[tren-cher] 
| 1. | a person or thing that digs trenches. |
| 2. | ditchdigger (def. 3). |
| 3. | a rectangular or circular flat piece of wood on which meat, or other food, is served or carved. |
| 4. | such a piece of wood and the food on it. |
| 5. | Archaic. food; the pleasures of good eating. |
[dich-dig-er] | 1. | a worker whose occupation is digging ditches, esp. with pick and shovel. |
| 2. | a person engaged in exhausting manual work, esp. work that requires little or no originality. |
| 3. | Also called ditcher, trencher. a power excavating machine designed to remove earth in a continuous line and to a predetermined width and depth, as by means of a rotating belt equipped with scoops. |
| trench·er 1 (trěn'chər) n.
[Middle English trenchur, from Anglo-Norman trenchour, from trencher, to cut, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *trincāre; see trench.] |
| trench·er 2 (trěn'chər) n. One that digs trenches. |
trencher
originally a thick slice of bread, used as a primitive form of plate for eating and for slicing meat (hence its derivation from "trancher"-to cut, or carve), but by the 14th century a square or circular wooden plate of rough workmanship. There was usually a small cavity for salt in the rim of the wooden plate, and sometimes the main section was so formed that it could be turned over and the other side used for a second course
Learn more about trencher with a free trial on Britannica.com.
tʃər