truck1 (truk)

[ IMG:content-0960.jpg:[blocks in formation] two very low wheels near one end, on which sacks, bales, Neithir would they take any money for their fruite, but they would trucke for olde shirtes. Hakluyt's Voyages , II. 227. How brave is he! in a garded coat! You were best truck with him; e'en strip, and truck presently; it will become you. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii. 1. II. trans. 1. To exchange; give in exchange; barter; swap: as, to truck knives for gold-dust. To buy, sel, trucke , change and permute al and euery kind and kindes of wares, marchandizes, and goods. Hakluyt's Voyages , I. 259. To truck the Latin for any other vulgar Language is but an ill Barter. Howell , Letters, ii. 66. Then died a Rambler; not the one who sails And trucks , for female favours, beads and nails. Crabbe, Works, I. 117. 2. To peddle; hawk. We showed him the wares we brought for him, and the cotton yarn we had trucked about the country. = R. Knox (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 406). truck1 (truk), n. [OF. troq , troc, F. troc = Sp. trueco, trueque , exchange, barter, Pg. troco , change of a piece of gold or silver, troca , barter; from the verb.] 1. Exchange of commodities; barter. See truck system , below. And no commutation or trucke to be made by any of the petie march ants without the a ent aboue said. Hakluyt's Voyages , I. 228. The earliest form of exchange must have consisted in giving what was not wanted directly for that which was wanted. This simple traffic we call barter or truck , the French troc. Jevons , Money and Mech. of Exchange, p. 3. 2. Traffic; intercourse; dealing. [Colloq.] Much other trucke we had, and after two dayes he came aboord, and did eate and drinke with vs very merrily. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 82. 3. The truck system. It is no doubt difficult to work the lumber trade, where gangs of men are despatched great distances, or the fishing trade, without some resort to truck . Sir C. W. Dilke , Probs. of Greater Britain, i. 2. 4. Commodities for barter or trade. (a) Small wares; stuff; goods; gear; belongings; hence, rubbish. [Colloq.] Retaining Tis quantum to send from place to place to procure truck for us. Mourt's Journal , in Appendix to New England's Me[morial, p. 360. They gin' her a 'bundance of truck ; I don't know what all; and none of 'em holp her at all. A. B. Long street , Georgia Scenes, p. 192. (b) The produce of a market-garden. [U. S.]-Truck Act. (a) An English statute of 1831 (1 and 2 Wm. IV., c. 37) requiring wages of workmen to be paid in coin or current money instead of goods. (b) A statute of 1870 (33 and 34 Vict., c. 105), also called the Truck Commi ion Act, which appointed a commi ion to inquire into the working of the act of 1831.-Truck system, the practice of paying the wages of workmen in goods instead of money. This practice has prevailed in Great Britain and elsewhere, particularly in the mining and manufacturing disthe masters establishing warehouses or shops on which the workmen in their employment receive orders from time to time for supplies of provisions, etc., the rest of their wages, if any, being paid in money at the end of the month, or in orders which may be discounted at the store. In some instances the workmen receive payment of their wages in money on a tacit or expre understanding that they are to resort to the premises of their masters for such nece aries as they require. Under this system the workmen have often to pay exorbitant prices for their goods, and from the great facility afforded to them of procuring liberal supplies of goods in anticipation of wages, they are apt to be led into debt. The system was prohibited in Great Britain in 1831, by statute 1 and 2 William IV., c. 37, which requires that the wages of work men be paid in coin or current money, and not in goods. The system, however, still flourishes more or le openly. truck2 (truk), n. [Appar. (by corruption of tro chusto * truck us, trucks, whence the a umed singular truck 1) Truck. of which there are many kinds, used for moving or transporting burdens. (a) A small barrow with Trucks. a, hand-truck; b, crane-neck truck. from one place to another; a sack-barrow. (b) A two-, three-, or four-wheeled barrow used for handling baggage at a railway-station; a baggage-truck. (c) A strong and heavy two or four-wheeled vehicle, typically with small wheels and a low body, for carrying stone, iron, and other heavy loads. Trucks receive a number of descriptive names according to their use or construction, as stone truck, cotton-truck, crane- neck truck (with a curved reach), building - truck (for moving buildings), etc. (d) An open railway-wagon, used for conveying goods by rail. [Eng.] 3. A group of two, three, or more pairs of wheels in one frame, for supporting one end of a railway-car or locomotive; a car-truck. The frame carried by the four wheels of a horse-car is also called a truck; but the term appears to be applied chiefly to the bogie-truck. See cut under car-truck. 4. Ingun., a circular piece of wood or metal, like a wheel, fixed on an axletree, for moving ordnance. See casemate - truck.-5. A circular piece of wood fixed on the head of each of a ve el's highest masts, and having small sheave-holes in it through which signal-halyards are rove. We painted her, both inside and out, from the truck to the water's edge. R. H. Dana , Jr. , Before the Mast, p. 55. Back-truck locomotive, double-truck tank-locomotive. See locomotive . - Hand-truck, a two-wheeled barrow for moving freight. It has low wheels and a pair of upright handles. See cut a , above. - Hose-truck, a two or four-wheeled vehicle for carrying fire-engine hose. Ladder-truck, a long four-wheeled vehicle for carrying ladders, hooks, and other supplies of the fire-service. Leading truck ( naut . ), a small cylindrical piece of wood with a hole in it, seized on to the rigging as a fair-leader for some rope. - Sack-holding truck, a truck arranged to hold sacks upright while being filled. It has a hoop to hold the mouth of the sack open. E. H. Knight.-Swing motion truck. See swing - motion .