Forms: see TROUBLE sb. [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.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4319. He sal trobel þe se when he wille, And pees it and make it be stille.
1382. Wyclif, Ezek. xxxii. 2. Thou … trublist to gidre watris with thi feet.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 230. Tho that haue eyen discolourid and trowbelid.
1534. Tindale, John v. 4. For an angell went doune … and troubled the water.
a. 1500. in Dunbar’s Poems (S.T.S.), 315. He trublit all the air.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 56. The fishe Sepia can trouble the water.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., V. ii. 141. Like a fountaine troubled, Muddie, ill seeming, thicke.
1660. Dryden, Astr. Red., 272. As those lees, that trouble it, refine The agitated soul of generous wine.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 231. In the application of paint,… to avoid unnecessarily mixing, or, as it is called, ‘troubling,’ ‘saddening,’ or ‘tormenting’ the tints.
1878. Huxley, 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.
1390. Gower, Conf., VIII. 3009*. But hou so that it trowble in their [= the air], The Sonne is evere briht and feir.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), v. 52. Put a drope of bawme in clere water … & stere it wel;… And gif þat the bawme be fyn … the water schall neuere trouble.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 7619. A thondir with a thicke Rayn thrublit in þe skewes.
1568. Grafton, 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.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 4764 (Petyt MS.). Þe feste was turbled & mirth aweye.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VIII. 1462. Your fredom we sall trowbill na ma.
1558. Knox, First Blast (Arb.), 13. By her babling she troubled the hole assemblie.
1607. Shaks., Cor., V. vi. 129. Trouble not the peace.
1642. Jer. Taylor, Episc. (1647), 195. Lucius … troubled the affayre by his interposing.
1713. Addison, Guardian, No. 99, ¶ 4. Such who … might … trouble and pervert the course of justice.
1832. Tennyson, 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.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 268. Þu nouhst nout sturien ne trublen þine heorte.
1340. Ayenb., 104. Wyþ-oute him to trobli, wyþ-oute him to chongi, wyþ-oute him remue ine none manere.
1382. Wyclif, John xii. 27. Now my soule is troublid.
c. 1440. Generydes, 54. Sore trobelyd in his mynde.
1526. Tindale, John xiv. 1. Lett nott youre hertes be trubled.
1538. Starkey, England, I. i. 20. Let thys dyuersyte of sectys … no thyng trowbul vs at al.
1657. North’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.
1715. De Foe, Fam. Instruct., I. iii. (1841), I. 57. Husband, I believe something troubles thee.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xxiii. (1878), 417. I was troubled in my own mind.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 133. No such perplexity could ever trouble a modern metaphysician.
β. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 328. And þerfore Petre biddiþ Cristen men, Be not turblid bi þer manas.
c. 1450. St. 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.
1618. Bolton, 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.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 479. And swa trowblyt the folk saw he, That he tharoff had gret pitte.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 136. For sa troublit with stormis was I neuer stad.
1526. Tindale, Matt. xxvi. 10. Why trouble ye the woman?
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 107. The fleand dartis,… To trubill the, sall haif na mycht.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 209. God looking forth will trouble all his Host And craze thir Chariot wheels.
1711. in Nairne, Peerage Evid. (1874), 143. From all citing conveening judging fyning or otherwayes molesting and troubling the saids heritors tennents possessors and occupiers.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 246. Swans … Whom, swooping from the region of the skies, Jove’s bird was troubling.
1912. Times, 19 Oct., 5/4. No individual … shall be proceeded against or troubled in his person or property.
absol. c. 1570. R. Robinson, Gold. Mirr. (Chetham Soc.) Introd. 7. Stormes that troubleth sore.
1611. Bible, 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.)
c. 1400. trans. 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.
1508. Dunbar, Poems, iv. 2. I … Am trublit now with gret seiknes.
a. 1548. Hall, 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.
1595. Shaks., John, V. iii. 3. This Feauer that hath troubled me so long, Lyes heauie on me. Ibid. (1604), Oth., III. iii. 414. Being troubled with a raging tooth, I could not sleepe.
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 84. He said, That Mercy was a pretty Lass; but troubled with ill Conditions.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 153, ¶ 19. All whom I intreat to sing are troubled with colds.
1899. Allbutt’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.).
1515. Plumpton Corr. (Camden), 213. If they may find any hole or colur therin, they will troble with me for the same.
1538. Audley, in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden), 247. Thus I trobill you with my sutes.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 23 b. [He] besecheth him and his adherentes to trouble the church no more.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. i. 62. Your towne is troubled with unruly boies. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., II. i. 1. Take the Boy to you: he so troubles me, ’Tis past enduring.
1794. Nelson, 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).
1516. Q. 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.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., iii. (1627), 12. It seemeth to mee … unreasonable … that the Grammar Schooles should bee troubled with teaching A.B.C.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. 14. He will not be troubled with small Fractions … which breedeth no great error.
1708. Arbuthnot, in Lett. Eminent Persons (1813), I. 180. I shall trouble you to give my services to my friends at Oxford.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 142, ¶ 11. I will not trouble you with more Letters at this time.
1875. Jowett, 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.
1516. Q. Margaret, in Mrs. Wood, Lett. Illustr. Ladies (1846), I. 221. I shall trouble you no more for no money.
1755. Johnson, To Trouble.… 9. (In low language.) To sue for a debt.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., vi. The new pupil who ‘troubled’ Mr. Pecksniff for the loaf.
1894. H. 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).
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xx. 6. Trubill nevir thy self,… Vthiris to rewill, that will not rewlit be.
1621. T. Williamson, trans. 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.
1845. R. Monckton Milnes, in Life (1891), I. viii. 357. He had never troubled himself … to understand the question.
1855. Macaulay, 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.
1880. McCarthy, Own Times, III. xl. 206. He would have allowed reform to go its way for him, and never troubled.
1884. W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 50. Do not trouble to bring back the boat.
III. 6. The verb-stem in comb., prefixed to sbs., forming sbs. 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.)
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 112. Guttwort, *Trouble-belly.
a. 1610. Healey, Theophrastus (1636), 70. Then he railes on the Fidler as a *trouble-cup.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, III. ix. (1632), 562. This *trouble-feast reason.
1630. Lennard, trans. Charron’s Wisd. (1658), 52. A little trouble-feast, a tedious and importunate parasite.
1691. trans. Emilianne’s Frauds Rom. Monks (ed. 3), 226. The old Fryer was a Turba Festa, a meer Trouble-Feast to talk so at random.
1608. Dod & Cleaver, Expos. Prov. xi.–xii. 100. This unthrifty *trouble-house.
1643, 1690. [see trouble-town].
1874. T. Hardy, Far fr. Madding Crowd, xxxv. ’Tis well to say ‘Friend’ outwardly, though you say ‘Troublehouse’ within.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. III. Furies, 328. Th’other Furie … Foule, *trouble-rest.
1604. Daniel, Civ. Wars, IV. xxiv. Those faire bayts these *Trouble-States still vse.
1823. Lamb, 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.
1619. J. Dyke, Counterpoison, 23. What breedeth these *trouble-townes but couetousnesse?
1643. Trapp, Comm. Gen. xxxiv. 30. Many such trouble-houses and trouble-towns there are abroad.
1690. C. Nesse, O. & N. Test., I. 319. Branding his sons with the black name of trouble-houses, and trouble-towns.
1663. Flagellum or O. Cromwell, Pref. *Trouble-worlds.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., II. 101. John Lilbourne [was] naturally a great trouble-world.
