trough

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a long, narrow, open container used for food, water, mixing, or holding materials

   The horses drank from a stone trough beside the stable.

2. 2
   noun

   a long, narrow depression or low region, such as between waves, in the ground, or in atmospheric pressure

   The small boat vanished briefly into the trough of a wave.

3. 3
   noun

   the lowest point in a recurring cycle, especially an economic one

   Employment began to recover after reaching a trough in March.

4. 4
   noun

   a channel that carries water, especially along a roof edge

   Rainwater flowed through the roof trough into the downpipe.

Simplified etymology

Trough is an Old English word whose primary meaning was “wooden vessel.” It is related to tray, whose earliest sense may similarly have been “wooden container.” Its use for a downturn on a graph or similar representation dates from the late 19th century in meteorology, the early 20th century in economics, and more generally from the 1930s.

From Middle English trogh, from Old English troh or trog ("wooden vessel, basin"), ultimately Germanic. The container's long, hollow shape gave rise to the geographical, oceanographic, meteorological, and economic senses of an elongated or cyclical low point.

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External links

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