trough

Etymology

From Middle English trogh, from Old English troh, trog (“a trough, tub, basin, vessel for containing liquids or other materials”), from Proto-West Germanic *trog, from Proto-Germanic *trugą, *trugaz, from Proto-Indo-European *drukós, enlargement of *dóru (“tree”). See also West Frisian trôch, Dutch trog, German Trog, Danish trug, Swedish tråg; also Middle Irish drochta (“wooden basin”), Old Armenian տարգալ (targal, “ladle, spoon”). More at tree.

noun

1. A long, narrow container, open on top, for feeding or watering animals.
   One of Hank's chores was to slop the pigs' trough each morning and evening.
2. Any similarly shaped container.
   Now, covered concrete troughs to house the cables are laid parallel with the railway lines, cheapening maintenance because of improved accessibility for inspection and repair. 1961 November, “Talking of Trains: The North Eastern's new rail-mounted piling unit”, in Trains Illustrated, page 646
   It just clips on the front of the stage without any special trough, has no great power and occupies only one dimmer, […] 1976, Frederick Bentham, The art of stage lighting, page 233
   1. (Australia, New Zealand) A rectangular container used for washing or rinsing clothes.
      Ernest threw his paint brushes into a kind of trough he had fashioned from sheet metal that he kept in the sink.
3. A short, narrow canal designed to hold water until it drains or evaporates.
   There was a small trough that the sump pump emptied into; it was filled with mosquito larvae.
4. (Canada) A gutter under the eaves of a building; an eaves trough.
   The troughs were filled with leaves and needed clearing.
5. (agriculture, Australia, New Zealand) A channel for conveying water or other farm liquids (such as milk) from place to place by gravity; any ‘U’ or ‘V’ cross-sectioned irrigation channel.
6. A long, narrow depression between waves or ridges; the low portion of a wave cycle.
   The buoy bobbed between the crests and troughs of the waves moving across the bay.
   The neurologist pointed to a troubling trough in the pattern of his brain-waves.
7. (economy) low turning point or a local minimum of a business cycle
8. (meteorology) A linear atmospheric depression associated with a weather front.

verb

1. To eat in a vulgar style, as if from a trough.
   He troughed his way through three meat pies.