Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Truck?

\Truck\, n. [L. trochus an iron hoop, Gr. ? a wheel, fr. ? to run. See {Trochee}, and cf. {Truckle}, v. i.] 1. A small wheel, as of a vehicle; specifically (Ord.), a small strong wheel, as of wood or iron, for a gun carriage. 2. A low, wheeled vehicle or barrow for carrying goods, stone, and other heavy articles. Goods were conveyed about the town almost exclusively in trucks drawn by dogs. --Macaulay. 3. (Railroad Mach.) A swiveling carriage, consisting of a frame with one or more pairs of wheels and the necessary boxes, springs, etc., to carry and guide one end of a locomotive or a car; -- sometimes called bogie in England. Trucks usually have four or six wheels. 4. (Naut.) (a) A small wooden cap at the summit of a flagstaff or a masthead, having holes in it for reeving halyards through. (b) A small piece of wood, usually cylindrical or disk-shaped, used for various purposes. 5. A freight car. [Eng.] 6. A frame on low wheels or rollers; -- used for various purposes, as for a movable support for heavy bodies.
\Truck\, v. t. To transport on a truck or trucks.
\Truck\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Trucked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {trucking}.] [OE. trukken,F. troquer; akin to Sp. & Pg. trocar; of uncertain origin.] To exchange; to give in exchange; to barter; as, to truck knives for gold dust. We will begin by supposing the international trade to be in form, what it always is in reality, an actual trucking of one commodity against another. --J. S. Mill.
\Truck\, v. i. To exchange commodities; to barter; to trade; to deal. A master of a ship, who deceived them under color of trucking with them. --Palfrey. Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster. --Burke. To truck and higgle for a private good. --Emerson.
\Truck\, n. [Cf. F. troc.] 1. Exchange of commodities; barter. --Hakluyt. 2. Commodities appropriate for barter, or for small trade; small commodities; esp., in the United States, garden vegetables raised for the market. [Colloq.] 3. The practice of paying wages in goods instead of money; -- called also {truck system}. {Garden truck}, vegetables raised for market. [Colloq.] [U. S.] {Truck farming}, raising vegetables for market: market gardening. [Colloq. U. S.]