A Dictionary of Cont..

verb, to travel as a member of a theatrical company,
to barnstorm. Trouper means an actor in
a theatrical company, especially a veteran actor.
It is often used figuratively of one who, having
experienced many vicissitudes and known many
hardships, can be relied on to play his part with
professional competence.
trope. See figure of speech.
troabled; troublesome; troublous. Troubled means
worried or disturbed. It may apply to persons,
atmosphere-as sea, sky-or to moods, thoughts,
feelings (His troubled look frightened her. They
love to fish in troubled waters). In the sense of
disturbed, it may have social rather than physical
implications. Irwin Shaw’s book. The Troubled
Ai; (N.Y., 1951), dealt with the problem of loyalty
among radio artists. Troublesome means
causing trouble, vexatious (He preferred a troublesome
cough to a troublesome doctor). Troublous
is an archaic word meaning characterized
by trouble; disturbed; unsettled (The Reconstruction
Era was a troublous time). Its use now
would seem a little affected.
trouser; trousers. Trousers, a plural substantive,
is the usual form to describe a loose fitting outer
garment for men, covering the lower part of the
trunk and each leg separately, and extending to
the ankles; or a shorter garment of this kind,
reaching to the knees, especially as worn by boys.
In America trousers in this second sense is customarily
qualified (He wore short trousers until
he was eleven). It would be felt as a little stilted
or, perhaps, a euphemism, the common term for
boys’ short trousers being pants or short pants
(My Mama done tol’ me/ When I was in knee
pants. . . ) and for men’s short trousers, shorts.
A pair of trousers is the correct singular form.
The English have a slang verb to trouser, meaning
to put money into the trouser pocket, to
pocket. Both Americans and English use the
figurative idiom she wears the trousers in that
house to mean that she (the wife) is the dominant
person. Most Americans, however, say she
wears the pants.
A singular form trouser is preferred as the first
element in a compound, as in trouser pockets,
but the form trousers pockets may also be used.
trousseau. The plural is trousseaus or trousseaux.
truck; truckle. Truck in the phrase to have no
truck with is derived from the French troquer,
to barter. The phrase is now a clichC, devoid of
any specific meaning to most of those who use it.
To truckle, in the sense of yielding obsequiously,
is derived from sleeping on a truckle bed,
a pallet on casters or truckles which was rolled
under the regular bed. Servants used to sleep on
truckle beds, sometimes directly under their masters
in the old, high-raised four-posters with
their canopies (Zf he that in the field is slain/
Be on the bed of honor lain,/ He that’s beaten
may be said/ To lie in honor’s truckle bed). Why
of all the miseries and indignities which servants
formerly had to endure this particular one was
singled out as a symbol of servility is not c:lear.
Housewives who wonder why it is so hard to get
“help” might profit from setting down a list of
523 trustee
words in English drawn from the living conditions
of servants which express contempt for the
servants on the part of the masters. It would be
a long and instructive list.
truculent does not mean base, mercenary, though
a truculent man may very well be base and mercenary.
It means fierce and cruel; brutally harsh,
savagely threatening or bullying (One of my
superiors was a truculent fellow who would have
loved being a storm trooper under Hitler).
true blue, as a term for one who is staunchly
loyal, unshakable in admirable principles, is a
clicht. It is a very old term, based on the fact
that among the early dyes blue was one of the
best, least likely to fade. The term today has the
further disadvantage of suggesting high-minded
schoolgirlish enthusiasm, the sort of term that
the head of a summer camp might use in a pep
talk.
true verb. In this dictionary, the term u true verb
means any verb form that has tense, that is, that
refers to either the past, the present, or the future.
The infinitive, the -ing form, and the past
participle, do not have tense when they are used
as nouns or adjectives. Some grammarians call
these forms that do not have tense verbals, verbids,
or nonfinite verb forms.
truism. See commonplace.
truly. See faithfully.
trunk. English and American usage of trunk differ
in some of its meanings. What the English
call the main line of a railroad is in America
often called a trunk line, trunk road, or simply
trunk (Chicago in 1871 served as the junction
point for thirteen trunk-line railroads). In the
terminology of the telephone companies, trunk
means a telephone line or channel between two
central offices or switching devices, which is used
in providing telephone connections between subscribers
generally. The trunk call of the English
system is the long distance call of the American.
The English colloquially say trunk, the Americans
long distance.
Trunks (plural) is used, especially in England,
to describe short, tight-fitting breeches, as
worn over tights in theatrical use. In the United
States only, trunks may also mean short drawers
worn by athletes such as runners, boxers, swimmers,
basketball players. In this sense, trunks is
always treated as a plural, as in these trunks are
new. In order to use the word with a singular
verb or to speak of more than one such garment,
it is necessary to say this pair of trunks is new
or several pairs of trunks. The form trunks is
used as the first element in a compound, as in
the trunks pocket.
trust. This verb may be followed by an infinitive,
as in trust her to tell him about it. It is also heard
with the -ing form of a verb, especially in an exclamation
that is meant to be condemning, as in
trust her telling hinl about it, but this is not
standard English.
trustee; trusty. A trustee is a person, usually one
of a body of persons, appointed to administer the
affairs of a company or institution (He became
a trustee of his college ten years after gradu-