Forms: 5–7 tronk, tronke, troncke, (7 tronck), 5–7 trunke, 6 trounk, trounke, (tronque, troonke, trouncke), 6–7 truncke, 6–8 trunck, 6– trunk. [a. F. tronc (12th c.), ad. L. truncum, acc. of truncus main stem or stock of a tree, the human body, a piece cut or broken off, etc. In branch III app. associated with TRUMP sb.1, F. trompe. With IV cf. TRUNK-HOSE.]
I. The main part of something as distinguished from its appendages.
1. The main stem of a tree, as distinct from the roots and branches; the bole or stock.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, iv. 17. Eneas … hewe the troncke of a tree oute of the whiche yssued bloode.
1605. Camden, Rem., 161. A golden truncke of a tree.
1615. W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 14. Cut away all his twigs … burying his trunck in the crust of the earth.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 580. With Trunks of Elms and Oaks the Hearth they load.
1787. Winter, Syst. Husb., 103. The roots of trees grow in proportion to their trunks and branches.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 21. These were formed from a single trunk of oak.
b. fig. or in fig. context.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, I. (1625), 140. In stead of a louing and contented husband, to giue her a withered old Truncke. Ibid., II. 97. For his stature, a dwarffe; for his person, a trunke; for his qualities, a dog.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., III. i. 72. You consenting too’t, Would barke your honor from that trunke you beare, And leaue you naked.
1663. Bp. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xv. (1687), 117. His endowments were divine;… yet blocks and trunks are wont now to lift up themselves higher in their own conceit than he could be tempted to do.
1839. H. Rogers, Ess., II. iii. 140. While the trunk of the language remains the same, the twigs and frailer branches are torn away by the storm.
1876. C. M. Davies, Unorth. Lond., 81. Different offshoots which had from time to time separated themselves from the main trunk of Presbyterianism.
c. transf. The shaft of a column; also, the dado or die of a pedestal.
1563. Shute, Archit., C ij b. Scapus,… being the troncke or body of the pillor.
1664. Evelyn, trans. Freart’s Archit., 124. [The Pedestal] is likewise called Truncus the Trunk … also Abacus, Dado, Zocco, etc.
1727–41. in Chambers, Cycl.
1842–76. in Gwilt, Encycl. Archit., Gloss.
2. The human body, or that of an animal, without the head, or esp. without the head and limbs, or considered apart from these; in Entom. the thorax. Also transf. and fig.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VI. clxiii. 156. There was heddys, armys, leggys, and trunkys of dede mennys bodyes, lyinge as thycke as flowres growe in tyme of May. Ibid., VII. 495. His hed stryken of, & the trunke of his body hanged by chaynes vpon ye common gybet of Parys.
1541. R. Copland, Galyen’s Terap., 2 G ij. In diuiding ye tronke which is betwene the necke & the legges, is two great capacytees.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. x. 90. There [will I] cut off thy most vngracious head;… Leauing thy trunke for Crowes to feed vpon.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 336. His head smitten off, and the truncke of his body throwen into the fire.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 229, ¶ 1. The Trunk of a Statue which has lost the Arms, Legs, and Head.
1715. Rowe, Lady Jane Gray, V. ad fin. Blasted be the hand That struck my Guilford! Oh, his bleeding trunk Shall live in these distracted eyes for ever!
1804. Abernethy, Surg. Obs., 26. The front, or back part of the trunk of the body.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxviii. III. 48. The second portion of the body is the Trunk, which is interposed between the head and abdomen.
1837. Emerson, Address, Amer. Schol., Wks. (Bohn), II. 175. The state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk.
1870. Rolleston, Anim. Life, 7. In the trunk [of the Rat] we observe that the spines of the dorsal vertebræ … point backwards.
1913. Times, 9 Aug., 4/1. A tendency to hairlessness on the trunk and limbs.
† b. Her. The head of a beast cut off immediately behind the horns or ears, i.e., caboched; cf. TRUNKED ppl. a.1 2. Obs. rare–1.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Her., b v. Tronkys be calde in armys any bestys hede or neck Ykytt chagikli [ = jaggedly] a sonder.
