trough

plural troughs

1. A long, narrow container, open on top, for feeding or watering animals.

   One of Harriet's chores was to slop the pigs' trough each morning and evening.

2. Any similarly shaped container.

   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 more example

   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

   1. AustraliaNew ZealandA 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. colloquialAn undivided metal urinal (plumbing fixture)
5. CanadaA gutter under the eaves of a building; an eaves trough.

   The troughs were filled with leaves and needed clearing.

6. AustraliaNew ZealandagricultureA 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.
7. A long, narrow depression between waves or ridges; the low portion of a wave cycle.

   The neurologist pointed to a troubling trough in the pattern of his brain-waves.

   1 more example

   The buoy bobbed between the crests and troughs of the waves moving across the bay.

8. economicsA low turning point or a local minimum of a business cycle.

   Antonyms: peak

9. climatologyA linear atmospheric depression associated with a weather front.

present singular third person troughs · participle present troughing · participle past troughed · past troughed

1. To eat in a vulgar style, as if from a trough.

   He troughed his way through three meat pies.

plural Troughs

1. Alternative letter-case form of trough.