| 释义 |
▪ I. trouble, n.|ˈtrʌb(ə)l|
Forms: 3–7 truble, (3 trubuil), 4–6 troble, -el(l, -il(l, -yll, -ul, trowble, (5 thruble, trobbyll), 5–6 trubel, trubble, troubel(l, trowbel, (-ill, -yll, -ul(l), 4– trouble. β. 4–6 turble, -el, -ill, 5 torble, -el, tourbel.
[ME. a. OF. truble, turble (12th c.), torble, tourble, troble (13th c.), F. trouble (15th c.), f. tourbler, troubler to trouble.]
1. a. Disturbance of mind or feelings; worry, vexation; affliction; grief; perplexity; distress.
Now often also in lighter use, expressing any degree, however slight, of embarrassment or ‘bother’, or a condition of suffering some inconvenience or discomfort.
c1230Hali Meid. 29 Godes spuses þat ise swote eise wiðute swuch trubuil. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 14 Out of the lond he put awey alle trobelle, And made of newe oure joies to be dobelle. 1509Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 299 The greuaunce trouble and vexacyon of the good persone hath gretter cause of pyte..than of the euyll persone. 1535Coverdale Ps. lxxxv[i]. 7 In the tyme of my trouble I call vpon the. 1611Bible Job v. 7 Man is borne vnto trouble [earlier vv. labour, travail], as the sparkes flie vpward. 1667Milton P.L. v. 96 The trouble of thy thoughts..in sleep. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. vi, In trouble to be troubled Is to have your trouble doubled. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxiii, Her head was so carried with pain of body and trouble of mind. 1910Stage Year Bk. 23 There are two services [of electricity] installed, to prevent trouble in case of a breakdown on the mains. Mod. The family were in great trouble on account of the death of the eldest son.
b. With a and pl. An instance of this; a misfortune, calamity; a distressing or vexatious circumstance, occurrence, or experience.
1515Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) C v/2 Graunt me a liuing sufficient.. And voyde of troubles. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 208 The Ambassadors were in a pecke of troubles. a1591H. Smith Serm. (1637) 244 Troubles come in an hundred wayes. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 59 To take Armes against a Sea of troubles. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. iii. (1627) 20 The trouble is this: that when as my children doe first enter into Latine, many of them will forget to reade English. 1861Paley æschylus (ed. 2) Choeph. 683 note, At the very time when his troubles seemed at an end. 1863Reade Hard Cash I. 5 She was determined to share his every trouble.
c. transf. A thing or person that gives trouble; an occasion or cause of affliction or distress.
1591Savile Tacitus, Hist. iv. lxxvi. 228 The Germans..were..a kinde of vnprofitable troubles of a campe. 1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 152 Alack, what trouble Was I then to you? 1611Bible Isa. i. 14 Your appointed Feasts..are a trouble vnto me, I am weary to beare them. 1709Pope Ess. Crit. 502 Then most our trouble still when most admir'd. 1859Tennyson Geraint & Enid 1619 The useful trouble of the rain.
†d. Harm, injury, offence. Obs.
1463Ashby Prisoner's Refl. 255 Seyntes..That suffred trowbyll with out resystence. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 281 The Fleminges did the French men great trouble.
e. my troubles, a dismissive exlamation: ‘don't worry about me’: ‘I don't care’. Austral. colloq.
1895C. Crowe Austral. Slang Dict. 89 My troubles, what do I care. 1905N. Spielvogel Gumsucker on Tramp 90 Off again; round Leuwin Cape; rough seas; My Troubles! I'm coming home. 1947G. Casey Wits are Out 44 ‘You better lay off Kitty while the old man's about, or there'll be one more out-of-work motor salesman kicking round the city,’ Syd suggested. ‘My troubles!’ Jerry jeered.
f. Usu. with qualifying noun: faulty working of apparatus or machinery, esp. on a motor vehicle; a problem caused by this (engine trouble, etc.). Also applied transf. to personal relations, as wife trouble.
