Definition of trunnel in US English:

noun

• A hard wooden pin used for fastening timbers together.

  Example sentences

  • ‘Boring holes in oak ships' timbers for the wooden pegs (treenails) or iron bolts required long augers of high strength.’
  • ‘The timbers are often cut and dressed by hand, jointed and interlocked in the traditional way, and fastened throughout with wood pegs called trunnels, or ‘tree nails.’’
  • ‘The Slavic tradition of Viking ship building such as from Northern Poland owes a lot to the trenail, and less to the use of iron.’
  • ‘We have used tree nails (trunnels) for frame fixing, stone ballast, and hand made rope stropped blocks.’
  • ‘Surprisingly to me, the old bridge didn't have trunnels, it was all bolted.’