Meanings
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1
verb
to submit tamely or behave obsequiously toward someone, usually in the construction truckle to
She refused to truckle to officials who expected unquestioning obedience.
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2
noun
a truckle bed; a low bed on casters that can be stored beneath a higher bed
At night the servant pulled his truckle out from under the larger bed.
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3
noun
a small wheel or caster, or a pulley used to move or lift something
The heavy cabinet rolled across the floor on four wooden truckles.
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4
noun
in British English, a small barrel-shaped wheel of cheese
The cheesemaker turned each truckle regularly as it matured.
Thesaurus
Etymology
The noun comes from late Middle English trocle or trokel, through Anglo-French trocle from Latin trochlea, 'pulley,' itself from Greek. Small wheels gave the truckle bed its name. The modern verb grew in the seventeenth century from the obsolete sense 'sleep in a truckle bed': because that lower bed was associated with servants and subordinates, truckle came to mean submit obsequiously.