† 3. A dead body, a corpse; also, the body considered apart from the soul or life. Obs.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., V. iii. 152. Vnckle draw you neere, To shed obsequious teares vpon this Trunke. Ibid. (1605), Lear, I. i. 180. If on the tenth day following, Thy banisht trunke be found in our Dominions.
1611. B. Jonson, Catiline, V. vi. His troops Couer’d that earth, they had fought on, with their trunkes.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 83, ¶ 3. This poor meagre Trunk of mine is a very ill Habitation for Love.
4. Anat. The main body or line of a blood-vessel, nerve, or similar structure, as distinct from its branches; also transf. the main line of a river, railway, telegraph or telephone, road or canal system; see trunk-drainage, -glacier, -line, etc., in 18. Also fig.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 906. The lesser Trunke creepeth along the inside of the Legge … and in his progresse sprinkleth diuers surcles into the skine.
1707. Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, 352. The Arteries join’d on each side in the same Original Trunk.
1817. J. Bradbury, Trav. Amer., 246. Small rivers that fall immediately into the great trunk of the Mississippi.
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 156. The ovigerous canals … uniting on each side of the body into two principal trunks.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxx. 396. Not only the nervous filaments … may be affected, but also the main trunk of the nerve.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., xxviii. Like the main trunk of an exorbitant egoism.
b. pl. In Stock Exchange language, short for Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, or its stock.
1892. Pall Mall G., 9 Feb., 5/3. Trunks have risen, partly in sympathy with American, and also on a much better traffic than was expected.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 1 Dec., 8/1. A bull account in Trunks is always followed by a bad revenue statement.
† 5. The scale of a map or plan; see SCALE sb.3 9. Obs. rare.
1561. Eden, Arte Nauig., III. ii. 58. This the Maryners call the truncke or scale of leaques.
1574. W. Bourne, Regiment for Sea, xviii. (1577), 47 b. As you may see in measuring it by the trunke of your carde there.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., VII. xxviii. (1636), 692. To know the distance of places,… there is wont to be set downe in the Mariners Card, a scale, otherwise called by the Mariners a Trunk.
II. A chest, box, case, etc. (supposed to have been orig. made out of a tree-trunk).
† 6. A chest, coffer, box. Obs. in gen. sense.
1462. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 150. Item, payd ffor a new tronke ffor my lord whych was delyvared to Willyam off Wardrope x. s.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., cxxxi. 113. He ordeyned a cheste, or trunke of clene syluer, to thentent yt all suche iuellys and ryche gyftes … shuld therein be kepte.
1591. Greene, Art Conny Catch., III. (1592), 34. At the beds feete stood a hansome truncke, wherein was very good linnen.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Autobiog. (1824). 190. Having the copies of all my dispatches in a great trunk in my House in London.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 62. So curious and elaborate a Work might deserve a better Fate, than to lye moulding in the bottom of a Trunk.
1702. Addison, Dial. Medals, ii. (1726), 51. The little trunk she holds in her left hand is the acerra..., in which the frankincense was preserv’d.
1726. Shelvocke, Voy. round World, Pref. 17. No chests, boxes, or trunks, which shall be found in the ship when taken, shall be open’d.
7. A box, usually lined with paper or linen, and with a rounded top, for carrying clothes and other personal necessaries when travelling; originally covered with leather, now often of canvas, painted metal, etc. Cf. PORTMANTEAU 1.
1609. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 181. To the porter, for the carridge of the gentlewomens truncke … xvd.
1662–3. Pepys, Diary, 8 Jan. We were forced to send for a smith, to break open her trunk.
1709. Steele & Addison, Tatler, No. 93, ¶ 3. He had got his Trunk and his Books all packed up to be transported into Foreign Parts.
1773. Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., II. i. I like to see their horses and trunks taken care of.
1841. Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diam., viii. Away I went … with a couple of bran new suits from Von Stiltz’s in my trunk.
1859. W. Collins, Q. of Hearts, iii. Ring the bell, and have your trunks packed.
8. A perforated floating box in which live fish are kept.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 504/1. Trunke, for kepynge of fysche, gurgustium.
1450–1. Abingdon Rolls (Camden), 130. In factura j tronke pro piscibus custodiendis.
1540. in Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (1894), I. 99. He toke the tronke in his hands and hallyd it up to the land and there put forth alle the fysh that was in the tronke into a basket.
