# trunk

Pronunciation: say "TRUNGK" /tɹʌŋk/

## Noun

1. The main stem of a tree, typically single and roughly upright, rising from the roots to the branches.
   - Simple: The main part of a tree, from the roots up to the branches.
   - _Ivy had climbed the trunk almost to the first branches._
   - _Some of the old redwoods had trunks wider than a car._
2. A storage compartment of a vehicle, especially the enclosed luggage space at the back of a car; also a lockable box mounted behind the seat of a motorcycle. *(Canada, US)*
   - Simple: The closed space at the back of a car, or a box on a motorcycle, where you put bags and other things.
   - _The trunk was too small for the stroller, so we strapped it to the roof._
   - _He popped the trunk and pulled out two folding chairs for the game._
3. The long, mobile, nose-like organ of an animal such as a sengi, a tapir or especially an elephant, used for sniffing, probing, grasping, feeding or drinking.
   - Simple: The long, bendy nose of an elephant and a few other animals.
   - _An elephant can pluck a single leaf with the tip of its trunk._
   - _The tapir swung its short trunk from side to side, sniffing for fallen fruit._
4. A large chest or case for storing or transporting clothes and other belongings, usually with a hinged, often domed lid and a handle at each end.
   - Simple: A big box with a lid and handles, used to carry or store clothes and other things.
   - _Two porters carried the heavy steamer trunk up the gangway._
   - _The trunk at the foot of the bed held spare blankets and quilts._
5. The torso, the main part of the body apart from the head and limbs, especially in a human.
   - Simple: The main part of your body, not counting your head, arms, and legs.
   - _Yoga poses that rotate the trunk can ease stiffness in the lower back._
   - _The marble statue showed only the trunk of a man, without head or limbs._
6. Short for swimming trunks: men's shorts worn for swimming, usually called trunks. — Ellipsis of swimming trunks.
   - Simple: Short for swimming trunks: shorts that men and boys wear for swimming.
   - _The lifeguard wore red trunks and kept a whistle around his neck._
   - _She bought her son new trunks before the family beach trip._
7. The main line or body of a branching system, as distinct from its branches, such as a main river channel, canal, railroad or highway, or the main stem of a blood vessel or nerve.
   - Simple: The main part or line of something that has branches, such as a main road, railway, canal or blood vessel.
   - _Feeder canals carried coal to the trunk, where larger barges took it east._
   - _Engineers rerouted the railroad's trunk around the flooded valley but left the branch lines untouched._
8. In telephony, a circuit linking two switchboards or exchanges that is shared by many calls rather than assigned to one subscriber.
   - Simple: A main line that links one telephone switching center to another.
   - _A cut cable knocked out the trunk between the two exchanges, silencing phones across the county._
   - _The office phone system reaches the carrier over a handful of digital trunks._
9. In source control, the main line of a project's code holding the latest changes, from which the newest unstable builds, or trunk builds, are made.
   - Simple: In software, the main and newest version of a project's code, which people keep changing.
   - _Developers commit small changes directly to trunk several times a day._
   - _The feature lived on a branch for months before it was merged back into the trunk._

## Verb

10. To give many users network access at the same time by having them share a common set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies.
   - Simple: To let many users use a network at the same time by sharing a few lines or channels.
   - _Rather than give each department its own frequency, the county decided to trunk all of its public-safety radio traffic._
   - _Trunking lets a small pool of channels serve thousands of handheld radios._

## Noun

11. A long tube through which pellets of clay, peas, and the like are blown with the breath; a peashooter. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A long tube you blow through to shoot small balls of clay or peas.

## Verb

12. To cut off part of something, or to shorten or truncate it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To cut a part off something or to make it shorter.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A large pipe, chute or boxlike conduit, typically made of planks or metal plates, for conveying air, water, grain and the like; on a ship, a shaft, often watertight, connecting two or more decks.
- (noun) In architecture, the shaft-like middle section of a pilaster, running from its base up to its capital.
- (noun) A large pipe serving as the piston rod of a steam engine, wide enough for the connecting rod to run from the crank straight to the piston inside it, making the engine more compact.
- (noun) A flume or sluice used to separate ores from the slimes in which they are contained.
- (verb) To extract ores from the slimes that contain them by running them through a trunk.

## Origin

Latin truncus ("cut off, maimed") gave the noun truncus ("a stock, lopped tree trunk"), which became Old French tronc, which could mean "tree trunk," "alms box," or "headless body," and then Middle English tronke. Truncate is related, and truncus and tronk are doublets.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/trunk (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).