Meanings
plural water troughs · alternative water-trough · alternative watertrough
- UKrail transporta 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.
1 more example
No water troughs are provided on any part of the Southern Railway. Even on the West of England and Bournemouth main lines, the tenders of the locomotives can carry sufficient water for the longest regular non-stop runs, such as London to Bournemouth (107.9 miles), London to Salisbury (83.8 miles), and Salisbury to Exeter (88 miles).
1946 November and December, “The Why and The Wherefore: Water Troughs on the S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 391Synonyms: track pan
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna 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.
Origin
- Middle Englishwater trouȝ
- Englishwater 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”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
water trough. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20trough
“water trough.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20trough. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “water trough,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20trough.
Source: water trough on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.