From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtrenchtrench /trentʃ/ ●○○ noun [countable] 1 HOLEa long narrow hole dug into the surface of the ground Workers dug a trench for gas lines.2 technicalHEO a long narrow valley in the ground beneath the sea3 PMA[usually plural] a deep trench dug in the ground as a protection for soldiers the trenches of World War I4 → the trenches
Examples from the Corpus
trench• Workers dug a trench for gas lines.• There had been such a wide expanse of firm ground that a trench had never been worn.• Downbuckling is marked by an offshore trench.• the Puerto Rico Trench• the fighting men in the trenches of France• But we in the trenches just never see the end product.• Those same nice folks get awful upset when somebody goes out and jumps into the trenches and tries to make it work.• The mosquitoes don't seem to like the rain either, they all seem to be at the back of the trench.• Parapets gradually grew lower and lower until the trench became little deeper than a roadside ditch.dug ... trench• Fabritsyn dug trenches, tended cattle, and carried rebel arms and explosives between bases.Origin trench (1300-1400) Old French trenche “act of cutting”, from trenchier “to cut”, probably from Latin truncare; → TRUNCATE 