troubadour 
of early poets who first appeared in Provence, 
France. The troubadours were considered the inven- 
tors of a species of lyrical poetry, characterized by an 
almost entire devotion to the subject of chivalric love, 
:uid generally very complicated in regard to meter and 
rime. They flourished from the eleventh to the latter 
part of the thirteenth century, principally in the south 
of France, Catalonia, Aragon, and northern Italy. The 
most renowned among the troubadours were knights who 
cultivated music and poetry as a polite accomplishment; 
but the art declined, and in its later days was chiefly cul- 
tivated by an inferior class of minstrels. See trouvtre. 
troublablet (trub'la-bl), . [ME. troublablc, < 
OF. "troublable, < troubler, trouble: see trouble 
and -able.'] Troublesome; causing trouble; 
vexatious. 
Lecherie tormenteth hem in that oon syde with gredy 
venims and trowblable ire. Chaucer, Boethius, iv. meter 2. 
trouble (trub'l), v.; pret. and pp. troubled, ppr. 
troubling. [< ME. troublen, trublen (also trans- 
posed turblen), < OF. troubler, trubler, troblcr, 
also tourbler, turbler, torbler, F. troubler, trou- 
ble, disturb, (. ML. "turbulare, < L. turbula, dis- 
orderly group, a little crowd of people, dim. 
of turba, crowd ( > turbare, disturb), = Or. rvpftr/, 
disorder, throng, bustle (> rvpfia^etv, disturb): 
see turbid, turbulent, and cf. disturb, disturble.] 
1. trans. 1 . To stir up ; agitate ; disturb ; put 
into commotion. 
An angel went down at a certain season into the pool, 
and troubled the water. John v. 4. 
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled. 
Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. 142. 
2. To disturb ; interrupt or interfere with. 
We caught here a prodigious quantity of the finest flsh 
that I had ever before seen, but the silly Rais greatly 
troubled our enjoyment by telling us that many of the flsh 
in that part were poisonous. 
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 312. 
3. To disturb in mind; annoy; vex; harass; 
afflict; distress; worry. 
Thou didst hide thy fa^ce, and I was troubled. Ps. xxx. 7. 
The boy ... so troubles me 
'Tis past enduring. Shak., W. T., ii. 1. 1. 
Not so sick, my lord, 
As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, 
That keep her from her rest. 
Shak., Macbeth, v. 3. 38. 
This great Tartarian Prince, that hath so troubled all 
his neighbours, they alwayes call Chan. 
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 33. 
He was an infidel, and the head of a small school of in- 
fidels who were troubled with a morbid desire to make 
converts. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xix. 
Nothing troubles social life so much as originality, or 
political life so much as the spirit of liberty. 
J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 140. 
4. To put to trouble, inconvenience, pains, or 
exertion of some kind : used conventionally in 
courteous requests: as, may I trouble you to 
shut the door ? 
Your master 's a right honest man, and one 
I am much beholding to, and must very shortly 
Trouble his love again. 
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, v. 2. 
I shall trouble you to give my services to my friends at 
Oxford. Arbuthnot, in Letters of Eminent Men, I. 180. 
To cast oil on troubled water. See water. = Syn. 3. 
Afflict, Distress, etc. (see ajjlict); perplex, agitate, plague, 
pester, badger, disquiet, make uneasy, anxious, or restless. 
II. intrans. If. To become turbid or cloudy. 
Put a Drope of Bawme in clere Watre, in a Cuppe of Syl- 
ver or in a clere Bacyn, . . . and jif that the Bawme be 
fyn and of his owne kynde, the Watre schalle nevere trou- 
ble. Mandevule, Travels, p. 62. 
2. To take trouble or pains; trouble one's self; 
worry : as, do not trouble about the matter. 
We have not troubled to shade the outside of this dia- 
gram. J. Venn, Symbolic Logic, p. 281, note. 
trouble (trub'l), . [< ME. "trouble, truble, trti- 
buil, torble, turble, < OF. trouble, tourble, trouble, 
also a crowd, F. trouble, trouble ; from the verb.] 
1. Vexation; perplexity; worry; difficulties; 
trials; affliction. 
Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. 
Job v. 7. 
When we might be happy and quiet, we create trouble 
to ourselves. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 205. 
2. Annoyance; molestation; persecution. 
For " loseph shulde dye " playnly dyd they say, 
But pacyently all theyr truble dyd he endure. 
Joseph of Arimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 38. 
Tyre alone gave those two powerful princes, Nebuchad- 
nezzar and Alexander the Great, more trouble than any 
other state in the course of all their wars. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 84. 
3. Disturbing, annoying, or vexatious circum- 
stance, affair, or state ; distress ; difficulty. 
To take arms against a sea of troubles. 
Shalt., Hamlet, iii. 1. 69. 
What was his Trouble with his Brother Geoffrey but a 
Bird of his own hatching ? Baker, Chronicles, p. 63. 
