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# trough

«trough» in Mova's school dictionary: **a long narrow open box that holds water or food for farm…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a trough, troughs)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A trough is a long narrow open box that holds water or food for farm animals like pigs, cows or horses. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#m1)

2) (science) A trough is the low point between two waves, or between two high points on a graph. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#m2)

3) (weather) A trough is a long area of low air pressure, which often brings rain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#m3)

4) A trough is a low or bad time, after a good one, as in «peaks and troughs». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#m4)

5) (informal) To have your snout in the trough means to take more money or benefits than you should. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

On the farm, animals drink from a trough. In science lessons about waves (sound, light, water), the crest is the top and the trough is the bottom; the height from the middle to the crest is the amplitude. On line graphs, the lowest dips are troughs. Phrases: «peaks and troughs», «water trough», «feeding trough».

### examples

- The pigs pushed their noses into the trough. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#x1)
- The horse drank from the stone trough by the gate. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#x2)
- The boat sank into the trough between two huge waves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#x3)
- Label the crest and the trough on your wave diagram. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#x4)
- The graph shows peaks in summer and troughs in winter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#x5)
- A trough of low pressure will bring rain tomorrow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#x6)
- Business has its peaks and troughs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#x7)
- The Worm drew nearer and nearer, till at last it came up to the trough. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/#x8)

### note

Said «troff» (rhymes with off), not «trow» or «true». Plural: troughs. Opposite of trough on a wave is «crest» (or «peak»). Spelling trap: ough is said many ways — tough, through, though, trough, bough.

### In the corpora

- [Jesus was laid in a manger, which is an animal feeding trough.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/12-the-birth-of-jesus/9/)
- [And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.344/)
- [Blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/DEU.742/)
- [Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/DEU.754/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «trough» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/trough/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.