1902Trans. Inst. Naval Archit. XLIV. 213 Although it seems to fit the water tube troubles, it does not answer so well with the furnace troubles. 1909Westm. Gaz. 26 Oct. 2/1 The only other serious difficulty [with the Wright biplane] seems to be what is known, generically, as ‘engine trouble’... The forms that this ‘engine trouble’ takes are various, as every motorist knows. 1981P. Audemars Gone to her Death iii. 61 The local garagist..has wife trouble, because she has the money he needs.
g. trouble and strife, rhyming slang for: (a) ‘life’ (rare); (b) ‘wife’.
1908‘Doss Chiderdoss’ in Sporting Times 11 July 1/3, I shouted, ‘Your ‘bees’, or your ‘trouble and strife’!’ Like the hero in ‘Highwayman Harry’. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Companions iii. ii. 611 The old trouble-and-strife, eh? 1949A. Wilson Wrong Set 62 ‘Thanks for looking after my old trouble and strife’ said Bruce. 1959J. Osborne Paul Slickey ii. x. 86 My posh trouble-and-strife, I'll be hers. 1977G. Fisher Villain of Piece i. 7 It's the old trouble and strife—wife. I want to see her all right.
h. trouble at (the or t') mill: an industrial dispute, as at a Midlands or North Country textile mill; also transf. and fig., alluding to any disagreement or problem at work, home, etc.
1967‘J. Winton’ H.M.S.Leviathan xx. 333 He replaced the receiver, and assumed a passable Yorkshire accent. ‘Ah'm sorry, lass, but there's trouble down at t'mill... It looks as if we've got to go to sea in a hurry.’ 1977New Scientist 14 Apr. 84/1 This latter-day trouble at t'mill seems to stem from a dispute about what we mean by such expressions as ‘use water’ or ‘abstract water’ [at a water-mill]. 1982Times 26 Aug. 16/7 Stanley has trouble at mill. A G Stanley Holdings..has dropped into losses at the interim stage..mainly because of continued problems at its Holmes Chapel wallpaper mill. 1984Times 15 Sept. 8/1 There's trouble at t'mill in the board room of Grimsby Town Football Club.
2. a. Public disturbance, disorder, or confusion; with a and pl. an instance of this, a disturbance, an agitation.
[1378Rolls of Parlt. III. 43/1 Le Roialme en diverses parties est mys en grant troboill.] c1400Apol. Loll. 87 Mansleyng, þeft,..corrupcoun,..trouby[l], periury. c1435Chron. London (Kingsford 1905) 85 To eschew Rebellion, dysobeyssaunce and Trouble. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xvii. (1885) 153 Wheroff hath comyn..mony gret trowbels and debates. 1550Latimer Last Serm. bef. Edw. VI, 105 It maketh troble and rebellion in the realme. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 184 It is a hard matter to know who expecteth benefit from publique troubles. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. i, [Then] the troubles happened: and Cromwell assumed the regency. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvii. IV. 105 They were to be allowed to exercise any profession which they had exercised before the troubles.
βc1440Promp. Parv. 497/1 Torble, or torblynge.., turbacio. 1463Plumpton Corr. (Camden) p. lxix, When any turble or enterprise was like to fall hurt or scaythe to the Kings people.
b. the troubles, the Troubles. Any of various rebellions, civil wars, and unrest in Ireland, spec. in 1919–23 and (in Northern Ireland) since the early 1970s.