6502 
Fears concerning his own state had been the trouble 
with which he had hitherto contended. 
Southey, Bunyan, p. 24. 
The trouble about owning a cottage at a watering-place 
is that it makes a duty of a pleasure. 
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 193. 
4. A source or cause of annoyance, perplexity, 
or distress: as, he is a great trouble to us. 5. 
Labor ; laborious effort : as, it is no trouble. 
Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble? 
Shalt., Venus and Adonis, 1. 622. 
Insomuch as they have not dared to hazard the revenue 
of jEgypt by sea, but have sent it over land with a guard 
of Souldiers, to their no small trouble and expences. 
Sandys, Travailes, p. 40. 
6. In law, particularly French law, anything 
causing injury or damage such as is the sub- 
ject of legal relief. 7. A disease, or a diseased 
condition; an affection : as, a cancerous trouble. 
8. In mining, a small fault. Also called a 
throw, slide, slip, heave, or check. =Svn. 1-3. in- 
convenience, embarrassment, anxiety, adversity, misfor- 
tune, calamity, sorrow, tribulation, misery, plague, tor- 
ment. See the verb. 
troublet, Same as troubly. 
troubledlyt (trub'ld-li), adv. In a troubled or 
confused manner; confusedly. 
Our meditations must proceed in due order ; not (row- 
bledly, not preposterously. 
Bp. Hall, Divine Meditation, xvi. 
trouble-houset (trub'1-hous), . [< trouble, v., 
+ obj. house 1 .] A disturber of the peace of a 
house or household. 
Ill-bred louts, simple sots, or peevish trouble-houses. 
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 63. 
trouble-mirth (trub'l-merth), n. [< trouble, v., 
+ obj. mirth.] One who mars or disturbs en- 
joyment or mirth, as a morose person ; a kill- 
joy ; a spoil-sport. 
But once more to this same trouble-mirth, this Lady Var- 
ney. Scott, Kenilworth, xxxvii. 
troubler (trub'ler), n. [< trouble + -er 1 .] One 
who or that which troubles or disturbs; one 
who afflicts or molests ; a disturber. 
Let them . . . hurl down their indignation 
On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace ! 
Shak., Rich. III., i. 3. 221. 
trouble-restt (trub'l-rest), n. [< trouble, v., + 
obj. rest 1 .] A disturber of rest or quiet. 
Foul trouble-rest, fantastik greedy-gut. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Furies. 
troublesome (trub'l -sum), a. [< trouble + 
-some.'] 1. Annoying; vexatious: as, a trou- 
blesome cough ; a troublesome neighbor. 
Lord Plausible. I wou'd not have my Visits troublesome. 
Manly. The only way to be sure not to have 'em trouble- 
some is to make 'em when People are not at home. 
Wycherley, Plain Dealer, i. 1. 
The Arabs and people of the country are civil enough, 
and shew it in their way, by coming and sitting about 
you ; tho' they are troublesome by being too observing, 
curious, and inquisitive. 
Pococke, Description of the East, I. 181. 
2. Difficult ; trying : as, a troublesome shoal or 
reef; a troublesome fellow to deal with. 
I beshrew him for his counsel ! there is not a more dan- 
gerous and troublesome way in the world than is that into 
which he hath directed thee. 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i. 
The Rais said he had a design to have anchored there 
last night; but, as it was troublesome to get out in the 
morning by the westerly wind, he intended to run over 
to Perim island to pass the night. 
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 311. 
3. Tumultuous; turbulent; boisterous. 
There arose in the ship such a troublesome disturbance 
that all the ship was in an vprore with weapons. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 1. 111. 
When cloudless suns 
Shine hot, or wind blows troublesome and strong. 
Wordsworth, Naming of Places, vi. 
4f. Troublous; disturbed. 
In the troublesome times 'twas his happinesse never to 
be sequestred. Aubrey, Lives (Francis Potter). 
= Syn. 1 and 2. Harassing, wearisome, perplexing, galling. 
troublesomely (trub'1-sum-li), adv. In a trou- 
blesome manner; vexatiously. 
He may presume and become troublesomely garrulous. 
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxiv. 
troublesomeness(trub'l-sum-nes),M. The state 
or character of being troublesome. 
The lord treasurer complained of the troublesomeness of 
the place, for that the exchequer was so empty. Bacon. 
trouble-Statet (trub'1-stat), n. [< trouble, v., + 
obj. state.] A disturber of the community; a 
disturber of the peace. Also used attribu- 
tively. 
Those fair bates these trouble-states still use 
(Pretence of common good, the king's ill course) 
Must be cast forth. Daniel, Civil Wars, III. 
Soul-boiling rage and trouble-state sedition. 
Quarles, Emblems, v. 14. 
trough 
troublous (trub'lus), a. [< trouble + -ous."\ 1. 
Agitated; disturbed. 
As a tall ship tossed in troublom seas, 
Whom raging windes, threatning to make the pray 
Of the rough rockes, doe diversly disease. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. ii. 24. 
