[f. TRUNK sb.]
1. trans. To shut up as in a trunk; to imprison. rare.
1608. Middleton, Fam. Love, II. iv. I thought thou had’st been cabin’d in thy ship, Not trunk’d within my cruel guardian’s house.
2. Mining. To dress (lead or tin ore) by agitating it in water; cf. TRUNK sb. 9.
1758. Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornw., 204. What runs off to the hindermost part of the pit … and … is slimy … must be trunked, buddled, and tozed, as the slimy tin.
1778. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 238. In order to clear the earthy sordes from the slime or loobs, it may be trunked.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornw., etc., xv. 579. In 1778 we find that the slime and tails, after having been allowed to dry, were trunked and framed.
1881. [see TRUNKING vbl. sb.2].
3. To cover or enclose as with a casing; see quots.
1838. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 383/2. The road-way is then to be floored or trunked over with five courses of dry heathy sods.
1883. [see TRUNKING vbl. sb.2 b].
4. Of an elephant: To pick up, pull, or pluck with the trunk. nonce-use.
1901. N. & Q., 9th Ser. VII. 165/1. The elephants went past a garden with cabbages in it, and did not they trunk them up!
