droll

English

Etymology

From French drôle (“comical, odd, funny”), from drôle (“buffoon”) from Middle French drolle (“a merry fellow, pleasant rascal”) from Old French drolle (“one who lives luxuriously”), from Middle Dutch drol (“fat little man, goblin”) from Old Norse troll (“giant, troll”) (compare Middle High German trolle (“clown”)), from Proto-Germanic *truzlan (“creature which walks clumsily”), from Proto-Germanic *truzlanan (“to walk with short steps”). More at troll.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈdɹəʊl/ X-SAMPA: /"dr@Ul/

Adjective

droll (comparative droller, superlative drollest)

1. oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:witty

Derived terms

• drollery
• drolly
• drollness

Translations

oddly humorous; whimsical

• Bulgarian: смешен (bg) (smešen), комичен (bg) (komičen)
• Catalan: estranyament divertit (ca) m
• Finnish: hassunkurinen (fi), lystikäs (fi)
• French: fantaisiste (fr)

• German: drollig (de)
• Ido: fantaziema
• Spanish: extrañamente divertido

Noun

droll (plural drolls)

1. (archaic) A buffoon
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 12, The Cyclops

     Our two inimitable drolls did a roaring trade with their broadsheets among lovers of the comedy element and nobody who has a corner in his heart for real Irish fun without vulgarity will grudge them their hardearned pennies.

Verb

droll (third-person singular simple present drolls, present participle drolling, simple past and past participle drolled)

1. (archaic) To joke, to jest.
   • 1886, Robert Louise Stevenson, Kidnapped

     "Eh, man," said I, drolling with him a little, "you're very ingenious! But would it not be simpler for you to write him a few words in black and white?

Anagrams

• roll'd