Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also hop-trots, trot) usu. constr. with the, diarrhoea [note synon. US Appalachian use johnny trots].

1808		E. Weeton letter in Journal of a Governess (1969) 10 June 94: I was so often hastily taken [...] He was sure I was ill of the trot.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 43: joe-trots, n. Diarrhoea.
1907		News & Courier (Charleston, SC) 14 Apr. 18/1: ‘I’m there with the trots keen enough,’ observed Split Finney, the tout.
1909		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:v 384: trots, n. Diarrhea. Also back-door trots.
1912		R.W. Brown ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ in DN III:viii 592: trots, n. Diarrhea.
c.1930		(ref. to 1868) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 64: It all gave me the trots, this fancy eating.
1942		P. Wylie Generation of Vipers 143: There was a fruit juice fad that got people trots.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 294: You can leave soapsuds on the officers’ dishes. They’ll all get the trots.
1960		Wash. Post and Times Herald 10 Apr. L6: The disorder occurs often in Mexico and has been nicknamed Montezuma’s revenge, turista, and ‘the trots.’.
1960		J. Havoc Early Havoc 209: ‘Pop and gin’ [...] ‘That just gives you the hop-trots’.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 104: Bill says it [i.e. egg-nog] gave him the trots for weeks.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 35: She naturally copped a bad dose of the trots from the exotic tucker.
1996		D. Healy Bend for Home 203: I have the trots, she say. There was so much talk of shit in this house yesterday that I caught the runs.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Travel 13 June 9: My aches and shivers were nothing more than a virulent dose of the trots.
2002		Indep. Rev. 30 Mar. 3: I’ve had the trots in some of the best hotels in the world ... and the worst.
2015		Guardian 11 Mar. 5/1: Everyone who comes here gets the trots.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] [W]ater that would give the World Health Organization the trots.

2. policemen [this must be ext. of sense 3, but cit. here predates as it refers to 1846].

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 250/2: Trots (Peoples’, 1846). Policemen. Refers to these officers being always on the go — or beat.

3. feet.

1878		‘’Arry to the Front!’ in Punch 9 Mar. 100/2: Just toddle your trots up to town, and we’ll find you some sport.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

4. (Aus.) constr. with the, trotting races.

1890		Australasian (Melbourne) 22 Mar. 569/5: A goodly number of people assembled at Elstemwickpark on Saturday, and, excepting the trots, which were of a very uninteresting character, the sport was up to the average [AND].
1899		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Jan. 24/2: At the recent big M. L. trots horses well-known this side carried off their full share of prize-money.
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 30 Jan. 3/3: The smellful nature of the ‘Trots’ at Albion Park have resulted in the proprietors wiping the event off the list.
1905		A.H. Rice Sandy 215: Nelson wants the fellow to drive for him at the fall trots [OED].
1907		N.Z. Truth 30 Nov. 2/3: I changes a tenner wot I got off a silly pea at the trots.
1918		N-W Advocate (Tas.) 20 Sept. 4/6: Launceston trots. The programme for the next Northern tasmanian Trotting Association meeting [etc.].
1925		Dubbo Liberal 5 May 2/5: The races will be followed by the trots on Saturday.
1934		T. Wood Cobbers 18: ‘What are the Trots?’ [...] ‘Get your hat and I’ll show you. They’re worth seeing.’ ‘Open Air Trotting Races at Night’, telegraphic address ‘Trots’, was our goal.
1945		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Aug. 12/1: In ‘the trots’ at Hughenden (Q) show a touchy chestnut colt with an abo. aboard lashed out at a sulky wheel.
1958		F.J. Hardy Four-Legged Lottery 203: I liked the trots [...] the floodlit tracks and the horses so close all the way round.
1969		A. Buzo Rooted III iii: Picked up a good tip from a local turf identity. Just as well, though, I lost my shirt on the interstate trots the week before.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 186: One day someone saw her at the trots with some of the trotting men who were really well in.
1981		A. Weller Day of the Dog 77: After gleaning several sure-fire tips from the stables’ crew, Doug decides to try his luck at the trots.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 115/1: trots race meeting for (horse) trotters.
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 82: There was one conveyance tipped for Randwick gallops, another for Harold Park trots.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2012		A. McKinty ‘The Dutch Book’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] I knew trotting races like the back of my hand [...] I’d been to the trots at Fleington and as far away as Albion Park.