† trenchefil, tranchefil Obs. rare.
[a. F. tranchefil (Cotgr. trenchefile), f. tranche, imper. of trancher to cut + fil thread.]
1. In a double-stringed cross-bow, the part by which the two strings were united and into which the neb or tip of the bolt was set in shooting; the material of which this was made. Cf. trench n. 7 and quot. 1611 there.
| 1369–1372 Exch. Acc. K.R. Bundle 178 No. 16 m. 4 (P.R.O.) Patricio Byker artillario Regis..lxiiij lb. fili pro cordis balistarum lij lb. trussyngthred lj. lb. di. trenchefyll. |
2. Part of a bridle: according to Cotgrave, ‘a snaffle, or the mouth of a snaffle, or watering Bit’.
| 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Bitt (with Horsemen) in general signifies the whole Machine of a Bridle, as the Bit-mouth, the Branches, the Curb, the sevil Holes, the Tranchefil, and the Cross-chains. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Tranchefile, in the manege, the cross chain of a bridle that runs along the bit-mouth, from one branch to the other. |