trough

[trawf, trof or, sometimes, trawth, troth] /trɔf, trɒf or, sometimes, trɔθ, trɒθ/
noun
1.
a long, narrow, open receptacle, usually boxlike in shape, used chiefly to hold water or food for animals.
2.
any of several similarly shaped receptacles used for various commercial or household purposes.
3.
a channel or conduit for conveying water, as a gutter under the eaves of a building for carrying away rain water.
4.
any long depression or hollow, as between two ridges or waves.
5.
Oceanography. a long, wide, and deep depression in the ocean floor having gently sloping sides, wider and shallower than a trench.
Compare trench (def 4).
6.
Meteorology. an elongated area of relatively low pressure.
7.
the lowest point, especially in an economic cycle.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English trōh; cognate with Dutch, German, Old Norse trog
Related forms
troughlike, adjective
Examples from the web for trough
  • Lisa turned the trough for horses she once owned into a water garden.
  • The fountain's copper back and water trough define the smooth stucco wall.
  • We went into a crash program to build them a drinking trough and to pump water up from underground.
  • When dey got trough dere wasn't a chair or table wit a leg under it.
  • Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for the horses.
  • At the village-well a halt is called and the leaf-clad lout is dismounted and ducked in the trough.
  • Major research universities will never spend their vast wealth in endowments as long as they can feed at the public trough.
  • His water had dried up, and he rolled around in the stone bed of his trough, making that long sad sound that tigers make.
  • Making projections is particularly dangerous at the peak and trough of the cycle.
  • Our health care system is too much of a pig trough for insurance companies, for-profit hospitals, and certain types of doctors.
British Dictionary definitions for trough

trough

/trɒf/
noun
1.
a narrow open container, esp one in which food or water for animals is put
2.
a narrow channel, gutter, or gulley
3.
a narrow depression either in the land surface, ocean bed, or between two successive waves
4.
(meteorol) an elongated area of low pressure, esp an extension of a depression Compare ridge (sense 6)
5.
a single or temporary low point; depression
6.
(physics) the portion of a wave, such as a light wave, in which the amplitude lies below its average value
7.
(economics) the lowest point or most depressed stage of the trade cycle
verb
8.
(intransitive) (informal) to eat, consume, or take greedily
Derived Forms
troughlike, adjective
Word Origin
Old English trōh; related to Old Saxon, Old Norse trog trough, Dutch trügge ladle
Word Origin and History for trough
n.

Old English trog, from Proto-Germanic *trugoz (cf. Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old Norse trog, Middle Dutch troch, Dutch trog, Old High German troc, German trog), perhaps ultimately from PIE *drukos, from root *dru- "wood, tree" (see tree). Originally pronounced in English with a hard -gh- (as in Scottish loch); pronunciation shifted to -f-, but spelling remained.

trough in Science
trough
  (trôf)   

  1. The part of a wave with the least magnitude; the lowest part of a wave. Compare crest. See more at wave.

  2. A narrow, elongated region of relatively low atmospheric pressure occurring at the ground surface or in the upper atmosphere, and often associated with a front. Compare ridge.


Slang definitions & phrases for trough

trough

Related Terms

grease trough