trencher-man

English

Alternative forms

• trencherman

Etymology

From trencher +‎ -man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛnt͡ʃə(ɹ)mən/

Noun

trencher-man (plural trencher-men)

1. (obsolete) A feeder; a great eater; a gormandizer.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     BEATRICE. You had musty victual, and he hath holp to eat it; he is a very valiant trencher-man; he hath an excellent stomach.

   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. , volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. , →OCLC:

     "Holy Clerk," said the stranger, after the first cup was thus swallowed, "I cannot but marvel that a man possessed of such thews and sinews as thine, and who therewithal shows the talent of so goodly a trencher-man, should think of abiding by himself in this wilderness. In my judgment, you are fitter to keep a castle or a fort, eating of the fat and drinking of the strong, than to live here upon pulse and water, or even upon the charity of the keeper.

2. (obsolete) A cook.
   • a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC:

     The skilfullest trencher-men of Media.

3. (obsolete) A table companion; a tablemate.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 51, in Vanity Fair , London: Bradbury and Evans , published 1848, →OCLC:

     Mr. Wagg, the celebrated wit, and a led captain and trencher-man of my Lord Steyne, was caused by the ladies to charge her; and the worthy fellow, leering at his patronesses, and giving them a wink, as much as to say, "Now look out for sport,"

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:glutton

Derived terms

• trenchermanship

Translations