1674. trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, 70. Fishes also, of which they have so great draughts, that they are forced to keep them in trunks and ponds.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. xxv. 393. If the pheasants escape from the mew, or the fishes from the trunk,… they become ferae naturae again.
1898. J. K. Fowler, Rec. Old Times, 108. In the midst was a large shallow pond,… in which was kept an eel trunk, consisting of a strong iron-bound box about four feet long and two feet wide and deep, perforated with holes, and a lid fastened with lock and key…. In this trunk or box were kept live eels, the trunk having a strong iron chain attached to it…; this enabled the trunk to be hauled up a sloping bank.
b. An open box or case (containing from 80 to 90 lb.) in which fresh fish are sold wholesale.
1883. S. Plimsoll, in 19th Cent., July, 147. The box, which is called by many names, as ‘van,’ ‘machine,’ ‘tank,’ ‘trunk,’ &c.
1883. Daily News, 27 July, 7/1. Soles and such fish are sold in open boxes, without any covering whatever, called trunks.
1909. Times, 12 Aug., 11/6. Two trunks of plaice made the remarkably high price of £3 10s. per trunk.
c. A net or trap for lobster-catching. dial.
1835. ‘Stephen Oliver’ (W. A. Chatto), Rambles Northumb., v. 210. For catching lobsters the fishermen of Holy Island mostly use small hoop-nets, called by them trunks.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Trunk,… an iron hoop with a bag, used to catch crabs and lobsters.
9. Mining. A long shallow trough in which lead or tin ore is dressed.
1653. Manlove, Lead Mines, 273 (E.D.S.). The miner’s Tearms … Fleaks, Knockings, Coestid, Trunks and Sparks of oar.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornw., etc., xv. 579. The trunk was a pit ten feet long, three wide, and nine inches deep.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1244. The rough is washed in buddles … the slimes in trunks.
1851. Tapping, Manlove’s Lead Mines Gloss., s.v., The trunks are agitated with water, and thereby the metals separated from the base minerals.
10. A box-like passage for light, air, water, or solid objects, usually made of boards; a shaft, conduit; a chute. Now chiefly techn.
1610. North, Plutarch, 1117. He was newly come from Trophonius truncke or hole.
1632. in E. B. Jupp, Carpenters’ Co. (1887), 301. Truncks for bringing in of light into mens howses … truncks for Jackewaights or conveyance of water.
1642. C. Vernon, Consid. Exch., 42. Which Bill they … put … downe through a Trunke made for that purpose, into the Chamberlaines Court.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., H j. As to … having the Trunks in the Roof of the Drift, that never does well.
1759. Smeaton, in Phil. Trans., LI. 126. A trunk, for bringing the water upon the wheel, was fixed.
1861. R. Willis, in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), III. 173. An opening or horizontal trunk through the rising seats, by which the solar ray may be directed upon the Lecture-table.
1886. Act 49 & 50 Vict., c. 38 § 6. Any bridge, waggon-way, or trunk for conveying minerals or other product from any mine or quarry.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Trunk … a wooden tube much used in corn mills to convey grain or flour to or from the mills. Any wooden tube.
b. spec. A chute through which coal is emptied from the wagons into lighters, etc. dial.
1725. T. Thomas, in Portland Papers, VI. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), 104. Those [steathes] that are covered with timber work are called trunks.
1893–4. Northumbld. Gloss., Trunk-staith, a coal-spout at a shipping place. In former times a coal-staith was called a ‘dyke,’ or trunk if a shoot or spout was used.
c. Organ-building. Short for wind-trunk.
1852. Seidel, Organ, 44. The principal canal … into which the wind passes from the bellows, is called the trunk.
d. In a steam-engine, A tubular piston-rod large enough to allow of the lateral movement of the connecting-rod when jointed directly to the piston.
1859. Rankine, Steam Engine (1861), 481. In large engines there are sometimes more than one piston rod and stuffing-box, and sometimes a tubular piston rod called a trunk.
e. Naut. A water-tight shaft passing through the decks of a vessel, for loading, coaling, etc.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., II. XII. 2/1. The lower deck … is made of iron, water-tight, and fitted with water-tight trunks, to communicate with the upper deck, so that access can be had at all times distinct from the other decks.
