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truckle

 - 5 dictionary results

truck⋅le

1  [truhk-uhl]
Use truckle in a Sentence
–verb (used without object), -led, -ling.
to submit or yield obsequiously or tamely (usually fol. by to): Don't truckle to unreasonable demands.
Origin:
1605–15; special use of obs. truckle to sleep on a truckle bed. See truckle 2

Related forms:
truckler, noun
truck⋅ling⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
grovel, bow, concede, kowtow.

truck⋅le

2  [truhk-uhl]
–noun
1. truckle bed.
2. a pulley.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME trocle sheave, roller < AF < L trochlea pulley. See trochlea
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To truckle
truck·le   (trŭk'əl)   
n.  A small wheel or roller; a caster.
intr.v.   truck·led, truck·ling, truck·les
To be servile or submissive. See Synonyms at fawn1.

[Middle English trocle, pulley, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin trochlea, system of pulleys; see trochlea.]
truck'ler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

truckle  (n.)
"small wheel or roller," 1397, from Anglo-Fr. trocle, from L. trochlea "a small wheel, sheaf of a pulley," from Gk. trokhileia "a pulley," from trokhos "wheel," from trekhein "to run," from PIE base *dhregh- "to run" (cf. O.Ir. droch "wheel," Lith. pa-drosti "to run fast"). Truckle bed "small bed on wheels that can be stowed under a larger bed" is from 1459.

truckle  (v.)
"give up or submit tamely," 1612, "sleep in a truckle bed" (see truckle (n.)). Meaning "give precedence, assume a submissive position" (1656, implied in truckling) is perhaps in allusion to that type of bed being used by servants and inferiors, or from it simply occupying the lower position.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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