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Trench vs Hollow - What's the difference?

trench | hollow | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between trench and hollow

is that trench is a long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground while hollow is a small valley between mountains; a low spot surrounded by elevations.

As verbs the difference between trench and hollow

is that trench is to invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach while hollow is to make a hole in something; to excavate.

As an adjective hollow is

(of something solid) Having an empty space or cavity inside.

As an adverb hollow is

completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.

As an interjection hollow is

alternative form of lang=en.

trench

English

(wikipedia trench)

Noun

(es)
  • A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.
  • (military) A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.
  • (archaeology) A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.
  • (informal) A trench coat.
  • * 1999 , April 24, Xiphias Gladius , "Re: trenchcoat mafia", ne.general.selected , Usenet:
    • I was the first person in my high school to wear a trench' and fedora constantly, and Ben was one of the first to wear a black ' trench .
  • * 2007 , (Nina Garcia), The Little Black Book of Style'', HarperCollins, as excerpted in , October, page 138:
    • A classic trench can work in any kind of weather and goes well with almost anything.

    Derived terms

    * * entrench * in the trenches * trench boot * trench coat * trench knife * trench mortar * trench mouth * trench warfare

    Related terms

    * tranche

    Verb

    (es)
  • (usually, followed by upon) To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.
  • * 1640 , (Ben Jonson), Underwoods , page 68:
    • Shee is the Judge, Thou Executioner, Or if thou needs would'st trench upon her power, Thou mightst have yet enjoy'd thy crueltie, With some more thrift, and more varietie.
  • * I. Taylor
    • Does it not seem as if for a creature to challenge to itself a boundless attribute, were to trench upon the prerogative of the divine nature?
  • * 1949 , (Charles Austin Beard), American Government and Politics , page 16:
    • He could make what laws he pleased, as long as those laws did not trench upon property rights.
  • * 2005 , Carl von Clausewitz, J. J. Graham, On War , page 261:
    • [O]ur ideas, therefore, must trench upon the province of tactics.
  • (military, infantry) To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.
  • * Shakespeare
    • No more shall trenching war channel her fields.
    (Alexander Pope)
  • (archaeology) To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.
  • To have direction; to aim or tend.
    • (Francis Bacon)
  • To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The wide wound that the boar had trenched / In his soft flank.
  • * Shakespeare
    • This weak impress of love is as a figure / Trenched in ice, which with an hour's heat / Dissolves to water, and doth lose its form.
  • To cut furrows or ditches in.
    • to trench land for the purpose of draining it
  • To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.
    • to trench a garden for certain crops
    ----

    hollow

    English

    Alternative forms

    * holler

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) holw, holh, from (etyl) . More at cave.

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (of something solid) Having an empty space or cavity inside.
    • a hollow''' tree; a '''hollow sphere
  • (of a sound) Distant]], eerie; echoing, [[reverberate, reverberating, as if in a hollow space; dull, muffled; often low-pitched.
    • a hollow moan
    (Dryden)
  • (figuratively) Without substance; having no real or significant worth; meaningless.
    • a hollow victory
  • (figuratively) Insincere, devoid of validity; specious.
    • a hollow promise
  • Depressed; concave; gaunt; sunken.
  • * Shakespeare
    • With hollow eye and wrinkled brow.
    Derived terms
    * hollow leg

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (colloquial) Completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.

    • Etymology 2

    (etyl) holow, earlier holgh, from (etyl) . See above.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small valley between mountains; a low spot surrounded by elevations.
  • * Prior
    • Forests grew upon the barren hollows .
  • * Tennyson
    • I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood.
    He built himself a cabin in a hollow high up in the Rockies.
  • A sunken area or unfilled space in something solid; a cavity, natural or artificial.
    • the hollow of the hand or of a tree
  • (US) A sunken area.
  • (figuratively) A feeling of emptiness.
    • a hollow in the pit of one's stomach

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to make a hole in something; to excavate (transitive)

    • Etymology 3

    Compare holler.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To urge or call by shouting; to hollo.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • He has hollowed the hounds.

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
    • (Webster 1913)