Truncate T-eaf of 
Tulip-tree. 
truncate 
turn of a cone or pyramid. Sue cut under frustum. 
Truncated cube, cuboctahedron, dodecahedron, 
icosanedron, icosidodecahedron, octahedron, tet- 
rahedron. See the nouns. 
truncate (trung'kat), . [< L. Ifii in-ill 'UK, pj>.: 
see the verb.] Truncated. Specifically (o) In 
bot., appearing as if cut short at the tip 
by a transverse line, as the leaf of the 
tulip-tree, Liriodendron Tuliiri/era. (6) 
In zoiil. and anat. t cut off ; cut short ; 
shortened by the removal of a part from 
either end. Especially (1) Cut squarely 
off ; cut straight across ; hence, square, 
straight, or even at the end, as if so cut : 
as, the truncate tail of a tish or a bird. 
(2) In conch., broken off, as the apex of 
a conical or spiral shell ; having lost the 
pointof the spire. Truncate elytra,those elytra which 
are cut off squarely at the apex, leaving the tip of the ab- 
domen exposed. See Truncatipenncs. 
truncately (trung'kat-li), ailv. In a truncate 
manner; so as to be or to seem truncated, 
truncation (truug-ka'shon), n. [< LL. trunca- 
tio(n-), < L. truneare, pp. trttncalus, cut off: 
see truncate."] 1. The act of truncating, or 
the state of being truncated ; also, a truncated 
part. 
Decreeing judgment of death or truncation of mem- 
bers. Prynne, Huntley's Breviate (1637), p. 48. 
2. In crystal., the replacement of an angle (or 
edge) by a crystalline face. 
In truncation proper, the replacing 
face makes equal angles with the 
adjacent faces ; otherwise it is said 
to be oblique. 
Truncatipennes (tnmg-ka-ti- 
pen'ez), n. pi. [NL., < L. 
truncatus, cut off, + penna, a 
wing.] An artificial group of 
caraboid beetles, correspond- 
ing to some extent with the 
family Brachinidse : so called from the trunca- 
Truncation of the 
Edges of a Cube by 
Dodecahedral Planes. 
entom., truncate, with a sinus or slight inward 
curve on the edge of the truncation. 
truncature (trung'ka-tur), . [= It. tronca- 
tura, < L. truncare,pp. truncatus: see truncate."] 
In cool., same as truncation. 
truncht (trunch), n. [Also tronch; < OF. tranche, 
a fern, form of tronc, trunk : see trunk."] A stake 
or small post. 
In the midst of them were four little tranches knocked 
into the ground, and small sticks laid over, on which they 
hung their pots, and what they had to seeth. 
Mourt's Journal, in New England's Memorial, App., p. 352. 
truncheon (trun'chon), n. [Formerly also trun- 
chion; < ME. trunclton, tnmchone, trunchyne, tron- 
chon, tronchoun, < OF. trongon, tronson, a trun- 
cheon, a thick slice, a piece cut off, F. tronyon 
(= Pi. tronso, troncho, treason = Sp. troncon = 
It. troncone), dim. of tronc, a stump, trunk: see 
trunk."] 1. A trunk, stock, or stump, as of a 
tree ; hence, a tree the branches of wnich have 
been lopped off to produce rapid growth. 
And tho bowis greweu out of stockis or tronchons, and 
the tronchons or schaf Us grewen out of the roote. 
Bp. Pecock, Represser, i. 6. 
2. The shaft of a spear or lance. 
He foyneth on his feet with his tronchoun. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1757. 
They carry also the truncheons of their Lances with their 
Standards and Ensignes trailing along the ground. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 304. 
3. A short staff; a club; a cudgel. Prompt. 
Pan., p. 504. 
One with a broken truncheon deals his blows. 
Dryden, Pal. and Arc., iii. 612. 
4. A baton or staff of authority ; specifically, 
in her., the staff of the earl marshal of England. 
Two of these truncheons are borne saltierwise behind the 
escutcheon of the Duke of Norfolk, who is hereditary earl 
marshal. See marshal's staff, under marshal!. 
Well, believe this, . . . 
The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, 
Become them with one half so good a grace 
As mercy does. Shak., M. for M., ii. 2. 61. 
No sooner are the Three Strokes given, but out jumps 
Four Trunchion Officers from their Hovel, and with a sort 
of ill mannerly Keverence receive him at the Orate. 
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Eeign of Queen Anne, 
[H. 243. 
truncheon (trun'chon), v. t. [< truncheon, n.~] 
To beat or belabor with a truncheon or club ; 
cudgel. 
An captains were of my mind, they would truncheon 
you out> for taking their names upon you before you have 
earned them. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 164. 
truncheoned (tnm'chqnd), a. [< truncheon + 
-ed?.~] Furnished with a truncheon ; hence, by 
extension, armed with a lance or other long- 
handled weapon. 
