trouble
Etymology
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Etymology
Verb is from Middle English troublen, trublen, turblen, troblen, borrowed from Old French troubler, trobler, trubler, metathetic variants of tourbler, torbler, turbler, from Vulgar Latin *turbulō, from Latin turbula, diminutive of turba ("stir; crowd").
Pronunciation Nountrouble
- A distressing or dangerous situation.
- He was in trouble when the rain started.
- A difficulty, problem, condition, or action contributing to such a situation.
- The trouble was a leaking brake line.
- The bridge column magnified the trouble with a slight tilt in the wrong direction.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
- Lest the fiend […] some new trouble raise.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene i]:
- Foul whisperings are abroad; unnatural deeds / Do breed unnatural troubles.
- A person liable to place others or themselves in such a situation.
- The state of being troubled, disturbed, or distressed mentally; unease, disquiet.
- Objectionable feature of something or someone; problem, drawback, weakness, failing, or shortcoming.
- The trouble with that suggestion is that we lack the funds to put it in motion.
- Violent or turbulent occurrence or event; unrest, disturbance.
- the troubles in Northern Ireland
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
- “I don’t know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there’ll be trouble. It’s bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that ’cause I'm paid for it. What I won’t stand is to have them togs called a livery. […] ”
- Efforts taken or expended, typically beyond the normal required.
- It’s no trouble for me to edit it.
- 1850, William Cullen Bryant, Letters of a Traveller:
- She never took the trouble to close them.
- 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:
- Indeed, by the report of our elders, this nervous preparation for old age is only trouble thrown away.
- Difficulty in doing something.
- She has trouble eating.
- Health problems, ailment, generally of some particular part of the body.
- He’s been in hospital with some heart trouble.
- A malfunction.
- My old car has engine trouble.
- Liability to punishment; conflict with authority.
- He had some trouble with the law.
- (mining) A fault or interruption in a stratum.
- (Cockney rhyming slang) Wife. Clipping of trouble and strife
- (slang, dated) An unplanned, unwanted or undesired pregnancy.
- See also Thesaurus:difficult situation
- French: peine
- German: Ärger
- Italian: guaio, problema, impiccio, tumulto
- Portuguese: problema, treta, encrenca
- Russian: беда́
- Spanish: marrón, berenjenal
- French: mal, problème, emmerde
- German: Schwierigkeit
- Italian: problema, difficoltà, dissesto
- Portuguese: dificuldade
- Russian: затрудне́ние
- Spanish: dificultad, problema
- French: troubles
- Italian: guaio, problema, grana
- Portuguese: treta (Brazil, slang), encrenca (Brazil)
- Russian: беда́
- German: Anstrengung, Bemühung, Mühe
- Italian: problema, impedimento, fastidio
- Russian: труд
- Spanish: molestia, costo (Costa Rica)
- German: Störung
- Italian: problema, fastidio
- Russian: непола́дки
trouble (troubles, present participle troubling; simple past and past participle troubled)
- (transitive, now, rare) To disturb, stir up, agitate (a medium, especially water).
- 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗, line 1100:
- God looking forth will trouble all his Hoſt
(transitive) To mentally distress; to cause (someone) to be anxious or perplexed. - What she said about narcissism is troubling me.
- c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i], page 281 ↗, column 2:
- Take the Boy to you: he ſo troubles me, / ’Tis paſt enduring.
- (transitive) In weaker sense: to bother or inconvenience.
- I will not trouble you to deliver the letter.
- (transitive, of ailments, etc.) To physically afflict.
- (reflexive or intransitive) To take pains to do something; to bother.
- I won’t trouble to post the letter today; I can do it tomorrow.
- (intransitive) To worry; to be anxious.
- 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.26:
- Why trouble about the future? It is wholly uncertain.
- French: troubler, déranger, embêter
- German: beunruhigen, belästigen, bekümmern
- Italian: esagitare, infastidire, disturbare, agitare
- Portuguese: incomodar, irritar, molestar
- Russian: беспоко́ить
- Spanish: molestar, fastidiar, agobiar
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