1880W. H. Patterson Gloss. Words Antrim & Down 109 Troubles, the, the Irish rebellion of 1641. 1922Joyce Ulysses 237 Times of the troubles... Somewhere here Lord Edward Fitzgerald escaped from major Sirr. Ibid. 613 He vividly recollected when the occurrence alluded to took place..in the days of the land troubles..early in the eighties. 1923Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Oct. 661/3 A weak Government.., a new wave of nationalist exaltation, an untrained army of youths brought up on war rations..—these factors were sufficient to account for the troubles of 1919–21. 1942E. Waugh Put out More Flags iii. 235 The ruins of a police barracks, built to command the road through the valley, burnt in the troubles,..were one green with the grass. 1949C. Graves Ireland Revisited vi. 57 ‘This was where Michael Dwyer was in keeping during the Troubles,’ Mackey vouchsafed. (‘In keeping’ means being on the run.) 1959Listener 2 July 32/1 The complicated political and personal passions inspired by ‘the troubles’. 1968M. Collis Somerville & Ross xxv. 258 As the Troubles were over more than ten years before [1936], how came it that Admiral Boyle, living in quiet retirement and much liked by high and low, was singled out? 1981M. Kenyon Zigzag i. 6 Before the new Troubles..he had fallen in love with romantic Ireland.
3. Pains or exertion, esp. in accomplishing or attempting something; care, toil, labour. Phr. to put to (the) trouble, to take (the) trouble.
1577B. Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. 35 b, Lupines..This pulse requireth least trouble. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 248 That trouble we had been at, put us all in a sweat. 1729Law Serious C. iii. (1732) 31 If it costs me no pains or trouble. 1830R. J. Raymond Oh! Men what Silly Things You Are (song) 3 She marks you down, fly where you will..Can wing you, feather you or kill, Just as she takes the trouble. 1840Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. vii. 108 To be quit of the trouble and expense of the garden. 1856Titan Mag. Dec. 525/1 He..did not care to put himself to the least trouble. 1866Duke of Argyll Reign Law vii. (1871) 366 Wherever we take the trouble to trace any..phenomenon through the sequences of cause and effect. 1912Oxford Mag. 14 Nov. 78/1 To save themselves the trouble of thinking.
4. a. A disease, disorder, ailment; a morbid affection.
1726Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 267 Riding..agrees much with my trouble which I am not altogether free of. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 882 Perityphlitis due to trouble in the cæcum. 1899Ibid. VIII. 16 Writer's cramp and like troubles.
b. A woman's travail. (Also of an animal.) dial. or euphem.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia s.v., She is now in her trouble. 1877H. Smart Bound to Win i, Calvert came..and told me Veturia [the mare] was getting very close upon her trouble. 1889M. Gray Annesley iii. i. 95 He rode over the bleak downs to help Daniel Pink's wife in her trouble. 1896A. Lilburn Borderer xxix. 219 Come now, my canny woman, you must try and drink this, or you'll never win through your trouble. 1901M. E. Francis Pastorals Dorset 162 When I'm over my trouble I'll come to see you.
5. In various other special applications, euphemistic, colloquial, dialectal, or vulgar.
a. Unpleasant relations with the authorities, esp. such as involve arrest, summons before a magistrate, imprisonment, or punishment; e.g. to bring oneself into trouble, to get into trouble; to be in trouble, to be in gaol (slang). Also to ask for trouble: see ask v. 16 b. Similarly, to look for (or seek) trouble.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 115 Lest they should both offend the Mayor, and bring themselues in trouble. a1562Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 266 This gentilman..who hathe byn late in troble in the Tower of London. 1837J. D. Lang New S. Wales II. 34 His wife very soon got into trouble, as it is technically termed in the colony; i.e. into the commission of some crime or misdemeanour, which issues in..flagellation, or imprisonment, or transportation, or death by the law. 1899M. Johnston Old Dominion vii, My friend has been in trouble..He will not make the worse conspirator for that. 1901Merwin & Webster Calumet ‘K’ 134 We've got to build the belt gallery—and we'll have no end of a time doing it if the C. & S.C. is still looking for trouble. 1905N.Y. Even. Post 29 Aug. 2 In the possible chance of rounding up all who might be seeking trouble, the police temporarily sequestered and searched 140 Chinamen. 1912‘Aurora’ Jock Scott, Midshipman xiv. 165 But if you are artful you don't often get ‘bowled out’, unless one of the ‘crushers’ has a ‘down’ on you, and is ‘looking for trouble’. a1915Mod. Take care what you say, or you'll get into trouble. 1922E. O'Neill Anna Christie (1923) i. 25, I ain't looking for trouble. 1947W. Motley Knock on Any Door 152 Swollen out in their own importance they walked along West Madison looking for trouble.
b. Said of the condition of an unmarried woman with child.
