Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Trencher \Trench"er\, n. [OE. trencheoir, F. tranchoir, fr.
   trancher to cut, carve. See {Trench}, v. t.]
   1. One who trenches; esp., one who cuts or digs ditches.

   2. A large wooden plate or platter, as for table use.

   3. The table; hence, the pleasures of the table; food.

            It could be no ordinary declension of nature that
            could bring some men, after an ingenuous education,
            to place their ``summum bonum'' upon their
            trenchers.                            --South.

   {Trencher cap}, the cap worn by studens at Oxford and
      Cambridge Universities, having a stiff, flat, square
      appendage at top. A similar cap used in the United States
      is called {Oxford cap}, {mortar board}, etc.

   {Trencher fly}, a person who haunts the tables of others; a
      parasite. [R.] --L'Estrange.

   {Trencher friend}, one who frequents the tables of others; a
      sponger.

   {Trencher mate}, a table companion; a parasite; a trencher
      fly. --Hooker.