1877. W. H. White, Man. Naval Archit., i. 29. Where openings have to be made in a watertight deck or platform, either watertight covers must be fitted to the openings or watertight trunks, carried to a sufficient height above the load-line, must be built around them.
f. See quot.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Trunk 5 (Hatting), the conduit, tube, or guiding-box which guides the air-currents and directs the fur fibers from the picker to the cone, in hat-body forming machines.
g. Salt-making. A box-like cover placed over an evaporating-pan.
1885. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. IV. 155. In … Cheshire … the evaporating-pans are at times employed quite open and exposed to the sky, but nowadays they are mostly surrounded with sheds,… furnished with ventilating openings in the roof…. On the Continent, all except the fine and butter-salt pans are generally covered in with wooden trunks, flat on top with sides converging upwards, thus forming an elongated truncated cone about 5 ft. high over the pan.
h. The water-tight case in which the center-board of a sailing-boat works.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 20 Aug., 7/2. The centre board had not been lost, but had been jammed in the trunk and was held fast.
1897. Outing (U.S.), XXX. 228/2. The centerboard trunk is made long so that the board may be dropped at any desired point forward or aft.
III. A pipe or tube.
† 11. A cylindrical case to contain or discharge explosives or combustibles; the barrel of a mortar, the case of a rocket, etc. Obs.
1548. Privy Council Acts (1890), II. 177. ij dosan of tronques for wild fyer.
1581. Styward, Mart. Discipl., I. 12. To haue such gouernours as are … skilfull … in the making of trunkes, bawles, arrowes, and all other sortes of wilde fire.
1634. I. B., Myst. Nat. & Art, 57. Fire-works … as Crackers, Trunks, etc.
a. 1660. Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), I. 61. None could passe the same without eminent danger of fallinge under the fumie reache of that murtheringe troncke. Ibid., 102. Within the truncke some wilde fire in maner and forme of a bombe and granados.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 7. The cases, or trunks, of rockets.
† 12. A pipe used as a speaking-tube or ear-trumpet. Obs.
1546. Bale, Eng. Votaries, I. (1550), 70. The roode spake these wordes, or else a knaue monke behynde hym in a truncke through the wall.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxv. (Arb.), 311. Not to heare but by a trunke put to his eare.
1631. Shirley, Traitor, III. i. Ha! are there no trunks to convey secret voices?
1680. C. Nesse, Church-Hist., 75. Which … did but pass through him as a trunk through which a man speaks.
1704. Swift, Battle of Bks., Misc. (1711), 245. They whisper to each other thro a large hollow Trunk.
† 13. A hollow tube from which a dart or pellet is shot by blowing; a blow-gun, a pea-shooter.
1553. Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 20. They … blowe them [arrows] oute of a trunke as we doe pellets of claye.
a. 1652. Brome, New Acad., IV. i. All my … tops, gigs, balls, cat and catsticks, pot guns, key guns, trunks, tillers, and all.
1755. B. Martin, Misc. Corr., Oct., 170. Two youths … in the gallery of Covent-garden Play-house … shooting Peas thro’ a Tin Trunk in the Faces of the Audience.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., IV. iv. § 1. A substitute for the gun,… a long hollow tube called a trunk.
† 14. More fully perspective trunk: A telescope; cf. trunk-glass, -spectacle in 18.
1610. I. Heydon, in Camden’s Lett. (1691), 130. With one of our ordinary Trunks I have told eleven stars in the Pleiades.
1620. B. Jonson, New World in Moon, Wks. (Rtldg.), 615/1. From the Moon!… Oh, by a trunk! I know it, a thing no bigger than a flute-case: a neighbour of mine, a spectacle-maker, has drawn the moon through it at the bore of a whistle.
1620. Wotton, Lett. to Bacon, in Reliq. (1651), 414. A long perspective-trunke with the convexe glasse fitted to the said hole [in a camera obscura], and the concave taken out at the other end.
