trunks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of trunk.

   Storm winds snapped several pine trunks along the ridge.

   Police searched the trunks of every car leaving the parking lot.

   Note

   An ordinary -s plural for every countable meaning: tree trunks, elephants' trunks, steamer trunks, the trunks of cars, the trunks of a railroad or canal system. The car meaning is North American. The clothing words spelled the same way are a different kind of noun, plural-only names for a single garment, beginning with sports shorts.

2. 2
   nounplural

   A pair of shorts worn for swimming.

   He changed into his trunks and ran straight for the waves.

   A pair of bright orange trunks hung drying on the porch rail.

   Note

   The everyday word for swim shorts, and once the beach is the setting nobody bothers with swimming in front: he changed into his trunks. Bruce Brown's surf film The Endless Summer (1966) shows how easy and casual it is, with advice to hang on till your trunks rip right up the back.

3. 3
   nounplural

   Shorts or briefs of the kind worn especially for sports such as boxing or swimming.

   The challenger climbed into the ring in red satin trunks.

   The runners lined up in light nylon trunks and singlets.

   Similarshorts

   Note

   Like trousers and shorts, it is plural in form even for one garment: his trunks were red, or a pair of trunks, never a trunk. Boxers are the best-known wearers, climbing into the ring in satin trunks, though runners and other athletes wear them too.

4. 4
   nounUKplural

   Underwear for men or boys in the form of boxer shorts or boxer briefs.

   The supermarket had men's cotton trunks on offer, five pairs for the price of three.

   He packed a week's worth of trunks and socks for the trip to Leeds.

   Similarboxers, underpants

   Note

   On a British shop label, trunks are everyday underwear for men and boys, sold in multipacks beside the socks, and in that aisle the word has nothing to do with swimming. A reader outside Britain is likelier to picture swimwear, so the setting decides which garment is meant.

5. 5
   nounplural

   Underwear of the style known as trunk briefs, sold as distinct from boxers and boxer briefs.

   He switched from boxers to trunks because they stay put under his running tights.

   A three-pack of black trunks was on sale near the register.

   Note

   On an underwear shelf, trunks are a style of their own, sold beside boxers and boxer briefs rather than as another name for them. Shirley Goldberg's Eat Your Heart Out has a shopper riffle through the boxers, boxer-briefs, and trunks and choose a package of each, which is how the word works in shops: as one cut among several.

6. 6
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of trunk.

   The dispatch network trunks hundreds of handheld radios onto a small pool of frequencies.

   The mill trunks the slimes through long wooden troughs to recover the fine ore.

   Note

   The living senses of the verb are technical, so this form turns up mainly in engineering: a dispatch network trunks hundreds of radios onto a small pool of frequencies, and an ore mill trunks its slimes to recover fine ore. The old meaning of cutting something short is obsolete, and a sentence like he trunks the hedge would now puzzle a reader.

7. 7
   nounplural

   The legwear known as trunk hose.

   In the play, the prince wears velvet trunks over his tights.

   The portrait shows a courtier in striped trunks and a stiff white ruff.

8. 8
   noununcountable

   The game of nineholes.

   After supper the farmhands gathered on the green for a game of trunks.

   Trunks was a favorite at the village fair, and the old men played it until the light failed.

   Similarnineholes

   Note

   Despite the final -s, the name of the game takes a singular verb, as billiards and darts do: trunks was a favorite at the fair, not trunks were. It names the game as a whole and is never counted, so one plays a game of trunks.

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