▪ I. † troche, n.1 Venery. Obs.
Also 7 troch, in Dicts. erron. torch.
[a. OF. troche (13th c. in Godef.) cluster, mass, also in sense 2 below; in Twety Art de Venerie (a 1327) in sense 1, with which cf. OF. trocheure (14th c. in Godef. Compl.), F. trochure. Cf. also troched, troching.]
1. A cluster of three or more tines at the summit of a deer's horn; distinguished from a fourche (i.e. fork) of two tines.
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxxiii, And þenne þe lorde shulde take vppe þe hertes heede by þe reght syde bitwene þe sureale and þe fourche or troche. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 194 As a perfect wood-man..to name the Sommeites, troches, or tynes, of the hornes. 1623 Cockeram i. s.v. Pollard, Torch. 1651 Davenant Gondibert ii. xxxiv, His [a stag's] spacious Beame..From Antlar to his Troch had all allow'd. |
2. An ornamental button consisting of or set with three or more jewels in a bunch.
| 1434 in Rymer Fœdera (1710) X. 593/2 Withynne which Tablet ar xl Troches, iche Troche conteynyng iv Peerles. 1576 in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. (1823) II. 2 A border containing vii buttons or troches of gold, in every of them iii smale rubyes, and viii buttons or troches of golde, in every of them iv mene perle. 1625 in Rymer Fœdera (1726) XVIII. 238/1 A Cupp of Goulde with a Cover..garnished with..one and twentie Troches of Pearles, three Pearles in every Troche. |
Hence † troche v. Obs., intr. to develop a troche or troches.
| 1413–22 Venery de Twety in Rel. Ant. I. 151 Now wyl we speke of the hert,..Whan an hert hath..forched on the one syde, and troched on that other syde, than is he an hert of .x. and of the more. And whan..that he hath troched on boothe parties of the hed, he is of xij. and of that lasse. c 1450 in Twici's Art of Hunting etc. (1908) 108 When he trochithe on that one side of v & on the other side of vj he is of xvj de greynders. |
▪ II. troche, n.2 Pharm.
(trəʊʃ, trəʊtʃ, trəʊk)
Forms: pl. 6 troschies, (trocis), 7 trosches, trotches, 7–8 trochies, 7– troches; sing. 7 trosche, 7– troch, troche.
[An altered form of trochisk, originating in the plural troschies, trochies, taken as trosches, troches, implying a sing. troschie, trochie, in vulgar and commercial use often pronounced and sometimes written trochee (ˈtrəʊkiː), like trochee. The spellings trosch, troche simulate French, and the pronunciation (ˈtrəʊkiː) is conformed to that of L. trochiscus.]
A flat round tablet or lozenge, made of some medicinal substance powdered, worked into a paste with mucilage or the like, and dried; = trochisk.
| α 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxcvi. 696 Troschies, or little flat cakes. 1714 Phil. Trans. XXIX. 68 The Trochies made of the Gall..a Cordial Sudorifick. |
| β 1601 Holland Pliny xx. xviii. II. 68 There bee certaine ordinarie trosches made of Poppie seed beaten into pouder, which with milke are..vsed by way of a liniment to bring sicke patients to sleepe. 1639 T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 234 Make of it little cakes or trotches, as broad as a groat. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 260 Troches of Capers, of Harts-tongue. 1681 Grew Musæum iii. i. v. 297 A little round, flat, and blackish Stone, resembling a Medicinal Troch. 1769 Pennant Zool. III. 22 The medicine was..given in form of a powder or troche. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 709 Trochisci. Troches..are little cakes or tablets composed of powders combined with sugar and mucilage. [1857 Dunglison Med. Lex., Trochiscus.., a troch or round table..; a solid medicine, prepared of powders, incorporated by means of mucilage, crumb of bread, juices of plants, &c.] 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 19 Troches, or lozenges, are gummy pellets or disks, so made as to dissolve slowly in the mouth. |