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water trough

Today it means: a long trough placed between the rails in a railway track, which enabled a steam locomotive to replenish its water supply without stopping by lowering a scoop. They were removed at the end of steam train operation. Full definition →

Middle English water trouȝ

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The story

Middle English · inherited fromwater trouȝ
English todaywater trough

From Middle English water trouȝ, equivalent to water + trough. Cognate with West Frisian wettertroch (“water trough”), Dutch watertrog (“water trough”), German Wassertrog (“water trough”), Danish vandtrug (“water trough”), Swedish vattentrog (“water trough”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.