1891T. Hardy Tess xxxi, On no account do you say a word of your Bygone Trouble to him... Many a woman—some of the Highest in the Land—have had a Trouble in their time. 1891Daily News 26 Jan. 7/2 She said she consented to come to London to be married to the prisoner as she believed she was in trouble.
c. U.S. colloq. or slang. Public festivity; interruption or disturbance of ordinary work.
1884C. T. Buckland Sk. Social Life India iii. 66 A day of rest comes in between each day of pleasure, or ‘trouble’ as the Yankees more rightly call it. 1897Flandrau Harvard Episodes 313 That particular quarter..was not..the most decorous on Class Day. There is always more or less, what is technically known as ‘trouble’..on Class Day afternoon.
6. Mining. A dislocation in a stratum; a fault (usually small).
1672Sinclair Misc. Obs. Hydrostaticks (1683) 267 That alteration..was not occasioned by any Gae, or trouble. Ibid. 276 Gae's, and Dykes..being the occasion of so much Trouble, in the working of Coal,..the Coal-hewers call them ordinarily by that name Trouble. 1789Brand Hist. Newcastle II. 680 note, Troubles [are] dikes of the smallest degree;..strata are generally altered by a trouble, from their regular site to a different position. 1859R. Hunt Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2) 228 The effects of these movements will be visible in faults, troubles, dykes, throws, or heaves (as in different localities they are named).
7. attrib. and Comb., as trouble-bearer, trouble-cup, trouble-maker, trouble-shirker; trouble-free, trouble-giving, trouble-haunted, trouble-proof, trouble-saving, trouble-tost, trouble-void adjs.; trouble-making ppl. adj. and vbl. n. (See also trouble v. 6.) trouble-hunter: spec. = trouble-shooter 1; also trouble hunting vbl. n.; trouble lamp, light N. Amer., a portable lamp (esp. one carried on a motor vehicle), by the light of which roadside repairs, etc., can be done; trouble man U.S. = trouble-shooter 1; trouble spot, a place where difficulties frequently occur; a scene of (impending) conflict.
1909Daily Chron. 14 Apr. 7/5 A laugh is the best trouble bearer.
1850Struthers Poet. Wks. II. 244 Quaff'd it must be, life's trouble-cup.
1648Herrick Hesper., Content, not Cates 7 A little pipkin..Set on my table, trouble-free.
1893Westm. Gaz. 3 Feb. 1/3 A most trouble-giving class.
1807Wordsw. White Doe vii. 151 All now was trouble-haunted ground.
1910Trouble-hunter [see hell-bent a. and adv.]. 1924New Eng. Telephone Topics XVIII. 288 Repairmen, the ‘trouble hunters’, are at work constantly.
1882T. D. Lockwood Pract. Information for Telephonists 135 Every movement made for an accurate preliminary test frequently saves an hour of happy-go-lucky trouble hunting. 1916Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 July 12/4 If a car is not equipped with an extension trouble lamp, it is well to provide among the accessories a pocket flash lamp. 1927W. Faulkner Sartoris iii. 196 He was doing something to the engine of it [sc. a car] while the house-yard-stable-boy held a patent trouble-lamp. 1952Sun (Baltimore) (B ed.) 5 Jan. 7/4 Their headlights went out... A door slammed shut and cut the wire on the trouble light. 1979Arizona Daily Star 1 Apr. h3/1 He just happened to have a siphon hose; also a trouble light with a cord that seemed long enough to reach back to his home in Mexico City.
1923Time 28 May 1/2 (heading) Chief trouble maker. 1931Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 191, I took stock o' them, to spot the funny-men an' trouble-makers. 1955‘A. Gilbert’ Is She Dead Too? ii. 40 A snooper, or trouble-maker, that was Margaret Reeve. 1981W. Ebersohn Divide Night xiii. 175 A more disciplined age where trouble-makers who went against the government would be dealt with firmly.
