trencher friends
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Persons who cultivate the friendship of others for the sake of sitting at their board, and the good things they can get.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “trencher friends” mean?
Persons who cultivate the friendship of others for the sake of sitting at their board, and the good things they can get.
Is “trencher friends” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.