retrench: [16] Retrench originally meant literally ‘dig a new trench as a second line of defence’. It was borrowed from early modern French retrencher, a descendant of Old French retrenchier. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and trenchier ‘cut off’ (source of English trench, trenchant, etc). The standard present-day sense of retrench, ‘cut back, economize’, first recorded in the 17th century, is a return to the underlying meaning of French retrencher. => trench, trenchant
retrench (v.1)
1590s, "dig a new trench as a second line of defense," 1590s, probably a back-formation from retrenchment in the military sense. Related: Retrenched; retrenching.
retrench (v.2)
"cut off, cut down, pare away" (expenses, etc.), 1620s, from obsolete French retrencher "to cut off, lessen, shorten" (Modern French retrancher, Old French retrenchier), from re- "back" (see re-) + Old French trenchier "to cut" (see trench). Related: Retrenched; retrenching.
雙語例句
1. Shortly afterwards, cuts in defence spending forced the aerospace industry to retrench.
不久之後，國防開支的削減迫使航空航天業緊縮開支。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Inflation has forced us to retrench.
因通貨膨脹我們不得不緊縮開支.
來自辭典例句
3. The mess of Wall Street means the families have to retrench.
華爾街的動蕩對很多家庭來說意味著新一輪的勒緊腰帶過日子.
來自互聯網
4. As business is bad these days, we have to retrench.
由於最近生意不景氣, 我們不得不緊縮開支.
來自互聯網
5. Why don't you retrench then - scrape up, hoard , economise?