troll

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See also: Troll, tröll, and trøll

English

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Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /tɹəʊl/, /tɹɒl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /tɹoʊl/
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊl, -ɒl

Etymology 1

From Norwegian or Swedish troll or Danish trold, from Old Norse trǫll (“witch, mage, conjurer”) (compare Icelandic tröll), related to Middle High German trolle (“spook, wraith, monster, ogre”).[1] From Proto-Germanic *truzlą (“a supernatural being; demon; fiend; giant; monster”). Norwegian fortrylle (“to bewitch”), Norwegian and Danish trylle (“to conjure”) and Swedish trolla (“to conjure”).

Noun

troll (plural trolls)

  1. (fantasy) A supernatural being of varying size, now especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges. [from early 17th c.]
    • 1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, The Old English Herbals, page 3:
      In these manuscripts we are again in an atmosphere of eotens and trolls, there are traces of even older terrors, when the first Teuton settlers in Europe struggled with the aborigines who lived in caves[.]
    • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
      The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.
  2. (slang) An ugly person of either sex, especially one seeking sexual experiences.
    • 2007, David Lubar, Hidden Talents:
      The way Torchie had talked about him, I expected him to be some kind of troll. But he could have passed for one of those actors who makes a couple of movies, gets real popular with the girls for a year or two, and then vanishes from sight.
    • 2009, Judy Chicago, ‎Sarah Quinton, ‎Jenni Sorkin, When Women Rule the World: Judy Chicago in Thread:
      In this work, the abject object - a sculpture of a fat, hairy woman - is heartbreakingly comforted by a text that claims the artist's love and desire to protect the 'ugly' troll.
    • 2010, Linda Francis Lee, The Devil in the Junior League:
      She sulked as we returned downstairs, her own more colorful clothes stuffed into her bright green shoulder bag. “I just wish I didn't have to dress like such a troll.”
    • 2011, R.E. Donald, Ice on the Grapevine:
      Sharon had no desire to talk to Alora Magee, but she was happy to get out of her cell and away from that disgusting troll and her irritating voice.
    • 2012, James Classi, Heatseeker, page 26:
      Edwin Baer was an ugly troll of a man. He stood just about five feet, six inches and maybe weighed 140 pounds soaking wet.
    • 2012, Thomas Appleby, Life in the Harsh Lane: The Nine Lives, Mishaps, and Adventures of a No-body, page 186:
      I liked one of the girls, Sarah, but her mate, the troll, was a total bitch from hell, probably because guys only fancied Sarah, so we hung out whilst the troll was obviously scheming how to steal my money.
    • 2014, Rock Rampant, Mauve Flush, page 280:
      So if you're hoping to get a fuck, you'll be out of luck, Hideous hag, You are an ugly troll,
  3. (astronomy, meteorology) Optical ejections from the top of the electrically active core regions of thunderstorms that are red in color that seem to occur after tendrils of vigorous sprites extend downward toward the cloud tops.
Derived terms
  1. trolless
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English troll (“to go about, stroll, roll from side to side”), from Old French troller (“to quest, to wander”) (French trôler), of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "gem" is not valid. See WT:LOL. origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *truzlōną (“to lumber”), related to Middle High German trollen (“to stroll”), Middle Low German drullen (“to stroll”); fishing sense possibly influenced by trawl and/or trail

Verb

troll (third-person singular simple present trolls, present participle trolling, simple past and past participle trolled)

