Forms: 5 trokel, -ill, trookyll, trokle, pl. trokleys, 5–6 trokell, trocle, 6 troukle, -cle, trowkle, truckill, truckel, trukle, trickle (also 9 dial.), 6– truckle. [= AF. trocle, trokle, ad. L. trochlea = Gr. τροχιλία, τροχιλέα, etc., sheaf of a pulley: see TROCHLEA.]
1. A small wheel with a groove in its circumference round which a cord passes; a pulley, a sheave.
1417. in For. Acc. 8 Hen. V., D/2. j apparaille ix pullifs vj Trokles. Ibid., G/1. Eiusdem Nauis j apparatu ix Pullifs vj Trocles j securi.
14[?]. MS. Digby 233, lf. 221/2. Þanne drawe þei & wyndeþ vp þe lasse toure with ropes & trokelus.
1545. Elyot, Artemon, a troukle wherby ropes dooe runne. It maye also be taken for any instrument that hath troucles.
1592. R. D., Hypnerotomachia, 8. With what Cranes, winding beames, Trocles, round pullies, Capres.
a. 1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xvi. 132. A Truckle for a Pully.
1761. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, III. xx. A truckle for a pully.
1904. Anstruther Thomson, Remin., II. v. 135. They hoisted him and then let the truckle go with a run.
2. A small roller or wheel placed under or attached to a heavy object to facilitate moving it; a castor on a piece of furniture. Now dial.
1459. [see TRUCKLE-BED].
1519. Horman, Vulg., 244 b. This house may be remoued with trocles, & slyddis.
1617. Hieron, Wks. (1619–20), II. 351. Thou which canst not goe alone, maist be allowed to goe by truckles, or as thou art led by anothers hand.
1655. trans. Com. Hist. Francion, IX. 14. He showed them a great round chair very ancient, which had truckles under it to move withall.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Truckle, a little running Wheel.
1837. Penny Mag., VI. 338. [A wooden horse] placed on a stand made moveable by truckles.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Truckle,… 2. a caster. ‘The very chairs ’ad a-got truckles to ’em.’
3. Short for TRUCKLE-BED.
1637. Heywood, Royall King, III. vii. A close roome, with a standing bed in ’t, and a truckle too.
1664. Butler, Hud., II. ii. 40. With knocking loud and bauling, He rous’d the Squire, in Truckle lolling.
1707. Prior, Sat. Poets, 76. No Friend … but trusting Landlady, Who stows you on hard Truckle, Garret high.
1826. Scott, Woodst., xxi. His … attendant … deposited himself on his truckle.
1851. W. Anderson, Rhymes (1867), 143 (E.D.D.). A wee truckle filled wi’ fusionless strae.
4. A low-wheeled car; a truck. Chiefly in Irish use.
1689. Irish Procl., 14 Sept. [Not] to … meddle with any of their horses, carts, truckels, or other their tacklings.
1751. R. Paltock, P. Wilkins (1884), I. 118. I no sooner unloaded but down went I again with my cart, or truckle rather, to the lake, and brought from thence on it my other chest.
1807. P. Gass, Jrnl., 240. Our waggons and truckles to transport the baggage and canoes.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., Truckle, a small car, in common use before the introduction of the present farm-carts.
5. A small barrel-shaped cheese. dial.
a. 1813. [see truckle-cheese in 6].
1850. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XI. II. 705. Besides these cheeses, some small ones are made, called ‘truckles.’
1891. Catal. Oxf. Agric. Show, 45. The best lot of Cheese not less than 1/2 cwt. (Truckles excepted).
1901. Scotsman, 9 Oct., 10/2. For cheddar truckles.
6. attrib. and Comb., as truckle-car, -cheese (= 5), -wheel. See also TRUCKLE-BED.
1748. Mrs. Delany, Life & Corr. (1861), II. 491. *Truckle-car (what they [Irish] make use of for carrying goods) drawn by one horse and the wheels not three foot high.
a. 1813. in Ellis, Brand’s Pop. Antiq., I. 55. A piece of *Truckle Cheese.
1891. Catal. Oxf. Agric. Show, 45. The best lot of 3 Loaf or other Truckle Cheese (not Stilton)
1533. Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII., VI. 503. 4 carpenters … making of *truckill whelis.
1706. Phil. Trans., XXV. 2253. Near the one End … let a little Truckle-wheel … be fastened to the Rular by a Pin.
