trunk

«trunk» in Mova's school dictionary: its thick main stem that holds up the branches — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (trunk, trunks)

meaning for a pupil

1) The trunk of a tree is its thick main stem that holds up the branches. tree →

2) An elephant's trunk is its long nose that it can use like a hand. tree →

3) A trunk is a large strong box for storing or carrying things. tree →

4) In American English the trunk of a car is the space at the back for bags (in British English, the boot). tree →

5) Your trunk is the main part of your body, without your head, arms and legs. tree →

6) Swimming trunks are shorts boys and men wear to swim. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons a tree trunk has rings that show its age, and bark protects it; an elephant's trunk can smell, drink, grab and trumpet. In PE and biology the trunk is the middle of the body. In stories old trunks in the attic hold treasure. Phrases: tree trunk, swimming trunks, car trunk, trunk road.

examples

• The oak tree had a huge trunk. tree →
• You can count the rings in a tree trunk to find its age. tree →
• The elephant sucked up water with its trunk. tree →
• Grandma keeps old photos in a trunk in the attic. tree →
• Put the bags in the trunk of the car. tree →
• Twist your trunk to the left and right. tree →
• He packed his swimming trunks for the beach. tree →
• A squirrel ran up the trunk. tree →
• I heard him feeling about with his trunk. tree →

note

Countable noun (trunks). «Swimming trunks» is plural, like «trousers»: a pair of trunks. Car trunk (US) = car boot (UK). An elephant's trunk is its nose and upper lip, not an arm. Counting a tree's rings: one ring is usually one year of growth.

In the corpora

• The trunk is the elephant's nose and upper lip joined together and grown very long.
• Elephants can swim and use the trunk as a snorkel, keeping only its tip above the water.
• Elephants have a superb sense of smell and more smell genes than dogs, and lift the trunk to catch scents on the wind.
• Elephants greet and comfort each other by touching faces and twisting their trunks together.
• The trumpet call is air blasted out through the trunk; elephants also make deep rumbles other elephants feel through their feet.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «trunk» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.