  1. (intransitive) To saunter. [from late 14th c.]
  2. (intransitive) To trundle, to roll from side to side. [from early 15th c.]
  3. (transitive, figuratively) To draw someone or something out, to entice, to lure as if with trailing bait. [from the 1500s]
    1906, Thomas William Lawson, “Fools and Their Money: Some After-Claps of Frenzied Finance”, in Everybody's Magazine, volume XIV(5) May 1906, page 690:
    It was necessary to troll them along two years with the hope of employing their usual methods, in order to get them to a place too far from their starting-point for retreat.
  4. (intransitive, fishing, by extension) To fish using a line and bait or lures trailed behind a boat similarly to trawling; to lure fish with bait. [from circa 1600]
    • (Can we date this quote by Bancroft and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Their young men […] trolled along the brooks that abounded in fish.
  5. (transitive) To angle for with a trolling line, or with a hook drawn along the surface of the water; hence, to allure.
  6. (transitive) To fish in; to try to catch fish from.
    • (Can we date this quote by Goldsmith and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      With patient angle trolls the finny deep.
  7. (slang, intransitive) To stroll about in order to find a sexual partner, to cruise [from 20th c.]
    He spends most of his waking hours trolling on WIRE.
  8. (intransitive, Internet slang) (to post inflammatory material so as) to attempt to lure others into combative argument for purposes of personal entertainment and/or gratuitous disruption, especially in an online community or discussion [from late 20th c.]
  9. (transitive, Internet slang) By extension, to incite anger (including outside of an Internet context); to provoke, harass or annoy.
    • 1994 March 8, “Robert Royar” (username), “OK, here's more on trolling”, in comp.edu.composition, Usenet:
      trolling isn't aimed at newbies. It's aimed at self-important people
Translations
to saunter — see saunter
to trundle — see trundle

Noun

troll (plural trolls)

  1. An instance of trolling, especially, in fishing, the trailing of a baited line. [from circa 1600]
  2. (colloquial, Internet slang) A person who provokes others (chiefly on the Internet) for their own personal amusement or to cause disruption. [from late 20th c.]

Translations

Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English trollen, trollin (“to walk, wander”). Cognate with Low German trullen (“to troll”).

Verb

troll (third-person singular simple present trolls, present participle trolling, simple past and past participle trolled)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To move circularly; to roll; to turn. [from the 15th c.]
    • (Can we date this quote by Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      to dress and troll the tongue, and roll the eye
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To send about; to circulate, as a vessel in drinking.
    • (Can we date this quote by Gammer Gurton's Needle and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Then doth she troll to the bowl.
    • (Can we date this quote by Sir Walter Scott and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Troll the brown bowl.
  3. (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To sing the parts of in succession, as of a round, a catch, and the like; also, to sing loudly, freely or in a carefree way. [from the 16th c.]
    • c. 1610-11 William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III scene ii[1]:
      […] Will you troll the catch / You taught me but whilere?
    • {{rfdatek|en|Hudibras}]
      His sonnets charmed the attentive crowd, / By wide-mouthed mortal trolled aloud.
    • 1862, Thomas Oliphant, Nos Galan:
      Troul the ancient Christmas carol.
    • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V
      Next, he opened his stall and spread his meat upon the bench, then, taking his cleaver and steel and clattering them together, he trolled aloud in merry tones: […]

Noun

troll (plural trolls)

  1. The act of moving round; routine; repetition.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Burke to this entry?)
  2. A song whose parts are sung in succession; a catch; a round.
    • (Can we date this quote by Professor Wilson and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Thence the catch and troll, while "Laughter, holding both his sides," sheds tears to song and ballad pathetic on the woes of married life.
  3. (obsolete) A trolley.
Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Bokmål- og nynorskordboka, Universitetet i Oslo

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Swedish troll, from Old Norse troll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *derǝ-, *drā-.

Noun

troll m (plural trolls)

  1. troll (mythical being)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English troll.

Noun

troll m (plural trolls)

  1. troll (inflammatory poster on the Internet)
  2. (by extension) The act of trolling.

Further reading

Italian

Noun

troll m (uncountable)

  1. troll (grotesque person, Internet troll)

Derived terms

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nb
troll

Etymology

From Old Norse trǫll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *derǝ-, *drā-.

Pronunciation

Noun

troll n (definite singular trollet, indefinite plural troll, definite plural trolla or trollene)

  1. troll (supernatural being)

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse trǫll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *derǝ-, *drā-.

Pronunciation

Noun

troll n (definite singular trollet, indefinite plural troll, definite plural trolla)

  1. troll (supernatural being)

Derived terms

References

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Noun

troll m (plural s)

  1. (fantasy, Norse mythology) troll (large, grotesque humanoid living in caves, hills or under bridges)
  2. (Internet) troll (person who provokes others and causes disruption)

Spanish

Noun

troll m (plural trolls)

  1. Alternative spelling of trol

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse trǫll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *derǝ-, *drā-.

Pronunciation

Noun

troll n

  1. troll (supernatural being)

Declension

Declension of troll 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative troll trollet troll trollen
Genitive trolls trollets trolls trollens

See also

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