The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in 
troublous times. Ban. ix. 25. 
2. Restless; unsettled. 
His flowing toung and troublous spright. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 4. 
Some were troublous and adventurous spirits, men of 
broken fortunes, extravagant habits, and boundless de- 
sires. Mottey, Dutch Republic, I. 501. 
3. Disturbing; disquieting. 
They winced and kicked at him, and accused him to 
Ahab the king that he was a seditious fellow, and a trou- 
blous preacher. Latimer, Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1550. 
My troublous dream this night doth make me sad. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., i. 2. 22. 
troublyt (trub'li), a. [< ME. troubly, trowbly, 
trobly, trubyly, trouble, troicble, < OF. trouble, 
troble, pp. of troubler, trobler, trouble: see trou- 
ble, v.'] 1. Turbid; stirred up; muddy; murky. 
In Ethiope alle the Ryveres and alle the Watres ben 
trouble, and thei ben somdelle salte, for the gret hete that 
is there. MamacviUe, Travels, p. 166. 
These fisheris of God shulden . . . not inedle with 
mannis lawe, that is trobly water. 
Wyclif, Select Works, 1. 14. 
A trouble wyne anoon a man may pure. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 201. 
Thei loked towarde lanneriur, and saugh the eyr trouble, 
and thikke of duste. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 236. 
2. Troubled; confused; distraught. 
It may fall sumtyme that the tntbylyere that thou hase 
bene owtwarde with actyfe werkes, the mare brynnande 
desyre thou sail hafe to Godd. 
Hampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 31. 
The trowbly erroure of oure ignoraunce. 
Chaucer, Boethius, iv. meter 5. 
3. Turbulent; tempestuous; stormy. 
The trowble wynde that hyht Auster. 
Chaucer, Boethius, i. meter 7. 
trouflyngt, n. A Middle English form of trifling. 
trough (trof), n. [< ME. trough, trogh, trou, < 
AS. trog, troh, a trough, a small boat (troliseip, 
trochscip, a cock-boat), = D. trog = OHG. MHG. 
troc (trog-), G. trog = Icel. trog = Dan. trug = 
Sw. tr&g, a trough; cf. It. truogo, a trough, < 
Teut. ; lit. 'a thing of wood,' or perhaps 'a log' 
(sc. hollowed out) ; from the root of E. tree, AS. 
tredw, etc. : see tree. Cf. trow 2 , trogue, and 
trayl.] 1. An open receptacle, generally long 
and narrow, as for water. Specifically (a) A wood- 
en receptacle or basin in which to knead dough. 
She lifted the mass of dough out of the trough before 
her, and let it sink softly upon the board. 
Howells, Annie Kilburn, xiv. 
(6) A large vessel, usually oblong, designed to hold water 
or food for animals. 
One meets everywhere in the roads [of Switzerland] with 
fountains continually running into huge troughs that stand 
underneath them, which is wonderfully commodious in a 
country that so much abounds with horses and cattle. 
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 519). 
(c) A conduit for rain-water, placed under the eaves of a 
building; an eaves-trough, (d) In printing: (1) A water- 
tight box in which paper is dipped to dampen it for the 
press. (2) The iron or metal-lined box in which inking-roll- 
ers are cleaned and forms are washed, (e) In fish-culture, 
a hatching-trough. 
2f. A small boat ; a canoe or dug-out. 
If none had proceeded further then the inuentions of 
our predecessors, we had had nothyng in the Poets aboue 
Andronicus, and nothing in histories aboue the Annales 
or Cronicles of Bysshoppes, and had yet haue sayled in 
troughes or in boates. 
R. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arber, p. xlviii.). 
There is a great caue or ditch of water . . . where come 
every morning at the break of day twentie or thirtie canoas 
or trouffhes of the Indians. Ilakluyt's Voyages, III: 454. 
3. A concavity or hollow; a depression between 
two ridges or between two waves ; an oblong 
basin-shaped hollow : as, the trough of the sea. 
Where the trough of one wave coincides with the crest 
of another, if that crest be equal, the resultant motion at 
that point is null. This is the result of the mutual inter- 
ference of waves. A. Daniell, Prin. of Physics, p. 129. 
4. The array of connected cells of a voltaic bat- 
tery, in which the copper and zinc plates of each 
pair are on opposite sides of the partition. 5. 
In diem., a vat or pan containing water over 
which gas is distilled. 6. In electroplating, a 
tray or vat which holds the metallic solution. 
E. If. Knigh t Glass trough, (a) A deep and narrow 
box of clear glassforholdingobjects for microscopic study 
in their natural liquids. (6) A similar device for holding 
the developing or fixing bath in dry-plate photography, 
in order that the changes in the plate submerged in the bath 
can be observed. Pneumatic trough. See pneuinatic. 
Trough of barometric depression, an advancing 
area of Tow pressure, the line of places, lying transverse 
