Definition

1. Verb:

   • To act in a subservient or obsequious manner: To behave with excessive humility or deference, often to gain favor or avoid conflict.
   • To yield weakly or submissively: To give in to pressure or a stronger will out of weakness or fear.

2. Noun:

   • A low bed on casters, stored under a higher bed: A small, low bed, often on wheels, designed to be rolled under a larger bed when not in use.

Usage and Examples

• Verb:

  • He refused to truckle to the demands of the corrupt officials. (He refused to submit weakly to their demands.)
  • She felt she had to truckle to her overbearing manager to keep her job. (She felt she had to act subserviently to keep her job.)

• Noun:

  • In the old inn, the servant slept on a truckle pulled out from under the master's bed. (The servant slept on a low bed stored under the main bed.)

Advanced Usage

• "To truckle under": An archaic variant meaning to submit or yield.
  • The smaller nation was forced to truckle under to the empire's demands.

Variants and Related Words

• Truckle bed (n): Another term for the low bed, synonymous with "trundle bed."
• Truckler (n): A person who truckles; a sycophant.
  • He was seen as a mere truckler, always agreeing with the boss.
• Truckling (adj/n): Behaving in a servile manner.
  • His truckling attitude was despised by his colleagues.

Synonyms

• Verb: Kowtow, fawn, grovel, toady, cringe, submit, yield.
• Noun: Trundle bed.

Antonyms

• Verb: Defy, resist, confront, oppose.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "To truckle to someone/something": This is the standard phrasal construction.
  • He would not truckle to bullies. (He would not yield submissively to bullies.)
  • The company vowed not to truckle to unfair competition. (The company vowed not to give in weakly to it.)

Noun

1. a low bed to be slid under a higher bed

Verb

1. try to gain favor by cringing or flattering
   • He is always kowtowing to his boss
2. yield to out of weakness