entrench
English
WOTD – 14 September 2015
Alternative forms
- intrench (archaic)
Etymology
Mid-16th century. en- + trench
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ɪnˈtɹɛntʃ/, /ɛnˈtɹɛntʃ/
- (US) IPA(key): /ɛnˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛntʃ
- Hyphenation: en‧trench
Verb
entrench (third-person singular simple present entrenches, present participle entrenching, simple past and past participle entrenched) (transitive, intransitive)
- (construction, archaeology) To dig or excavate a trench; to trench.
- (military) To surround or provide with a trench, especially for defense; to dig in.
- The army entrenched its camp, or entrenched itself.
- (figuratively) To establish a substantial position in business, politics, etc.
- Senator Cornpone was able to entrench by spending millions on each campaign.
- 2009, Andrew B. Fisher and Matthew O'Hara, “Forward”, in Andrew B. Fisher and Matthew O'Hara, editors, Imperial Subjects: Race and Identity in Colonial Latin America, page 4:
- Given these entrenched ideological assumptions about the colonial order, it is no wonder that the state and those groups with an interest in the status quo viewed with suspicion and hostility any challenges to the fixed and "natural" boundaries between different sorts of people.
- 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, "London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
- For London to have its own exclusive immigration policy would exacerbate the sense that immigration benefits only certain groups and disadvantages the rest. It would entrench the gap between London and the rest of the nation. And it would widen the breach between the public and the elite that has helped fuel anti-immigrant hostility.
- To invade; to encroach; to infringe or trespass; to enter on, and take possession of, that which belongs to another; usually followed by on or upon.
- To cut in; to furrow; to make trenches in or upon.
- c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
- It was this very sword entrenched it.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- His face
Deep scars of thunder had entrenched.
-
- (figuratively) To become completely absorbed in and fully accept one's beliefs, even in the face of evidence against it and refusing to be reasoned with.
Synonyms
- (dig): trench
- (surround with a trench): dig in
- (establish a solid, firm financial position): consolidate
Translations
dig
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surround with a trench
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establish financial position
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