troublous, a. Now only literary or arch.
(ˈtrʌbləs)
Forms: see trouble n.; also 5 -ose, -ows, (-es, -ys, 5–6 -is), 6 -us.
[a. OF. troubleus, -eux, torbleus (12th c. in Godef.), f. trouble trouble: see -ous.]
† 1. Of water or other liquid: Troubled, turbid, thick, muddy. Obs.
| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxxix. (W. de W.) cc vj/2 The horse..hath lykynge..to drynke trowblous [MS. troubly] and thycke water. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters B ij, Other lyquor..which ye wyl puryfye from all trowblous and vnclere substaunces. 1544 T. Phaer Pestilence (1553) L viij, Thick wyne and troubleous. |
2. Characterized by trouble, agitation, or disturbance; disordered, disturbed, unsettled, confused.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. vii. (Rolls) 318 Like troubelose tyme was in Ierusalem. 1555 Bale in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) III. App. xxxix. 107 The state of our Church..is troublous at this present. 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics 363 That troublous times are the seasons of honour, and that a warlike-field is the seed-plot of great and heroical actions. 1840 Carlyle Heroes iv. (1858) 274 There are long troublous periods, before matters come to a settlement. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 599 The millions..live their calm or troublous day. |
b. Of persons or their attributes: Causing disturbance; turbulent, disorderly; restless, unquiet.
| 1450–1530 [implied in troublousness]. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1611 Thow froward Kyng, trobelows and wood. 1550 Latimer Last Serm. bef. Edw. VI, (1562) 115 They..accused hym..that he was a sedicious fellow, and a troublous preacher. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. I. ii. vi. 501 Troublous and adventurous spirits, men of broken fortunes..and boundless desires. |
c. Of the sea, wind, etc.: Tempestuous, stormy, violent.
| 1482 Cely Papers (Camden) 123 Here was noon passage..the wynd was so contrary and the see soo trublys. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 48 The wynde was troblous and the wether foule. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 305 The sea is..rough, and troublous. 1742 Collins Ode Evening 46 Winter yelling thro' the troublous air. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 364 He hunts the storms, and swims through troublous clouds. |
3. Causing trouble or grief; painful, grievous; vexatious, troublesome.
| 1463 Ashby Prisoner's Refl. 250 With hys trowbelous hurt. 1465 Marg. Paston in P. Lett. II. 211 I..trost..that ye shall overcome your enemys and your trobelows maters. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xiv. 21, I sende my foure troublous plages vpon Ierusalem: the swearde, honger, perlous beestes and pestilence. 1651 Biggs New Disp. ¶273 A difficulty of breathing, troublous to life. 1747 Upton New Canto Spenser's F.Q. xxii, Bowers, that exclude the troublous Light. 1880 McCarthy Own Times IV. li. 79 Mr. Walpole took on himself the management of the Home Office, little knowing what a troublous business he had brought upon his shoulders. |
† b. Expressing or indicating trouble or grief; sad, sorrowful.
Obs. rare.
| 1535 Coverdale 2 Kings viii. 11 The man of God loked earnestly, & made a troublous countenaunce, & wepte. 1590 Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. iv. i, As when an herd of lusty Cimbrian bulls..Fill all the air with troublous bellowing. |
Hence
ˈtroublously adv.;
ˈtroublousness.
| 1538 Elyot, Fluctuation, *troublously, doubtfully. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xii. 106 To bee troubleously vexed with the care of suche thynges is a poynte..of mystrustfulnesse towardes god. 1573–80 Baret Alv. S 635 The sea riseth vp troublouslie with great sourges, vnda exæstuat vorticibus, Virg. 1897 F. Thompson New Poems 6 Their orbs are troublously Over-gloomed. |
| 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 45 When goddes seruantes ar besy..in hys seruyce: they with theyre vanyte & *troubelousnes pulle downe theyre myndes. 1577 St. Aug. Manual (Longman) 37 Let the troubleousnesse of the flesh cease. 1846 H. W. Torrens Rem. Milit. Hist. 179 His worst troublousness had something quiescent in it. |