different between furrow vs trough

English

Etymology

From Middle English furgh, forow, from Old English furh, from Proto-West Germanic *furh, from Proto-Germanic *furhs (compare Saterland Frisian Fuurge, Dutch voor, German Furche, Swedish fåra, Norwegian Bokmål fure), from Proto-Indo-European *per?- (“to dig”).

Compare Welsh rhych (“furrow”), Latin porca (“ridge, balk”), Lithuanian prapar?šas (“ditch”), Sanskrit ?????? (pár??na, “chasm”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f??o?/, /?f?o?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f????/
• (accents without the "Hurry-furry" merger)
• (accents with the "Hurry-furry" merger)
• Rhymes: -????

Noun

furrow (plural furrows)

1. A trench cut in the soil, as when plowed in order to plant a crop.

   Don't walk across that deep furrow in the field.

2. Any trench, channel, or groove, as in wood or metal.
3. A deep wrinkle in the skin of the face, especially on the forehead.

   When she was tired, a deep furrow appeared on her forehead.

Derived terms

• furrowless
• furrowlike
• furrowy

Translations

Verb

furrow (third-person singular simple present furrows, present participle furrowing, simple past and past participle furrowed)

1. (transitive) To cut one or more grooves in (the ground, etc.).
2. (transitive) To wrinkle.
3. (transitive) To pull one's brows or eyebrows together due to concentration, worry, etc.

   Synonym: frown

Derived terms

• furrower
• furrowing
• unfurrow
• unfurrowed

Translations

See also

• plough a lonely furrow

English

Etymology

From Middle English trough, trowgh, trow, trou?, trogh, from Old English troh, trog (“a trough, tub, basin, vessel for containing liquids or other materials”), from Proto-Germanic *trug?, *trugaz (compare West Frisian trôch, Dutch trog, German Trog, Swedish tråg), from Proto-Indo-European *dru-kó (compare Middle Irish drochta (“wooden basin”), Old Armenian ?????? (targal, “ladle, spoon”), enlargement of *dóru (“tree”)). More at tree.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /t??f/

• (US) enPR: trôf, IPA^(key): /t??f/
• (US, cot–caught merger, Canada) enPR: tr?f, IPA^(key): /t??f/
• (US dialectal) enPR: trôth, IPA^(key): /t???/; (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /t???/
• Rhymes: -?f

Noun

trough (plural troughs)

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

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

2. Any similarly shaped container.
   • 1976, Frederick Bentham, The art of stage lighting (page 233)

     It just clips on the front of the stage without any special trough, has no great power and occupies only one dimmer, […]

   1. (Australia, New Zealand) A 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. (Canada) A gutter under the eaves of a building; an eaves trough.

   The troughs were filled with leaves and needed clearing.

5. (agriculture, Australia, New Zealand) A 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.
6. A long, narrow depression between waves or ridges; the low portion of a wave cycle.

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

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

7. (meteorology) A linear atmospheric depression associated with a weather front.

Synonyms

• manger (container for feeding animals)

Derived terms

• water trough

Translations

Verb

trough (third-person singular simple present troughs, present participle troughing, simple past and past participle troughed)

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

   He troughed his way through three meat pies.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary Online

See also

• crib
• ditch
• trench

Anagrams

• Rought, rought