entrenchingn.
/ᵻnˈtrɛn(t)ʃɪŋ/, /ɛnˈtrɛn(t)ʃɪŋ/, U.S. /ᵻnˈtrɛn(t)ʃɪŋ/, /ɛnˈtrɛn(t)ʃɪŋ/ 1.
a. Military. The action or an act of fortifying a place with a trench or trenches; an entrenchment, a fortification. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > earthwork or rampart > [noun] > trench > action of trenching
entrenching1549
entrenchment1593
trenching1899
1549 J. Russell in J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1860) (modernized text) V. xxvi. 196 They found the rebels strongly encamped, as well by the seat of the ground as by the entrenching of the same.
1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres i. 13 The ground where the Campe shall then be, with the manner of the intrenching, etc.
1633 G. Herbert Temple: Sacred Poems 157 Thy will such an intrenching is, As passeth thought.
1777 Public Advertiser 1 Jan. The enemy..were employed in entrenching at Croton Bridge.
1857 N.Y. Herald 25 Jan. 1/4 Our trenching tools..were occupied in burying the latter, and in entrenching at Fort Henry.
1917 Literary Digest 16 June 1855/1 There were dreary campaigns of marchings, counter-marchings, besiegings, and entrenchings.
1983 S. W. Sears Landscape turned Red vii. 216 He blamed the failure of the Peninsula campaign on all the entrenching; put troops behind fieldworks, he said, and they became timid.
2009 R. A. Prete Strategy & Command vii. 155 The entrenching was eventually accomplished with French help.
b. The action of embedding or establishing something, esp. a clause, provision, or other piece of constitutional legislation, firmly so that change is difficult or impossible; the fact of being so embedded or established.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > strengthening or confirmation of immaterial things > [noun]
strenghinga1400
strengthc1400
affirmance1442
roboration1473
confirmation1520
corroboration1529
fortification1530
strengthening1535
hardening1544
establishment1561
re-enforcement1577
comforting1605
reinforcement1605
consolidation1611
establishing1846
undergirding1868
entrenchment1877
entrenching1950
1950 Canad. Labour Rep. Jan. 7 The process of ‘entrenching’ is a relatively simple one. All that is required is for all eleven governments to agree that such matters shall not be changed without the unanimous consent of the Parliament of Canada.
1961 Transition No. 1. 17/2 The entrenching of Buganda's federal position in the constitution together with other varied federal constitutions..constitute a strong safeguard.
1988 Human Rights Q. 10 15 They remain intact in the entrenching of white domination.
2017 Globe & Mail (Canada) (Nexis) 27 May (Ontario ed.) f1 Defenders of the agreement today..suggest..that it brought modernization, growth and an entrenching of the rule of law.
2. The action or an act of encroaching upon (also on) something; encroachment; intrusion. Cf. entrench v. 4. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > moral impropriety > [noun] > infringement of rights, etc.
intrusion1433
intruseryc1470
attainmentc1503
encroachment1523
encroaching1539
trenching1543
infringinga1575
usurpationa1626
entrenching1629
entrenchment1635
invasion1650
impingement1671
infringement1673
trespass1769
usurpature1845
1629 A. Leighton Appeal to Parl. 40 This is..an intrenching upon the Kings prerogative.
1672 H. More Brief Reply 54 The Invocation of them is notwithstanding a very presumptuous invasion of the..Rights of God, and the intrenching upon his Prerogatives.
1720 D. Defoe Serious Refl. Life Robinson Crusoe iii. 117 Their learning to Lye so currently in Story, will insensibly bring them to a bold entrenching upon Truth, in the rest of their Conversation.
1856 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent Suppl. 22 Mar. 9/3 Sir George Grey had exaggerated the effect of the bill with regard to its entrenching upon local liberty.
1868 Hist. Mag. July 46/2 I mourn for..their entrenching on what I am sure are the prerogatives of the great Redeemer.
1949 Parl. Deb. House of Representatives (Ceylon) 20 Oct. VII. 526/2 1949 20 Oct. It is a queer type of logic which says that the universality of the application of a principle is not affected by the very entrenching upon that principle.
Compounds
C1. attributive. Designating a clause, provision, or other piece of constitutional legislation that has conditions attached which make it difficult to amend or repeal. Frequently in entrenching clause, entrenching provision. Cf. entrench v. 2c.
ΚΠ
1955 Times 14 May 9/2 A second chamber thus drastically remodelled would not be the Senate in the sense in which the entrenching clause 152 uses the term.
1988 Austral. Capital Territory (Self-govt.) Act §26 (4) in A. J. Connolly Found. Austral. Public Law (2017) v. 191 While the entrenching law is in force, an enactment to which it applies has no effect unless made in accordance with the entrenching law.
2002 Yale Law Jrnl. 111 1698 The self-reference present in the entrenching provision prevents the court from holding that the entrenching provision was itself repealed by necessary implication.
C2.
entrenching tool n. a spade-like tool used for digging entrenchments.
ΚΠ
1758 J. St. Clair Let. 9 Aug. in G. Washington Papers (1988) V. 384 If you can send us any Entrenching Tools it will very much accelerate our work.
1809 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1837) IV. 474 Intrenching tools and other baggage belonging to the 31st regiment.
1877 Field Exercise Infantry (rev. ed.) 312 Axes and intrenching tools, to enable it [sc. rear guard] to block up bridges.
2002 Backwoods Home Mag. Nov. 62/1 Gaston Glock..made a fortune producing..polymer or partially polymer products, ranging from knives to entrenching tools for soldiers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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