1920S. Lewis Main St. xvi. 202, I certainly hope you don't class yourself with a lot of trouble-making labor-leaders! a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 77 Manny wouldn't allow it, for fear—as he put it—that the questions raised would be used for trouble-making.
1889Cassell's Family Mag. June 410/1 A special band of what the Americans call ‘Trouble-men’, who are prepared to attend at once to sudden calls for assistance. 1953Herald (Belle Glade, Florida) 13 Feb. 1/1 According to Florida Power & Light district manager C. A. Chase, FPL's ‘Troubleman’ J. J. McCarley located the difficulty, and repair crews worked until 2 am Wednesday repairing broken circuits and restoring service.
1878A. Paul Random Writ. 202 We think ourselves giants and trouble-proof until it [illness] overtakes us.
1908A. S. M. Hutchinson Once aboard Lugger v. vii. 268 These light-hearts, these trouble-shirkers. 1956M. E. W. Goss in R. K. Merton Student-Physician iv. 258 The regular duties..included the unwritten obligation to assist in..assessing the ‘trouble-spots’ and suggesting possible solutions. 1963Listener 7 Feb. 260/2 Sir David Eccles wants {pstlg}200,000,000 a year pumped into the trouble-spots [sc. areas of heavy unemployment]. 1981T. Barling Bikini Red North ii. 41 It should be quiet enough, being so far from Montmartre and the other trouble spots.
1608Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Schism 506 Art not thou hee that sow'st the Isaacian Plain With Trouble-Tares?
1850Tennyson In Mem. lxv, I lull a fancy trouble-tost.
1559Mirr. Mag., Mortimers xiv, Seldome ioye continueth trouble voyde.
Hence † ˈtroubleful a., full of trouble, troublesome (obs.); ˈtroubleless a., free from trouble.
1588J. Harvey Disc. Probl. 71 To what end..haue they breathed out so loude, boisterous, and troublefull blasts? 1838M. Howitt Birds & Flowers, Birds ii, In a troubleless delight!
▪ II. † ˈtrouble, a. Obs.
Forms: 4–5 trouble, -el, -ele, trowble, (4 turble), 5 trobil, trobille, trowbul, Sc. trubill.
[a. F. trouble (in 12th c. truble, turble, troble, 13th c. tourble, troble, trouble), according to Hatz.-Darm.:—late pop.L. *turbulum, for cl.L. turbidum, whence troubler to trouble. A genuine adjectival form, but perh. sometimes standing in Eng. for troublé, troubly.]
1. Of water, wine, etc., Troubled, turbid, muddy, thick; of air, etc., Misty, murky, cloudy, not clear; in quot. c 14001, dim, dusky.
a1327On Dreams in Rel. Ant. I. 263 Water thikke ant trouble. c1400Rom. Rose 7116 As moche as..The sunne sourmounteth the mone, That troubler is, and chaungeth sone. c1400Mandeville (1839) viii. 108 Þere is a welle that iiij. sithes in the ȝeer chaungeth his colour: somtyme grene, somtyme reed, somtyme cleer, & somtyme trouble [Roxb. trublee]. Ibid. xiv. 157 The gode dyamandes..ben of trouble colour. c1450Merlin 236 Thei loked towarde Lanneriur, and saugh the eyr trouble, and thikke of duste. 1482J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 24 Whenne it betokenethe battayle it rennys foule and trouble watere [cf. quot. 1605 s.v. troubly 1].
2. Disturbed, distressed, confused; marked by disturbance or confusion; troublous, restless, unquiet.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iv. pr. iv. 107 (Camb. MS.) Alle thingys semen to be confus and trowble [Add. MS. trouble] to vs men. c1386― Clerk's T. 409 With stierne face and with ful trouble cheere. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iv. xvii. (1869) 184 Þe anguishe þat so harde presseth troubel herte.