15. The elongated proboscis of the elephant; also transf. the prolonged flexible snout of the tapir, etc.
c. 1565. R. Baker, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 150. The Elephant … With water fils his troonke right hie, and blowes it on the rest.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 816. There was another strange creature in Nicaragua, like a blacke Hogge, with … a short truncke or snowt like an Elephant.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., III. 45. An Elephant … his Governour can make him do what he pleases with his Trunck.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), IV. 273. Two tame elephants … that caress the indignant animal with their trunks.
c. 1850. Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 685. The trunks, ears, and other parts of these elephants, were painted red and other colours.
b. slang. The human nose.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Trunk, a Nose.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. T., Trunk, a nose [in various phrases].
1901. Lawson, Remin. Dollar Acad., 87. The deep bass rumbling sound, which was emitted from his trunk.
† c. The long pointed bill of the heron. Obs. rare–1.
1575. Turberv., Falconrie, 160. A live hearon uppon the upper part of whose bill or truncke you must convey the joynt of a reed or cane.
d. The proboscis of some mollusks; also the proboscis of various insects. Now rare or Obs.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., Introd. The Mollusca,… some have acetabula, and two long trunks, which they use as anchors in storms.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 2. At his [the flea’s] snout is fixed a Proboscis, or hollow trunk or probe.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., 125. Insects, which wound the tender buds with a long hollow trunk, and deposit an egg in the hole.
1805. Prisc. Wakefield, Dom. Recreat., i. (1806), 5. There is as great a variety in the trunks of insects as in their antennae.
† 16. pl. Also small trunks: an old game: = TROLL-MADAM; cf. TRUCKS. Obs.
1607. Christmas Prince, II. (1816), 45.
| Why say you not that Munday will bee drunke, | |
| Keeps all vnruly wakes, & playes at trunkes. |
1611. Cotgr., Trou Madame, the Game called Trunkes, or the Hole.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. IV. The ordinary recreations which we haue in Winter … are Cardes, Tables,… the Philosophers game, small truncks [etc.].
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, IV. iv. 196. Billiards, Kettle-pins, Noddy-boards, Tables, Truncks, Shovell-boards, Fox and Geese, or the like.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Trunks, a kind of Play otherwise call’d Troll-Madame and Pigeon-holes.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., Nine-holes, or Trunks, a game played with a long piece of wood or bridge with nine arches cut in it…. Each player has two flattened balls, which he aims to bowl edge-ways under the arches: he scores the number marked over the arch he bowls through.
IV. 17. pl. † a. = TRUNK-HOSE. Obs.
1583. Rates of Custome Ho., F j. Truncks the dosen xii. s.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., III. iii. Sixe great slopps, Bigger then three Dutch hoighs, besides round trunkes.
1652. in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 490. There are Pages in trunks that ride behind the coches … cloath trunks billited or garded with velvet.
1672. Lond. Gaz., No. 656/4. His Trunks and Stockings are of grey Worsted.
b. Short breeches of silk or other thin material; in theatrical use, often worn over tights; in quot. 1896 applied to ordinary breeches or knickerbockers.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1463. Theatrical ‘trunks,’ or short breeches.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xv. The appearance of Mr. Snodgrass in blue satin trunks and cloak, white silk tights and shoes, and Grecian helmet.
1874. R. Buchanan, Kitty Kemble, 86. A slim fairy prince in trunks and tights.
1896. Crockett, Grey Man, xvi. David had donned the trunks and laid by the bairn’s kilts.
1906. N. Munro, in Blackw. Mag., Dec., 802/1. A right smart Alick in short trunks.
c. U.S. Short tight-fitting drawers worn by swimmers and athletes.
1883. Pall Mall G., 26 July, 7/1. Captain Webb attempted his perilous feat of swimming the Niagara Rapids…. He wore a pair of silk trunks.
1889. Gunter, That Frenchman, xi. Black-velvet trunks cover his [the wrestler’s] hips and thighs.
1891. Daily News, 30 May, 5/5. The men are together in front of Harvard boathouse in caps, ‘sweaters,’ trunks, and canvas shoes.
1894. Ralph, in Harper’s Mag., Aug., 341. Nude bathing will not be permitted…. The use of tights or ‘trunks’ will not be allowed.
