trench

[Laurence Horn]

On Oct 9, 2012, at 12:19 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> "Cut more narrowly in on"?  That is, slice away everything else.
>
> Joel
>
> At 10/9/2012 10:38 AM, David A. Daniel wrote:
>> Got a Court of Appeals decision here. "disclosure requirements trench much
>> more
>> narrowly on an advertiser's interests than do flat prohibitions on
>> speech . . . ." Trench? Obscure use as "encroach"? Or is it a misuse?
>> Nothing in Black's that indicates it is legalese for anything in particular.
>> DAD
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

See OED trench, v., 7b (although no recent hits; but legal language is notorious for preserving earlier usage, e.g. "without let or hindrance"):

7.

 b. to trench on or upon : To encroach or infringe (however slightly) on or upon a region which is the domain of another. †to trench too near , to trench too nigh , = to come dangerously near infringing upon (obs.).

1622   J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue ii. 15   The King..being desirous to know, if any man of worth had presumed so farre to trench vpon what he had done.
1629   N. Carpenter Achitophel (1640) ii. 78   [It] seems to me to trench too farre on Gods Prerogative.
a1633   Visct. Falkland Hist. Edward II (1680) 59   Nor may you trench too near your Soveraigns actions.
1647   N. Bacon Hist. Disc. Govt. 98   They would not allow their secular affaires to trench too nigh that daies devotion.
a1657   G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Richard II ccc, in Poems (1878) III. 212   But least my running Tent may Trench vpon Another's feild, I fixe my Pole downe here.
1799   J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 553   This scheme..may seem to trench on the liberty of individuals.
1865   C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire (new ed.) VIII. lxiv. 116   He trenches a little on the night,..but no one finds the time long.
1866   Mrs. H. Wood St. Martin's Eve xiii,   Though I squandered my own property, I have not trenched on yours.

LH

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