6510 
truncheoneert (trun-chon-eV ), i. [< truncheon 
+ -per.] Same as truuclicoiier. 
truncheonert (trun'chon-er), n. [< truncheon + 
-frl.] A person armed with a cudgel or staff. 
I ... hit that woman, who cried out "Clubs!" when 
I might see from far some forty troncheoners draw to her 
succor, which were the hope o' the Strand, where she was 
quartered. Shak., Hen. VIII., v. 4. 54. 
trunchonH, H. A Middle English spelling of 
truncheon. 
trunchon 2 t, [Also tronelion; appar. connect- 
ed with trunclton 1 , truncheon.} An intestinal 
worm. Prompt. Parv., p. 504. 
truncus (trung'kus), n.; pi. trtinci (trun'si). [L.: 
see trunk.] 1. In hot., the stem or trunk of a 
tree. 2. In sool., the trunk; the axial part of 
an animal minus the head, limbs, and tail. See 
somal. 3. The main stem or trunk of a nerve 
or vessel of the body. 4. In entom., the thorax. 
Extensor trunci. Same as erector gpime (which see, 
under erector). Truncus arteriosus, an arterial trunk ; 
the main trunk of the arterial system, in most cases more 
distinctively named. See pylanyium. 
trundle (trun'dl), n. [A var. of trendle, trinclle."] 
1. A wheel small in diameter, but broad and 
massive so as to be adapted to support a heavy 
weight, as the wheel of a caster. 2. A small 
wheel or pinion having its teeth formed of cyl- 
inders or spindles: same as lantern-wheel. 3. 
One of the spindles of such a wheel. 4. A 
small carriage with low wheels; a truck. 5. 
A trundle-bed. 6. In her., a quill of thread for 
embroiderers, usually represented as a spool 
or reel, and the thread as of gold. 
trundle (trun'dl), . ; pret. and pp. trundled, 
ppr. trundling. [< OF. trondeler, trundle; ult. 
a var. of trendle, trindle.] I. intrans. 1. To 
roll, as something on low wheels or casters; 
move or bowl along, as a round body; hence, 
to move with a rolling gait. 
Betty. They are gone, sir, in great Anger. 
Petulant. Enough, let 'em trundle. 
Congreve, Way of the World, 1. 9. 
Fast our goodman trundled down the hill. 
Waiiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 203. 
The four horses . . . seemed dwarfed by the blunder- 
ing structure which trundled at their heels. 
J. Hawthorne, Dust, p. 11. 
2. To revolve ; twirl. 
And there he threw the wash about, 
On both sides of the way, 
Just like unto a trundling mop. 
Cowper, John Gilpin. 
II. trans. 1. To roll, or cause to roll, as a 
circular or spherical thing or as something on 
casters or low wheels: as, to trundle a hoop; to 
trundle a wheelbarrow ; hence, to cause to move 
off with a rolling gait or pace. 
She took an apple out of her pocket, 
And trundled it along the plain. 
Sir Hugh (Child's Ballads, III. 335). 
They . . . who play at nine holes, and who trundle little 
round stones. Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 1089. 
Ill clap a pair of horses to your chaise that shall trundle 
you off in a twinkling. 
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii. 
Trundling the hoop is a pastime of uncertain origin. 
xtnitt. Sports and Pastimes, p. 490. 
2. To cause to revolve ; twirl : as, to trundle a 
mop. 
The English workman attains the same result by tnm- 
dling the glass during reheating, and by constantly with- 
drawing it from the source of heat. Glass-making, p. 65. 
trundle-bed (trun'dl-bed), n. Alow bed mov- 
ing on casters, and designed to be pushed under 
a high bed when not in use ; a truckle-bed. 
My wife and I in the high bed in our chamber, and Wil- 
let in the trundle-bed, which she desired to lie in, by us. 
Pepys, Diary, III. 269. 
trundle-head (trun'dl-hed), . 1. The wheel 
that turns a millstone. 2. Naut., the drum- 
head of the lower member of a double capstan. 
3. One of the end disks of a trundle-wheel. 
trundle-shot (trun'dl-shot), . A projectile 
consisting of a bar of iron sharpened at both 
ends and having near each end a ball of lead : 
so called because it turns in its flight. 
trundletail (trun'dl-tal), n. 1. A curled or 
curly tail, as a dog's. 
Like a poor cur, clapping his trundle tail 
Betwixt his legs. 
Fletcher (and another), Love's Cure, iii. 3. 
2. A dog with such a tail. 
dletail. 
Formerly also grin- 
Hound or spaniel, brach or lym, 
Or bobtail tyke or trundle-tail. 
Shak., Lear, iii. 6. 73. 
