† ˈtrencher-ˌchaplain Obs.
A chaplain who eats at a patron's table; a domestic chaplain. contemptuous.
| 1589 Hay any Work 37, I doe disdaine to deale with a contemptible trencher chaplaine. 1610 Boys Expos. Domin. Ep., etc. Wks. (1630) 511 It is the fashion of parasites and trencher-Chaplaines to flatter, or at the least humour great men at their table. 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke Wks. (Grosart) IV. 15 It savors of the liquorishness of a trencher-chaplain, little concerned in the ‘curâ animarum’. |