RETRENCHMENT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Retrenchment

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/ritrˈɛntʃmənt/ Listen

noun

Retrenchment n.

The act or process of retrenching; as, the retrenchment of words in a writing.

(Fort.) A work constructed within another, to prolong the defense of the position when the enemy has gained possession of the outer work; or to protect the defenders till they can retreat or obtain terms for a capitulation.

Synonyms: Lessening; curtailment; diminution; reduction; abridgment.

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Etymology of 'Retrenchment'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Retrenchment" Quotes from Famous Books

... compliment from that Government—which is very surprising to me. Why, it is only an hour since I read a cablegram in the newspapers beginning "Russia Proposes to Retrench." I was not expecting such a thunderbolt, and I thought what a happy thing it will be for Russians when the retrenchment will bring home the thirty thousand Russian troops now in Manchuria, to live in peaceful pursuits. I thought this was what Germany should do also without delay, and that France and all the other nations in China should ...

— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... also in the habit of resorting to the gymnasium, ostensibly for exercise, as he was dyspeptic; but his wife suspected it was more to meet his old cronies. Finding retrenchment necessary, and looking on gymnastics somewhat as a Yankee looks on a fine stream that turns no mill, she dismissed one of the servants, and so arranged it that the surplus strength that formerly so ran to waste should make the fires, rock the cradle, and split certain hickory logs. Very ...

— Continental Monthly, Vol. II. July, 1862. No. 1. • Various

... kingdom is groaning under extreme pressure for the necessary funds annually squeezed out of it, would not be thought a prudent course, even by the ultra-economical politicians who are so lavish of displaying their crude projects of retrenchment on ...

— Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines - During 1848, 1849 and 1850 • Robert Mac Micking

... defenders to retire across the river into the fort. Tippoo now sank into such a state of despondency that he would listen to none of the proposals of his officers for strengthening the position, and would not even agree to the construction of a retrenchment, which would cut off the western angle of the fort, against which it was evident that the attack ...

— The Tiger of Mysore - A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib • G. A. Henty

... very first. We were still in Italy when I made my first discovery; it was one that let in the light upon his character, but did not seriously involve my wife. We fought, and I was wounded. When I recovered, I brought my wife home to Arden. Our year's retrenchment had left me poorer than when I left home. Your mother's beauty was a luxury not to be maintained more cheaply ...

— The Lovels of Arden • M. E. Braddon

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