[Cape Dutch, ad. Pg. tronco trunk, stock (of a tree), the stocks, by extension ‘prison.’ (Unknown in Du. of Holland.)] A prison.
1693. Gov. Rec. Fort St. George, Madras. The justices … committed him to the Custody of the Talliars in the Trunke, but on the 21 September last, he made his escape by breaking through the Prison wall.
1863. Lady Duff Gordon, Lett. fr. Egypt, etc. (1875), 259. He … informed me he had just been in the Tronk.
1897. Daily News, 31 March, 6/4. Discomfort inflicted by the Boers on their prisoners in the tronk at Pretoria.
1905. Blackw. Mag., Sept., 389/1. You shall be caught. You shall go to tronk.
