vbl. sb. [f. TRENCH v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb TRENCH, in its various senses.
1543–4. Act 35 Hen. VIII., c. 10. Any digging trenching or breakinge of suche Grounde.
1632. Sanderson, Serm. (1657), I. 372. Sufficient to acquit … the Constitutions from that trenching upon Christian liberty, wherewith they are charged.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 278. The trenching of land in the open fields … is not so expensive as is generally supposed.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 20 Nov., 7/3. Commandant Cronje had marked each step of his advance on the town by elaborate trenching.
b. attrib. and Comb., as trenching-fork, -knife, -plough, -spade, -system, -tool; trenching-plane, a grooving-plane.
1875. Encycl. Brit., I. 335/2. To have those patches of ground … which are missed in ploughing, gone over with the *trenching-fork.
c. 1510. Kalender of Sheph., E v. A great bochery, where as Yreful men and women were thorowe persyd with *trenchyng knyues.
1859. F. S. Cooper, Ironmongers’ Catal., 134. *Trenching Plane.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 231. The *Trenching-Plough or Coulter is a certain Instrument used in Meadow or Pasture-ground, to cut out the sides of Trenches, Carriages or Drains.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 326. The Trenching Plough, is either a Wheel or Foot-plough.
1904. Daily News, 18 Aug., 8/1. Parties of soldiers … were going about the field with *trenching spades burying the dead.
1780. A. Young, Tour Irel., I. 17. Great quantities of potatoes planted in the *trenching way.