3. Turbulent, tempestuous, stormy, violent.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. i. Met. vii. 19 (Camb. MS.) The trowble [Add. MS. trouble] wynde þat hyht Auster. c1470Henry Wallace vii. 182 Trubbill weddyr makis schippis to droune. 1509Payne Evyll Marr. 95 Like perilous Caribeis of the trouble see.
Hence ˈtroubleness, troubledness, turbidity.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 333 Þe wynd of Goddis lawe shulde be cleer, ffor turblenes in þis wynde mut nedis turble mennis lif. 14..Beryn 1417 Of hertis trobilnes I had nevir knowlech, but of al gladnes. 1482Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 73 They sofryd greuys and varyante trowbulnes of the eyre.
▪ III. trouble, v.|ˈtrʌb(ə)l|
Forms: see trouble n.
[ME. a. OF. trubler, trobler, torbler, tourbler, turbler (11–14th c.), F. troubler:—late L. *turbulāre, f. *turbulus = cl.L. turbidus turbid.]
I.
1. trans. To disturb, agitate, ruffle (water, air, etc.); esp. to stir up (water) so as to make it thick or muddy; to make (wine) thick by stirring up the lees; to make turbid, dim, or cloudy. Now rare or arch.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4319 He sal trobel þe se when he wille, And pees it and make it be stille. 1382Wyclif Ezek. xxxii. 2 Thou..trublist to gidre watris with thi feet. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 230 Tho that haue eyen discolourid and trowbelid. 1534Tindale John v. 4 For an angell went doune..and troubled the water. a1550in Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) 315 He trublit all the air. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 56 The fishe Sepia can trouble the water. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. ii. 141 Like a fountaine troubled, Muddie, ill seeming, thicke. 1660Dryden Astr. Red. 272 As those lees, that trouble it, refine The agitated soul of generous wine. 1859Gullick & Timbs Paint. 231 In the application of paint,..to avoid unnecessarily mixing, or, as it is called, ‘troubling’, ‘saddening’, or ‘tormenting’ the tints. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 170 Its [the sea's] surface is ordinarily more or less troubled with waves.
†b. intr. for pass. Of water, to grow turbid; of the sun or sky, to grow dark, cloudy, or stormy; of a storm, to rage. Also fig. Obs.
1390Gower Conf. viii. 3009* But hou so that it trowble in their [= the air], The Sonne is evere briht and feir. c1400Mandeville (1839) v. 52 Put a drope of bawme in clere water..& stere it wel;..And ȝif þat the bawme be fyn..the water schall neuere trouble. c1400Destr. Troy 7619 A thondir with thicke Rayn thrublit in þe skewes. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 885 The British affayres..began now again to flow out and to trouble.
2. trans. To disturb, derange; to interfere with, interrupt; to hinder, mar. Obs. or arch.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4764 (Petyt MS.) Þe feste was turbled & mirth aweye. c1470Henry Wallace viii. 1462 Your fredom we sall trowbill na ma. 1558Knox First Blast (Arb.) 13 By her babling she troubled the hole assemblie. 1607Shakes. Cor. v. vi. 129 Trouble not the peace. 1642Jer. Taylor Episc. (1647) 195 Lucius..troubled the affayre by his interposing. 1713Addison Guardian No. 99 ⁋4 Such who..might..trouble and pervert the course of justice. 1832Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 119 And we should come like ghosts to trouble joy.
II.
3. To put into a state of (mental) agitation or disquiet; to disturb, distress, grieve, perplex.
a1225Ancr. R. 268 Þu nouhst nout sturien ne trublen þine heorte. 1340Ayenb. 104 Wyþ-oute him to trobli, wyþ⁓oute him to chongi, wyþ-oute him remue ine none manere. 1382Wyclif John xii. 27 Now my soule is troublid. c1440Generydes 54 Sore trobelyd in his mynde. 1526Tindale John xiv. 1 Lett nott youre hertes be trubled. 1538Starkey England i. i. 20 Let thys dyuersyte of sectys..no thyng trowbul vs at al. 1657North's Plutarch, Add. Lives (1676) 8 Orators who do break their brains to utter good things, and never trouble their heads in the least to do them. 1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iii. (1841) I. 57 Husband, I believe something troubles thee. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxiii. (1878) 417, I was troubled in my own mind. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 133 No such perplexity could ever trouble a modern metaphysician.
