SuStel, you are right in that the parenthetical is meant to disambiguate. However, I believe it is meant to disambiguate the type of action the verb performs rather than to restrict objects of the verb. The various examples you cite bear this out.

be''etlh

On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 4:48 PM, Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu> wrote:

> On 26 July 2016 at 21:30, SuStel <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:
> > (military term). chIp cut, trim (hair) is doing the same thing,
> > telling us that this refers to hair-cutting and not other kinds of
> cutting or trimming.
>
> I interpret it as meaning "this refers to the kind of 'trim' that you
> might do with a hair, i.e. cut it, as opposed to, say 'trim a uniform with
> fur' or 'trim the control surfaces of a flyer' " -- along the lines of the
> "fire (torpedo, rocket, missile)" versus "fire (employee)": just an example
> object to clarify the action of the verb.
>
> Ph.

For the sailors on the list: to trim one's sails.

--
Voragh
tlhIngan ghantoH pIn'a'
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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