trench

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A deep furrow or ditch.
• noun A long narrow ditch embanked with its own soil and used for concealment and protection in warfare.
• noun A long, steep-sided valley on the ocean floor.
• intransitive verb To dig or make a trench or trenches in (land or an area, for example).
• intransitive verb To place in a trench.
• intransitive verb To dig a trench or trenches.
• intransitive verb To encroach. Often used with on or upon.
• intransitive verb To verge or border. Often used with on or upon.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A narrow excavation of considerable length cut into the earth; a deep furrow or ditch.
• noun A lane or road cut through shrubbery or woods.
• To cut, as a notch, hole, mark, etc.; form by cutting; carve; incise.
• To cut into; form a ditch, trench, or other linear depression in: as, to trench the ground round a camp or a fort.
• In agriculture, to furrow deeply, especially with the spade; dig deeply and turn over thoroughly by means of a succession of contiguous trenches.
• In cabinet-making and the like, to work with a long continuous groove, as a rail which is to be fitted upon the heads of a series of bars or balusters.
• To cut; slash.
• Specifically, to form a trench or trenches; proceed by or as if by means of trenches.
• To encroach; infringe; obtrude as if by cutting into something: used of conduct, expression, or the like, usually with on or upon: as, to trench upon another's rights. Also intrench.
• To reach out; extend; tend.
• Synonyms Encroach upon, Infringe, etc. See trespass.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch.
• noun obsolete An alley; a narrow path or walk cut through woods, shrubbery, or the like.
• noun (Fort.) An excavation made during a siege, for the purpose of covering the troops as they advance toward the besieged place. The term includes the parallels and the approaches.
• noun (Mil.) to begin to dig or to form the lines of approach.
• noun (Fort.) an elevation constructed (by a besieger) of gabions, fascines, earth, and the like, about half way up the glacis, in order to discover and enfilade the covered way.
• noun a kind of plow for opening land to a greater depth than that of common furrows.
• transitive verb To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, or the like.
• transitive verb (Fort.) To fortify by cutting a ditch, and raising a rampart or breastwork with the earth thrown out of the ditch; to intrench.
• transitive verb To cut furrows or ditches in.
• transitive verb To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.
• intransitive verb To encroach; to intrench.
• intransitive verb rare To have direction; to aim or tend.
• intransitive verb [Obs.] to make trenches against; to approach by trenches, as a town in besieging it.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground, especially in warfare.
• noun archaeology A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.
• noun informal A trench coat.
• verb To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another.
• verb military, infantry To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.
• verb archaeology To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb cut a trench in, as for drainage
• noun a long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor
• verb cut or carve deeply into
• verb impinge or infringe upon
• verb dig a trench or trenches
• verb fortify by surrounding with trenches
• noun a ditch dug as a fortification having a parapet of the excavated earth
• verb set, plant, or bury in a trench
• noun any long ditch cut in the ground