pozzlethwayte was … cravat-less, hat-less, *trencher-less, and, alas! wig-less.
