go to the trouble

go to the trouble

To make an extra or deliberate effort (to do something). Oh, you didn't have to go to the trouble of preparing the guest bedroom for me—I could have just slept on the couch! I knew I should do the dishes before going to bed, but I was too tired to go to the trouble.
See also: go, trouble
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

go to the trouble (of doing something)

 and go to the trouble (to do something); go to the bother (of doing something); go to the bother (to do something)
to endure the effort or bother of doing something. I really don't want to go to the trouble to cook. Should I go to the bother of cooking something for her to eat? Don't go to the trouble. She can eat a sandwich.
See also: go, trouble
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

go to the trouble

Also, take the trouble; go to the bother or the expense . Make the effort or spend the money for something. For example, He went to the trouble of calling every single participant, or She took the trouble to iron all the clothes, or Don't go to the bother of writing them, or They went to the expense of hiring a limousine. [Second half of 1800s] Also see put oneself out.
See also: go, trouble
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • go to the bother
  • go to the trouble to (do something)
  • go to the bother of (doing something)
  • go to the bother to (do something)
  • couch-doctor
  • help (someone) up (from something)
  • help up
  • for that matter
  • handle on
  • a handle on
References in classic literature
"I can't go to the trouble of dressing again; I don't feel like it."
Awakening and Selected Short Stories
This classy French police thriller will have you scratching your head at the odd opening crime: who would go to the trouble of digging up freshly buried coffins and placing the corpses inside a show home of all places?
CHOICE; WEDNESDAY JULY 22
* SIR - Why would anybody go to the trouble to have IVF and then go abort the child so conceived?
Protect the innocent; YOUR LETTERS TO THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF WALES
Unborn Children are not dolls to play with [bar] WHY would anybody go to the trouble to have IVF and then go abort the child so conceived?
YouSAY IN YOUR OPINION
Some people even go to the trouble of spooning a little sugar into the watering can as a further enticement.
"sorry to bring up an [...]; In the garden with Steve Riches OUR MAN with gReeN fiNgeRs
Just think how ruinously expensive it will be to draw this legislation up and enforce it and expect private companies to go to the trouble and cost of providing bilingualism.
Priorities?
But seriously how can you go to the trouble of building a stadium at a cost of pounds 798m and then produce a playing surface that is not fit for purpose.
Ring the Griffin Inn
IF the BBC is going to go to the trouble of taking Question Time (BBC1, Thursday) out on the road, why don't they make the most of such a positive policy?
It came from Shorefields Technology College in Dingle
If you forget--or just don't go to the trouble of raising the gun--the cradle mount bearings will go dry.
Bearings take a beating without lube
Civil servants also know they're freer to talk during an administration's dying days, since the will for the administration to go to the trouble of firing a civil servant also diminishes.
Scoops from lame ducks
ITEM: CNN's Lou Dobbs, during his television show Lou Dobbs Tonight on November 8, scolded opponents of a minimum-wage increase by pointing to initiatives that passed in several states: "When the voters go to the trouble of an initiative ...
How to hurt the poor
Patrolling security guards have not been able to solve the problem so now the council has to go to the trouble and expense of cameras.
Telegraph: Be tough on Canley's grave vandals; Comment
He said most terrorists would probably not go to the trouble of trying to enter the country as refugees.
Asylum law changes sought
If we've already learned to walk, not to mention leap, why go to the trouble? The fine-tuned awareness developed through: practicing BMC brings major pay-offs for dancers.
Centering work: integrating movement
Some farmers, however, still found it easier to buy a container of chemical pesticide, than to go to the trouble of ecological methods.
Eco-savvy village shows the way