trussing

trussing is the present participle and gerund of truss.

Noun

trussing (plural trussings)

The timbers, etc., that form a truss.
- Beds (Trussing) were beds which packed into chests , for travelling ; and , considering the frequent removals , these must have been the most convenient kind .1849-1850, John Weale, Rudimentary Dictionary of Terms used in Architecture, Building, and Engineering
The art of stiffening or bracing a set of timbers, etc., by putting in struts, ties, etc., until it has something of the character of a truss.
(obsolete) The act of a hawk or other bird of prey in seizing its quarry and soaring into the air with it.

truss (third-person singular simple present trusses, present participle trussing, simple past and past participle trussed)

(transitive) To tie up a bird before cooking it.
(transitive) To secure or bind with ropes.
- Very largely haue I inueighed againſt this vice [gluttony] elſvvhere, vvherefore heere I vvill truſſe it vp more ſurcinct;^([sic – meaning succinct]) […]1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], →OCLC, folio 76, verso
(transitive) To support.
To take fast hold of; to seize and hold firmly; to pounce upon.
- who trussing me as eagle doth his prey1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18
To strengthen or stiffen, as a beam or girder, by means of a brace or braces.
(archaic, slang) To execute by hanging; to hang; usually with up.
- If they must truss me, I will repent of nothing1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James...
Synonyms:

string up, tuck up, forhang, Guy Fawkes, hang, ketch, send to the scaffold, scrag, stretch

trussing (not comparable)

In the act of seizing (something).
- Sable, a falcon or, his wings expanded, trussing a mallard argent, on a chief of the latter, a cross botoné[…]1845, Hugh Clark, An Introduction to Heraldry ... Thirteenth edition. greatly improved, page 40
- A hawk trussing.1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 247

plural	trussings

What does trussing mean?: Trussing means the timbers, etc., that form a truss.
What is trussing the present participle and gerund of?: Trussing is the present participle and gerund of truss.
What part of speech is trussing?: Trussing can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of trussing?: The plural of trussing is trussings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: trussing (page history and authors); truss (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “trussing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/trussing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.