verb
trunk
truhngk
verb
1
To cut something short or reduce it drastically.
"The gardener trunked the hedge back to a bare stump."
2
In telecoms, to carry many signals together over a shared set of lines.
"The phone company trunks hundreds of calls over a single fibre line."
How to Use Trunk
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishAs a verb, trunk usually means to cut down or to bundle multiple communication lines together; as a noun it more commonly refers to a tree trunk, a large storage case, or (US English) a car boot.
UK vs US
The noun sense "car trunk" is American English; British English calls this the "boot."
Word Forms
trunked past tense, Trunks plural, trunks singular
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The gardener _____ the hedge back to a bare stump.
Etymology
From Old French tronc, meaning a tree trunk, alms box, or headless body, going back to Latin truncus, "cut off, maimed."