V. 18. attrib. and Comb., as, in senses 1 and 2, trunk-armor, -bark, -bone, -diameter, -muscle, -rib, -root, -scar; in senses 4 and 4 b, trunk-dealer, -drainage, exchange, -glacier, jack (JACK sb.1 15 d), -line, -market (MARKET sb. 1 d), -road, -sewer, -sheath, stream, -telegraph, -telephone, -traffic, -train, -wire; in senses 6 and 7, trunk-boot (BOOT sb.3 4 c), -buddle (see quot.), -castor, -check, -lid, -liner, -lock, -mail (MAIL sb.2), -shop; in sense 10 (c and d), trunk-hole, -piston, -plunger; in sense 15, trunk-bearer; trunk-nosed adj.; also trunk-alarm, an alarum that sounds when the trunk-lid is lifted (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1877); trunk-back = trunk-turtle (U.S.); trunk-band, Organ-building, a shallow box in the horizontal bellows to which the wind-trunk is attached; also called trunk-lining; † trunk-board, a platform for a trunk or trunks at the back of a carriage; trunk-brace, a support or stay for a trunk-lid, to prevent it from falling again when raised (Knight); trunk-cabin, a ship’s cabin partly above and partly below the upper deck; cf. sense 10 e and trunk-deck (Cent. Dict., 1891); trunk-call, a call from one telephone exchange to another; trunk-case, that part of a chrysalis case that covers the thorax; trunk-deck, the top of a hatchway trunk projecting above the deck, or a row of these joined so as to form a kind of raised deck (Cent. Dict. Suppl., 1909); trunk dial, a clock having a long case to accommodate the pendulum; trunk-engine, an engine having a tubular piston-rod; see sense 10 d; † trunk-glass = sense 14; trunk-leg, -limb, in Crustaceans, a leg attached to the thorax; trunk-light, a skylight placed over a trunk or shaft (Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., 1888); trunk-lining, (a) = trunk-band; (b) material for lining trunks: cf. TRUNK-MAKER; trunk-machine, a tube or shaft for the conveyance of cotton from one machine to another during the preparatory processes (Cent. Dict. Suppl., 1909); trunk main, a large pipe for the conveyance of water, etc., under pressure, as distinguished from the reticulation of smaller mains fed therefrom; † trunk-manna: see quot.; trunk-nail, a short nail with broad convex brass head used for ornamenting trunks and coffins (Knight); trunk-nose, the sea-elephant or elephant-seal (Funk’s Stand. Dict., 1895); trunk-rod, a fishing-rod composed of short joints for convenience in packing (U.S.); † trunk-saddle, ? a packsaddle adapted for carrying a trunk or chest; † trunk sleeve, a full, puffed sleeve; cf. sense 17 a; so trunk slops (SLOP sb.1 4); † trunk-spectacle = sense 14; trunk-staithe, a wharf at which coal is loaded into vessels by a trunk or shoot; trunk-stay = trunk-brace (Knight); trunk-turtle, the Leathery Turtle or Leather-back, Dermatochelys (Sphargis) coriacea, of warm seas, having a flexible leathery carapace with osseous deposits and several longitudinal ridges; trunk-valve, in a steam-engine, a D slide-valve long enough to cover direct steam-ports when placed near the end of the cylinder (Cent. Dict. Suppl., 1909); † trunk-wame, a fiddle (dial.); trunk-way: see quot.; trunk-weed, ? a species of sea-weed; † trunk-work, secret or clandestine action, as by means of a trunk. See also TRUNK-FISH, -MAKER.
1854. Owen, Skel. & Teeth, 20. In these colossal armadillos (Glyptodon) the *trunk-armor was in one immovable piece, covering the back and sides, and was not divided by bands.
1883. S. Garman, Rept. & Batrach. N. Amer., Introd. 6. Sea Turtles are numerous off the coasts of Florida. *‘Trunk-backs’ or ‘Leather-backs,’ Sphargis, are the largest.
1876. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, Organ Construction. On it [the middle board] rests a strong ridge called the *trunk-band or lining, to which the wind trunks can be at any point joined.
1881. W. E. Dickson, Organ-Build., vi. 73. A shallow box, say 4 inches deep, upon the middle board, of the same size as the top board. This is called a trunk-band, and is introduced to allow of fixing the wind-trunks.
