trunk
Pluraltrunks
Pluraltrunks
Formstrunks, trunking, trunked
- 1The main part of a tree, from the roots up to the branches.
We sat with our backs against the trunk of a big oak.
The storm snapped the tree's trunk in half.
Similarbole
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- 2The closed space at the back of a car, or a box on a motorcycle, where you put bags and other things.
Put the groceries in the trunk, please.
She keeps a spare tire and a blanket in her trunk.
UsageA car's trunk is called the boot in Britain. Pop the trunk means open it.
Similarboot
- 3The long, bendy nose of an elephant and a few other animals.
The elephant sprayed water over its back with its trunk.
The baby elephant held on to its mother's tail with its trunk.
Similarproboscis
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- 4A big box with a lid and handles, used to carry or store clothes and other things.
Grandma kept her old letters in a trunk in the attic.
We packed a trunk full of clothes for summer camp.
Similarchest
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- 5The main part of your body, not counting your head, arms, and legs.
Keep your trunk straight when you lift heavy boxes.
The doctor looked at the bruises on her trunk and arms.
Similartorso
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- 6Short for swimming trunks: shorts that men and boys wear for swimming.
Don't forget to pack your trunks for the pool party.
He changed into his trunks and jumped into the lake.
UsageSay a pair of trunks or my trunks.
- 7The main part or line of something that has branches, such as a main road, railway, canal or blood vessel.
The train left the trunk line and turned onto a small branch.
The main trunk of the river splits into three smaller streams.
UsageSay trunk road or trunk line.
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- 8A main line that links one telephone switching center to another.
All the trunks were busy, so the call could not go through.
A storm damaged the trunk, and phones in the town went quiet.
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- 9In software, the main and newest version of a project's code, which people keep changing.
Add your fix to trunk once all the tests pass.
The nightly build comes straight from the trunk.
UsageSay commit to trunk.
Similarmainline
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Less common meanings
- 10To let many users use a network at the same time by sharing a few lines or channels.
The phone company can trunk hundreds of calls over just a few lines.
Police and fire crews talk on a trunked radio system that shares its channels.
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- 11A long tube you blow through to shoot small balls of clay or peas.
He shot Sugar Plums at them out of a Trunk.
1655, James Howell, “To the Lord Viscount Col. from Madrid”Here, trunk means a long tube you blow through to shoot things.Note
- 12To cut a part off something or to make it shorter.
Large streames of bloud out of the truncked stocke / Forth gushed, like fresh water streame from riuen rocke.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneHere, truncked means cut off or made shorter.Note
- 13A large pipe, chute or shaft that carries air, water or grain from one place to another, as in a mine.
- 14The long middle part of a flat column built into a wall, between its top and bottom.
- 15A wide pipe in a steam engine that lets a rod reach the piston inside it, saving space.
- 16A long channel with flowing water used to separate ore from fine mud.
- 17To get ore out of fine mud by using a long water channel.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Old French tronc, from Latin truncus, "a cut-off tree trunk", from a word meaning "cut off".
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Trunk ultimately comes through Old French tronc from Latin truncus. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin noun denotes a cut-off tree trunk. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin noun derives from a word meaning cut off. en.wiktionary.org