trunk

noun

A large suitcase, chest, or similar receptacle for carrying or storing personal possessions, usually with a hinged, often domed lid, and handles at each end, so that generally it takes two persons to carry a full trunk.

(Canada, US, automotive) The luggage storage compartment of a sedan/saloon-style car.

The usually single, more or less upright part of a tree, between the roots and the branches.

The torso; especially, the human torso.

The conspicuously extended, mobile, nose-like organ of an animal such as a sengi, a tapir or especially an elephant. The trunks of various kinds of animals might be adapted to probing and sniffing, as in the sengis, or be partly prehensile, as in the tapir, or be a versatile prehensile organ for manipulation, feeding, drinking and fighting as in the elephant.

(heading) A container.

A box or chest usually covered with leather, metal, or cloth, or sometimes made of leather, hide, or metal, for holding or transporting clothes or other goods.

(software engineering) In software projects under source control: the most current source tree, from which the latest unstable builds (so-called "trunk builds") are compiled.

The main line or body of anything.

(heading) A channel for flow of some kind.

(US, telecommunications) A major circuit between telephone switchboards or other switching equipment.

A long, large box, pipe, or conductor, made of plank or metal plates, for various uses, as for conveying air to a mine or to a furnace, water to a mill, grain to an elevator, etc.

A chute or conduit, or a watertight shaft connecting two or more decks.

(transport) A main line in a river, canal, railroad, or highway system.

A large pipe forming the piston rod of a steam engine, of sufficient diameter to allow one end of the connecting rod to be attached to the crank, and the other end to pass within the pipe directly to the piston, thus making the engine more compact.

(architecture) The part of a pilaster between the base and capital, corresponding to the shaft of a column.

(heading, biology) Part of a body.

(automotive) A storage compartment fitted behind the seat of a motorcycle.

(mining) A flume or sluice in which ores are separated from the slimes in which they are contained.

A surname from German.

(in the plural) Ellipsis of swimming trunks. [A pair of specifically designed shorts worn by men and boys for swimming or bathing.]

(archaic) A long tube through which pellets of clay, peas, etc., are driven by the force of the breath. A peashooter

verb

(telecommunications) To provide simultaneous network access to multiple clients by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies.

(transitive, mining) To extract (ores) from the slimes in which they are contained, by means of a trunk.

(transitive, obsolete) To lop off; to curtail; to truncate.

Roots

truncustrunk- · Latin · stem, tree trunk, cut-off piece

Synonyms for trunk

torson bodyn proboscisn bolen chestn bootn coffern

Synonyms & related words for trunk

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of trunk — including torso, body, proboscis, bole, chest, boot. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to trunk

Explore words related to trunk — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include footlocker, keepsakes, suitcase, compartment, valise, saddlebags, carryall, luggage. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for trunk

Common synonyms for trunk include torso, body, proboscis, bole, chest, boot, coffer — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does trunk come from?

The word trunk breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root trunk, from Latin truncus (“stem, tree trunk, cut-off piece”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.