1880. C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, 37. It [Cinchona Condaminea] once yielded great quantities of thick *trunk bark, but … is now almost exterminated. Ibid., 81. From the trunk-bark of a plant of this species [Cinchona Calisaya] … he obtained … 5 per cent. of alkaloids.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Inst., 1860, 174. The shell of the *Trunk-bearers may almost always be known by a notch or canal at the base.
1819. B. H. Latrode, Jrnl. (1905), 224. A girl of thirteen or fourteen years old sat up on the *trunk board behind.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 23 Sept., 7/3. A second skull … but no trace of *trunk bones can be found.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), II. 54. The carriage…; an iron coach-box on a square *trunk-boot, raised on neat, carved blocks.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 751. The *trunk buddle is … composed of two parts; of a cistern or box into which a stream of water flows, and of a large tank with a smooth level bottom.
1910. Times, 19 Aug., 4/6. The telephone is still open, but … a message into the country usually involves a *trunk call.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxxi. 250. The *Trunk-case, divided into the thorax, or upper surface, extending from the head to the dorsal segments of the abdomen.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Trunk-caster.
1905. M. Nicholson, House of 1000 Candles, iii. The hackman was already gathering up my traps, and I gave him my *trunk-checks.
1909. Westm. Gaz., 3 March, 9/1. *Trunk dealers received another disappointment in the traffic, which showed a decrease.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 274. Generally *trunk dials have half seconds pendulums.
1909. Chamb. Jrnl., Sept., 561/2. The Rajab-tree … with a *trunk-diameter of six or eight feet.
1864. C. S. Read, in W. White, Norfolk, 67. Some better system of *trunk drainage should be at once adopted.
1864. Webster, *Trunk-engine.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Trunk-engine, a direct-acting steam-engine, in which the end of the connecting-rod is attached to the bottom of a hollow trunk, passing steam-tight through the cylinder cover.
1908. Daily Chron., 9 Dec., 1/4. Telephonists employed in *trunk exchanges.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xiv. 99. The medial moraine of the *trunk glacier.
1875. Wond. Phys. World, I. ii. 55. To coalesce in one great trunk-glacier.
1613. M. Ridley, Magn. Bodies, 28. A thing worthy of better observation from the *Truncke-glasse.
1881. W. E. Dickson, Organ-Build., v. 60. In one of these cheeks a *trunk-hole may have to be cut for the entrance of the wind.
1902. Encycl. Brit., XXX. 479/2. Of the corresponding pairs of appendages … three … may be all maxillipeds or may help to swell the number of *trunk-legs.
1836. Sheffield Independent, 19 March, 3/2. He had no doubt of the practicability of bringing the main *trunk line [of the railway] to Sheffield.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Trunk-line, the main line of a railway, separate from the branch lines or feeders.
1861. Sat. Rev., 7 Sept., 236. The trunk lines already in existence are substantially all that the country requires.
1888. B. F. C. Costelloe, Church Catholic, 19. These great trunk lines of liturgical tradition must have diverged from a common Apostolic type or norm.
1905. Daily Chron., 4 Oct., 9/7. *Trunk Liner wanted; must be used to glue work.
1876. *Trunk-lining [see trunk-band].
1907. Times, 29 March, 6/2. Second-hand booksellers … know more about books, have a sounder judgment as to what is literature and what is trunk-lining.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., ii. 21. Chest Locks, *Trunk Locks, Pad-locks, &c.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., 17 April. Teli Gwyllim that she forgot to pack up my flannels and wide shoes in the *trunk mail.
1820. Scott, Monast., xv. I hope, a’gad, they have not forgotten my trunk-mails of apparel.
1663. Boyle, Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos., II. iv. 101. The Calabrians … by Incisions obtain from the common Ash Tree … a sweet Juice, so like to the Manna … that the Natives call it in their Language, Manna del corpo, or *Trunk-manna.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 3 April, 9/1. A *Trunk market wit. Ibid. (1907), 25 March, 9/3. Just come into the Trunk market for a second.
1884. Birmingham Daily Post, 23 Feb., 2/4. *Trunk-moulding machine, 32 in. long, with dies complete.
1872. Humphry, Myology, 32. Where the fibres diverge from the *trunk-muscle.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 59. Rarely the spasm [of tetany] begins in the trunk muscles.
