truck¹ / trək/ • n. 1. a wheeled vehicle, in particular: ∎  a large, heavy motor vehicle, used for transporting goods, materials, or troops. ∎  a low flat-topped cart used for moving heavy items.2. a undercarriage with four to six wheels pivoted beneath the end of a railroad car. ∎  each of two axle units on a skateboard, to which the wheels are attached.3. a wooden disk at the top of a ship's mast or flagstaff, with sheaves for signal halyards.• v. [tr.] convey by truck: the food was trucked to St. Petersburg | [as n.] (trucking) industries such as trucking. ∎  [intr.] drive a truck. ∎  [intr.] inf. go or proceed, esp. in a casual or leisurely way: he walked confidently behind them and trucked on through!DERIVATIVES: truck·age / -kij/ n.truck² • n. 1. archaic barter. ∎  chiefly hist. the payment of workers in kind or with vouchers rather than money.2. chiefly archaic small wares. ∎ inf. odds and ends.3. market-garden produce, esp. vegetables: [as adj.] a truck garden. • v. [tr.] archaic barter or exchange.PHRASES: have (or want) no truck with avoid or wish to avoid dealings or being associated with: we have no truck with that style of gutter journalism.

truck, the payment of wages in food and kind, was an old form of exploitation by employers in outwork industries and spread with industrialization. In a minority of cases the practice was benign, since basic supplies were not otherwise available. Commonly, employers' shops supplied adulterated food and drink at high prices (‘tommy rot’); there was unrest in communities so badly served. Codifying Acts prohibiting truck were passed in 1831 (which was generally evaded) and 1887; a royal commission in 1870 found the practice still existed in some areas. Truck died a natural death as retailing spread and workers became better organized.

John Butt

truck1 give in exchange XIII; barter away XVII; pay otherwise than in money XIX. ME. trukie, later trukke — AN. *truquer, OF. *troquer (reflected in medL. trocāre), of unkn. orig.
Hence sb. (cf. AN. truke XIV) barter XVI; dealings, traffic XVII; payment in kind, goods supplied instead of wages XVIII.

truck2 small solid wooden wheel or block XVII; wheeled vehicle for heavy weights XVIII. poss. shortening of next.