Lewis & Short

2. truncus, i, m., the stem, stock, bole, or trunk of a tree (without regard to its branches).

  1. I. Lit.: cibus … Per truncos ac per ramos diffunditur omnes, Lucr. 1, 353: quid? in arboribus, in quibus non truncus, non rami, non folia sunt denique, nisi, etc., Cic. de Or. 3, 46, 179; cf. id. Sen. 15, 52; id. N. D. 2, 47, 120; id. Lael. 13, 48; Caes. B. G. 4, 17; 7, 73, Verg. G. 2, 78; 3, 233; Hor S. 1, 8, 1; id. C. 2, 17, 27; 3, 4, 55; Ov. M. 2, 358; 8, 346; id. H. 9, 93; Col. Arb. 17, 1; Sen. Ep. 86, 17.
    1. B. Transf.
      1. 1. Of the human body, the trunk, the body, apart from the limbs: status erectus et celsus, nullā mollitiā cervicum: trunco magis toto se ipse moderans, Cic. Or. 18, 59: nemo illum ex trunco corporis spectabat, id. Rosc. Com. 10, 28: recto pugnat se attollere trunco, Ov. M. 2, 822; cf. id. ib. 7, 640: et caput abscisum calido viventeque trunco, Lucr. 3, 654: jacet litore truncus. Verg. A. 2, 557.
      2. 2. Of a column.
          1. (α) The shaft, Vitr. 4, 1 med.
          2. (β) The cubical trunk of a pedestal, the die or dado, Vitr. 3, 3; cf. Plin. 16, 40, 76, § 201.
      3. 3. A piece cut off, as a branch of a tree for an our: frondentes, Val. Fl. 8, 287; a piece of flesh for smoking (cf. trunculus), Verg. M. 57.
      4. 4. Like caudex, stipes, and the Engl. stock, for blockhead, dunce, dolt: quī potest esse in ejusmodi trunco sapientia? Cic. N. D. 1, 30, 84: tamquam truncus atque stipes, id. Pis. 9, 19.
  2. * II. Trop., a trunk, stem: quae (stirpes aegritudinis) ipso trunco everso omnes eligendae (elidendae, Kühn.) sunt, Cic. Tusc. 3, 34, 83.