Also 6–7 trundel(l), 7 trondle, 8–9 Sc. truntle, 9 dial. trunnel, -nle. [A parallel form to TRENDLE, TRINDLE sb.]
I. Something that trundles or is trundled.
1. A small wheel, roller, or revolving disk; esp. a small but massive wheel adapted for supporting a heavy weight, as the wheel of a castor.
1564, 1602. [see TRUNDLE-BED β].
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 257. Wheel, Truckle, Trundle.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., II. vi. 68. Points, Halfs, and Quarters, which is on the two Trundles.
1833. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 16. They are submitted to the buff, which is a trundle of wood covered with thick soft leather, and made to revolve rapidly.
b. Organ-building. In the draw-stop action, A roller with two arms by the rotation of which a slider is drawn or replaced.
1876–98. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, 342. When the stop is pulled out, the arms aa draw the trace b from right to left, the end of the trundle c being attached to the trace is moved in a similar direction, whilst the other end of the trundle d moves in an opposite direction, and draws out the slider.
1881. W. E. Dickson, Organ-Build., x. 130. The connection of these horizontal draw-bars with the vertical levers will be effected by squares or bell-cranks of a form known as ‘trundles.’
2. A device consisting of two disks turning on an axle, and connected by a series of parallel staves cylindrically arranged, which engage with the teeth of a cog-wheel; a lantern-wheel. In early use, each of such disks (= trundle-head (a): see 7). Also, each of the staves of this device.
1611. Cotgr., Lanterne à pagnons, a paire of trundles, or trundle heads; that which is turned about by the cog wheele of a Mill.
1660. R. D’acres, Art Water-drawing, 13. Great wooden wheels with Coggs in them, working Trundles with round staves in them.
1764. J. Ferguson, Lect., iii. 35. A winch six inches long, fixt on the axis of a trundle of 8 staves or rounds.
1801. Bournon, in Phil. Trans., XCI. 186. They form a kind of indented cylinders, which have some resemblance to the trundle of a mill.
1829. Nat. Philos., I. Mechanics, II. vii. 30 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.). The cylindrical teeth or bars of the lantern are called trundles or spindles.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, II. 125. He employed cast iron pinions, instead of the wooden trundles formerly used.
3. A low truck or carriage on small wheels. ? Obs.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1679), 22. [In replanting a tree] You may weigh up, and place the whole weighty Clod upon a Trundle to be convey’d, and Replanted where you please.
1766. Compl. Farmer, Trundle, a sort of carriage with low wheels, for carrying heavy and cumbersome loads.
4. An embroiderer’s quill of gold thread; in Her., a charge representing this.
c. 1828. Berry, Encycl. Her., I. Gloss., Trundles, quills of gold thread used by embroiderers, and borne by them in the Arms of their Company.
1894. Parker’s Gloss. Her., 225. Embroiderers’ Broaches, Trundles, and Quill…. The Trundle represents a quill of gold thread, two of which are represented in the arms of the London company.
II. An act of trundling (lit. or fig.).
5. An act of trundling or rolling; an impulse that causes something to roll.
1893. Q. [Couch], Delect. Duchy, 95. They … gave the stone a trundle.
6. fig. A going along or away; a course; departure: in phr. to run or take one’s trundle, to take one’s course. dial.
1675. V. Alsop, Anti-Sozzo, 388. I resolved he should run his Trundle.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 41. So take your trundle now, and good luck may ye see! Ibid., II. 97. Ye’re each at once as free To take your trundle as ye us’d to be.
III. 7. attrib. and Comb. (in some cases perh. directly from the vb.): trundle-head, (a) each of the disks of a trundle (sense 2); (b) = sense 2; (c) Naut. (see quot. 1867); trundle-shot, a shot consisting of a bar of iron with sharpened ends and a ball of lead attached near each end so as to cause it to turn in its flight; trundle-wheel = sense 2. See also TRUNDLE-BED, -TAIL; also trunnel-head, -hole s.v. TRUNNEL.
1611. *Trundle heads [see 2].
1766. Compl. Farmer, s.v. Madder, The trundle-head, thirteen inches semi-diameter, furnished with eighteen rounds, each a foot long, and two inches diameter: the ends of this trundle-head are two inches and a half thick.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Trundle-head, the lower drum-head of a capstern, when it is double, and worked on one shaft both on an upper and lower deck.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., xiv. 67. *Trundle shot is … a bolt of iron sixteene or eighteene inches in length; at both ends sharpe pointed, and about a handfull from each end a round broad bowle of lead.
1807. Joyce, Sci. Dial., xvii. (1846), 47. A small *trundle wheel made to work in the cogs.
1839. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., II. 357/2. A part of an ancient trundle wheel was found a few days ago in Chalmerston Moss.