Also ti'/ndliinil. 
trundle-wheel (trun'dl-hwel), n. In mach., 
same as lantern-wheel. 
trunk 
trunk (trungk), w. [< ME. trunl-e, trunckc = 
ML>. tronck, D. tronk, < OF. (and F.) trout; the 
trunk, stock, or body of a tree, a trunk or head- 
less body, also the alms-box in churches, = Pr. 
tronc =; Sp. Pg. It. tronco, < L. truncus, a stock, 
trunk, < truneus, OL. troncitx, cut off, maimed, 
mutilated. Hence ult. (< L. truncus') E. trun- 
cate, trunch, truncheon, etc. Of. Lith. triiiktt, 
block, log.] 1. The woody stem of a tree, from 
which the branches spring. 
Lowe on the truncke as wounde him in the rynde, 
A lite humoure whenne oute of it is roune, 
With chaved cley the wounde ayein to bynde. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 212. 
2. In ttrch., the shaft of a column ; the part be- 
tween the base and the capital. The term is 
sometimes used to signify the die or body of a 
pedestal. See cut under column. 3. Tho main 
part or stem of a branching organ or system of 
organs, considered apart from its ramifications : 
as, the trunk of an artery, a vein, or a nerve ; 
the trunk of a zoophyte or coral. Also truncus. 
4. The human body or that of an animal with- 
out the head and limbs, and, in animals, the 
tail, or considered apart from these; in literary 
use, the body. In entomology the trunk is the body ex- 
clusive of the head, legs, wings, and elytra : the word was 
used by the older entomologists in describing those in 
sects which have the thorax closely united to the abdo- 
men, as the beetles and grasshoppers. The trunk was 
said to be distinct when it was separated from the head. 
Some entomologists, following Fabricius, restrict trunk 
to the thorax (in which sense also truncus). 
To hold opinion with Pythagoras, 
That souls of animals infuse themselves 
Into the trunks of men. 
'Shak., M. of V.,iv. 1. 133. 
What new friend have I found, that dares deliver 
This loaden trunk from his afflictions? 
Fletcher, Double Marriage, iv. 3. 
Now his troops 
Covered that earth they had fought on with their trunks. 
B. Jonson, Catiline, v. 6. 
I'll hazard 
My head, I'll work the senseless trunk t' appear 
To him as it had got a second being. 
Massinger, Duke of Milan, v. 2. 
5. A receptacle with stiff sides and a hinged 
cover or upper part, used especially for carry- 
ing clothes, toilet articles, etc., for a journey. 
To lie like pawns locked up in chests and trunks. 
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 141. 
Then for to show I make nae lie, 
Look ye my trunk, and ye will see. 
Lord Dingwatt (Child's Ballads, I. 292). 
John soon after arrives with her trunks, and is installed 
in her school. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 218. 
6. In fishing, an iron hoop with a bag, used to 
catch crustaceans. E. H. Knight. 7. A tube 
of various kinds and uses, (at) A speaking-tube. 
This fellow waits on him now in tennis court socks, or 
slippers soled with wool : and they talk each to other in a 
trunk. B. Jonson, Epicume, i. 1. 
Are there no trunks to convey secret voices? 
Shirley, Traitor, iii. 1. 
(6t) A telescope. 
Oh, by a trunk '. I know i^ a thing no bigger than a 
flute-case : a neighbor of mine, a spectacle-maker, has 
drawn the moon through it at the bore of a whistle, and 
made it as great as a drum-head twenty times, and brought 
it within the length of this room to me, I know not how 
often. B. Jonson, World in the Moon, 
(ct) A pea- or bean shooter ; a long tube through which 
peas, pellets, etc., were driven by the force of the breath. 
While he shot sugar-plums at them out of a trunk which 
they were to take up. Howett, Letters, I. iii. 37. 
In a shooting trunk, the longer it is, to a certain limit, 
the swifter and more forcibly the air drives the pellet, 
Ray. 
(d) A boxed passage for air to or from a blast-apparatus 
or blowing-engine ; an air-shaft, (e) A boxed passage up 
or down which grain or flour is conveyed in an elevator 
or mill. CO A box-tube used to send attle or rubbish 
out of a mine, or to convey coal to a wagon or heap, 
broken quartz from a mill to the stamps, etc. (g) A long, 
narrow trough which was formerly used in Cornwall in 
dressing copper- and tin-slimes, (h) A wooden box or 
pipe of square section in which air is conveyed in a mine. 
[Bristol, Eng., coal-field.] (i) A kibble. [Yorkshire, Eng.] 
8. A trough to convey water from a race to a 
water-wheel, etc.; a flume; a penstock. 9. 
In trunk-engines, a section of pipe attached to 
a piston and moving longitudinally with it, its 
diameter being sufficient to allow one end of 
the connecting-rod to be attached to the crank 
and the other end directly to the piston, thus 
dispensing with an intermediate rod : used in 
marine engines for driving propellers, also in 
some stationary steam-engines, and extensively 
in caloric engines. 10. A proboscis; a long 
snout; especially,theproboscisofthe elephant; 
less frequently, the proboscis of other animals, 
as butterflies, flies, mosquitos and other gnats, 
and certain mollusks and worms. See the ap- 
plications of proboscis. 11. pi. Trunk-hose. 
