trusts

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of trust.

   The committee trusts its chairman to act in good faith.

   He trusts the surgeon completely after the first operation went well.

   Note

   Behind the -s ending sit several constructions, and the words that follow decide the meaning. A plain object means reliance (she trusts the surgeon). An object plus an infinitive means confidence that someone will act (trusts its chairman to act). A that-clause turns it into confident hope. With in and no direct object, it means faith or dependence rather than a judgment about one person.

   She trusts that the delay will be brief.

   He trusts in his own strength to carry him through.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of trust.

   The bank manages dozens of family trusts on behalf of wealthy clients.

   Charitable trusts funded the restoration of the old theater.

   Note

   The plural counts what trust can name as a thing rather than a feeling: a charge committed to someone's care, or a ground of reliance one leans on, as in the trusts placed in a guardian's hands. Confidence, hope and credit can be counted too. The same spelling serves the present-tense verb, and a word such as the, these or family in front marks the noun.

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