Definition of "trunk" []

• The main woody axis of a tree. (noun)
• Architecture The shaft of a column. (noun)
• The body of a human or animal excluding the head and limbs. (noun)
• The thorax of an insect. (noun)
• A proboscis, especially the long prehensile proboscis of an elephant. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "As I said before, the elephant's trunk is its nose -- that is, the elephant has to _breathe through the trunk_."
• "Not content with stripping the tree of its branches, the old tusker seized hold of its trunk -- lapping his own _trunk_ as far as he could around it -- and commenced tugging at it, as if he had hopes of being able to drag it up by the roots."
• "“The word trunk is really out of date,” the designer Bill Blass, who has been doing these shows for forty years, tells me."