| Noun | 1. | trough - a narrow depression (as in the earth or between ocean waves or in the ocean bed) | |
| 2. | trough - a channel along the eaves or on the roof; collects and carries away rainwaterchannel - a passage for water (or other fluids) to flow through; "the fields were crossed with irrigation channels"; "gutters carried off the rainwater into a series of channels under the street" | |
| 3. | trough - a concave shape with an open top | |
| 4. | trough - a treasury for government funds | |
| 5. | trough - a long narrow shallow receptaclereceptacle - a container that is used to put or keep things in cradle, rocker - a trough on rockers used by gold miners to shake earth in water in order to separate the gold | |
| 6. | trough - a container (usually in a barn or stable) from which cattle or horses feedcontainer - any object that can be used to hold things (especially a large metal boxlike object of standardized dimensions that can be loaded from one form of transport to another) | |