1900. Kipling, in Daily News, 9 March, 6/2. The temple wherein the ‘tun-bellied,’ ‘trunk-nosed’ god Ganesha (the divine Elephant) receives his worshippers.
1888. Hasluck, Model Engin. Handybk. (1900), 108. The feed-pump … is on the *trunk principle.
1885. Nicholson, Man. Zool. (ed. 4), 495. The anterior *trunk-ribs [of the Dinosauria] were double-headed.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xlvi. Englebourn was situated on no *trunk road.
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 398. In India, on some of the trunk roads there are regular halting grounds.
1890. R. S. Ferguson, Hist. Cumberld., x. 149. The trunk-road itself passes Waverton.
1893. Outing (U.S.), XXII. 121/2. *Trunk rods made to pack in small space often have six or seven [joints].
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, iii. App. § 1. *Trunk-Roots are of two kinds:… those that vegetate by a direct descent…. The other sort … shoot forth at right Angles with the Trunk.
1569. in Richmond Wills (Surtees), 219. In his owen stable … iiij hackney sadles … one *trouncke sadle.
1857. Gosse, Omphalos, xii. 364. The Palm and the Tree-fern show, in their *trunk-scars, evidences of organs which have completely died away and disappeared.
1899. Daily News, 6 Dec., 6/6. We cannot possibly deal with local floodings … unless you give us the necessary additional *trunk sewers.
1893. A. S. Eccles, Sciatica, 15. The nerves of the *trunk-sheath have been stimulated by the cold impression.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iii. 142. A loose bodied gowne … With a small compast cape … a *trunke sleeue.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, II. xii. (1632), 301. They make trunk-sleeves of wyre and whale-bone bodies.
1606. Marston, Parasit., IV. F iij b. A simple, country Ladie, wore gold buttons, trunck sleeues, and flaggon bracelets.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse (ed. 2), 6 b. A paire of *trunke slops, sagging down like a Shoomakers wallet.
1613. M. Ridley, Magn. Bodies, 1. The foure attenders vpon Iupiter, lately discouered by the *trunke spectacle.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., I. iv. (1635), 79. Many [stars] haue lately beene discouered, by reason of the Trunk-spectacle lately found out.
1789. Brand, Hist. Newcastle, II. 256, note. When the waggons are emptied into a keel or vessel by a spout, it is called a *trunk staith.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxi. 149. All the glaciers … are suddenly turned aside where they meet the great *trunk stream. Ibid., II. x. 287. The width of the trunk stream is a little better than one-third of that of its tributaries.
1903. Daily Chron., 7 Oct., 7/1. An underground *trunk telegraph line to Scotland.
1909. Westm. Gaz., 17 April, 9/4. Sunday duty by females in the *trunk telephone department should be abolished. Ibid. (1899), 31 Aug., 4/3. It is no light task to make up a *trunk train in such satisfactory proportions.
1697. Dampier, Voy. round World (1699), 103. There are 4 sorts of Sea-turtle, viz. the *Trunk-turtle, the Loggerhead, the Hawks-bill and the Green-turtle.
1735. Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XXXIX. 117. Testudo Arcuata: The Trunk-Turtle.
1827. O. W. Roberts, Voy. Centr. Amer., 94. A trunk-turtle, a species of immense size and exceedingly fat.
16[?]. Poems, Ballads, etc. (Percy Soc.), 196. I pray who’s this we’ve met with here, That tickles his *trunk weam?… If he’ll play,… We’ll dance you Jumping Joan.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, *Trunk-way, a water course through an arch of masonry, turned over a ditch before a gate. The name arose no doubt, from the trunks of trees used for the same purpose in ancient and simpler times.
1730. Capt. W. Wriglesworth, MS. Log-bk. of the ‘Lyell,’ 5 May. At 6 this morning Saw a bunch of *Trunk Weeds.
1897. Daily News, 20 Jan., 10/4. The Postmaster-General … states that … efficient working of the *trunk wires is engaging his earnest attention.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., III. iii. 75. This has beene some staire-worke, some *Trunke-worke, some behinde-doore worke.
Hence Trunkie Sc., a little trunk (sense 7).
1728. Ramsay, Bob of Dunblane, i. Gang to the ground of ye’r trunkies, Busk ye braw.