βc1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 328 And þerfore Petre biddiþ Cristen men, Be not turblid bi þer manas. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 2850 Turbyld in spirit he chaunged his mode.
†b. intr. for pass. To be disturbed or agitated; to be in or get into an unsettled state. Obs. rare—1.
1618Bolton Florus iv. iii. (1636) 295 In the change of the government of the Romans,..the world troubled throughout, and the whole body of the Empire was turmoiled with all sorts of perils.
4. trans. To do harm or hurt to; to injure; to molest, oppress.
1375Barbour Bruce i. 479 And swa trowblyt the folk saw he, That he tharoff had gret pitte. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 136 For sa troublit with stormis was I neuer stad. 1526Tindale Matt. xxvi. 10 Why trouble ye the woman? 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 107 The fleand dartis,..To trubill the, sall haif na mycht. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 209 God looking forth will trouble all his Host And craze thir Chariot wheels. 1711in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874) 143 From all citing conveening judging fyning or otherwayes molesting and troubling the saids heritors tennents possessors and occupiers. 1855Singleton Virgil I. 246 Swans..Whom, swooping from the region of the skies, Jove's bird was troubling. 1912Times 19 Oct. 5/4 No individual..shall be proceeded against or troubled in his person or property.
absol.c1570R. Robinson Gold. Mirr. (Chetham Soc.) Introd. 7 Stormes that troubleth sore. 1611Bible Job iii. 17 There the wicked cease from troubling.
b. Of disease or ailment: To cause bodily derangement, pain, or inconvenience to; to afflict; sometimes in weakened sense, to affect. (Often in pass. with with; also fig.)
c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 72 Þy stomak shal fille hym with euyl humours.., and þat shall trobbyl þy brayn with euyll fumosyte. Ibid. 80 Wyn þat ys takyn abundanly..lettys þe vnderstondynge,..troblys þe brayn. 1508Dunbar Poems iv. 2, I..Am trublit now with gret seiknes. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. IV, 32 b, His pange so sore trobeled him that he lay as though al his vitall sprites had bene from him departed. 1595Shakes. John v. iii. 3 This Feauer that hath troubled me so long, Lyes heauie on me. 1604― Oth. iii. iii. 414 Being troubled with a raging tooth, I could not sleepe. 1684Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 84 He said, That Mercy was a pretty Lass; but troubled with ill Conditions. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 153 ⁋19 All whom I intreat to sing are troubled with colds. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 842 For many years he has had an ulcer..which troubles him.
5. To distress with something disagreeable and unwelcome; to vex, annoy; to tease, plague, worry, pester, bother. † Also intr. with with (obs.).
1515Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 213 If they may find any hole or colur therin, they will troble with me for the same. 1538Audley in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 247 Thus I trobill you with my sutes. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 23 b, [He] besecheth him and his adherentes to trouble the church no more. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 62 Your towne is troubled with unruly boies. 1611― Wint. T. ii. i. 1 Take the Boy to you: he so troubles me, 'Tis past enduring. 1794Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 440, I made..thirteen scaling ladders,..for I think the Troops will be troubled in getting up the wall, 'because the earth is too loose. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ Valerie's Fate ii, ‘He would trouble me no more.’ ‘Does he really trouble you, Valerie?’ ‘Yes, really. I am frightened and nervous when I go out.’
b. In lighter sense: To put to inconvenience, incommode; often used hyperbolically by way of courtesy: ‘to give occasion of labour to: a word of civility or slight regard’ (J.). Usu. const. with: also with inf. (esp. in a formula of polite or quasi-polite request), to give (one) the trouble to do something (cf. c, d).
