SG Heritage Dictionary

Truss [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. In a general sense, a bundle; as a truss of hay or straw. A truss of hay in England is half a hundred. A truss of straw is of different weights in different places.

2. In surgery, a bandage or apparatus used in cases of ruptures, to keep up the reduced parts and hinder further protrusion, and for other purposes.

3. Among botanists, a truss or bunch is a tuft of flowers formed at the top of the main stalk or stem of certain plants.

4. In navigation, a machine to pull a lower yard close to its mast and retain it firmly in that position.

5. [ See Trous .]

Truss [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. To bind or pack close.

2. To skewer; to make fast.

3. To truss up, to strain; to make close or tight.

Truss [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. A bundle; a package; as, a truss of grass.

2. A padded jacket or dress worn under armor, to protect the body from the effects of friction; also, a part of a woman's dress; a stomacher.

3. A bandage or apparatus used in cases of hernia, to keep up the reduced parts and hinder further protrusion, and for other purposes.

4. A tuft of flowers formed at the top of the main stalk, or stem, of certain plants.

5. The rope or iron used to keep the center of a yard to the mast.

6. An assemblage of members of wood or metal, supported at two points, and arranged to transmit pressure vertically to those points, with the least possible strain across the length of any member. Architectural trusses when left visible, as in open timber roofs, often contain members not needed for construction, or are built with greater massiveness than is requisite, or are composed in unscientific ways in accordance with the exigencies of style.

7. To bind or pack close; to make into a truss.

8. To take fast hold of; to seize and hold firmly; to pounce upon.

9. To strengthen or stiffen, as a beam or girder, by means of a brace or braces.

10. To skewer; to make fast, as the wings of a fowl to the body in cooking it.

11. To execute by hanging; to hang; -- usually with up.

Trussed [Participle passive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Packed or bound closely.

Trussed [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Truss

Trussing [Participle present tense] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Packing or binding closely.

Trussing [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The timbers, etc., which form a truss, taken collectively.

2. The art of stiffening or bracing a set of timbers, or the like, by putting in struts, ties, etc., till it has something of the character of a truss.

3. The act of a hawk, or other bird of prey, in seizing its quarry, and soaring with it into air.

Trussing [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Truss