1516Q. Margaret in Mrs. Wood Lett. Illustr. Ladies (1846) I. 221, I pray you send me word, for I will trouble you no more with my sending. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. iii. (1627) 12 It seemeth to mee..unreasonable..that the Grammar Schooles should bee troubled with teaching A.B.C. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 14 He will not be troubled with small Fractions..which breedeth no great error. 1708Arbuthnot in Lett. Eminent Persons (1813) I. 180, I shall trouble you to give my services to my friends at Oxford. 1711Steele Spect. No. 142 ⁋11, I will not trouble you with more Letters at this time. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 294 Let me trouble you with one more question. Mod. May I trouble you to pass the mustard? I'll trouble you to wipe your feet the next time you come into the house.
c. With for: To pester with requests, ask importunately, importune; hence (usually) in lighter use, in a formula of polite request: to give (one) the trouble of passing or handing something.
1516Q. Margaret in Mrs. Wood Lett. Illustr. Ladies (1846) I. 221, I shall trouble you no more for no money. 1755Johnson, To Trouble... 9. (In low language.) To sue for a debt. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. vi, The new pupil who ‘troubled’ Mr. Pecksniff for the loaf. 1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 30 I'll trouble you, Shafton, for another of those good cigars.
d. refl. To take the trouble, take pains, exert oneself (to do something).
1500–20Dunbar Poems xx. 6 Trubill nevir thy self,..Vthiris to rewill, that will not rewlit be. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 49 Pilots.., without much troubling themselues, or stirring from their places, sit quietly at the sterne, and holding the Rudder,..doe cond and carry their Ships..to their vnlading port. 1845R. Monckton Milnes in Life (1891) I. viii. 357 He had never troubled himself..to understand the question. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xv. III. 581 The officer never troubles himself to ascertain whether the arms are in good order.
e. intr. for refl. = prec. sense. mod. colloq.
1880McCarthy Own Times III. xl. 206 He would have allowed reform to go its way for him, and never troubled. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 50 Do not trouble to bring back the boat.
III. 6. The verb-stem in comb., prefixed to ns., forming ns. with sense ‘one who or that which troubles, disturbs, or mars the peace or enjoyment of’; as † trouble-belly (gutwort, Globularia Alypum), trouble-cup, trouble-feast (also attrib.), trouble-house, trouble-mirth, trouble-rest, trouble-state, trouble-tomb, trouble-town, trouble-world. (Mostly rare or Obs.)
1668Wilkins Real Char. 112 Guttwort, *Trouble-belly.
a1610Healey Theophrastus (1636) 70 Then he railes on the Fidler as a *trouble-cup.
1603Florio Montaigne iii. ix. (1632) 562 This *trouble-feast reason. 1630S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. (1658) 52 A little trouble-feast, a tedious and importunate parasite. 1691tr. Emilianne's Frauds Rom. Monks (ed. 3) 226 The old Fryer was a Turba Festa, a meer Trouble-Feast to talk so at random.
1608Dod & Cleaver Expos. Prov. xi–xii. 100 This unthrifty *trouble-house. 1643,1690[see trouble-town]. 1874T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd xxxv, 'Tis well to say ‘Friend’ outwardly, though you say ‘Troublehouse’ within.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iii. Furies 328 Th' other Furie..Foule, *trouble-rest.
1604Daniel Civ. Wars iv. xxiv, Those faire bayts these *Trouble-States still vse.
1822Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Detached Th. Bks., They covered [Shakespeare's effigy] over with a coat of white paint... I think I see them..these sapient *trouble-tombs.
1619J. Dyke Counterpoison 23 What breedeth these *trouble-townes but couetousnesse? 1643Trapp Comm. Gen. xxxiv. 30 Many such trouble-houses and trouble-towns there are abroad. 1690C. Nesse O. & N. Test. I. 319 Branding his sons with the black name of trouble-houses, and trouble-towns.
1663Flagellum or O. Cromwell Pref., *Trouble-worlds. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 101 John Lilbourne [was] naturally a great trouble-world. |