Troll

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /tɹəʊl/, /tɹɒl/
• US IPA: /tɹoÊŠl/
• Rhymes: -əʊl, -É’l

From Norwegian, Danish or Swedish troll, from Old Norse trǫll ("witch, mage, conjurer") (compare Icelandic tröll), possibly related to the Middle High German trolle ("spook, wraith, monster, ogre")

Bokmål- og nynorskordboka, Universitetet i Oslo

. Norwegian fortrylle ("to bewitch"), Norwegian and Danish trylle ("to conjure") and Swedish trolla ("to conjure").

Full definition of troll

Noun

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.
• 2013-06-08, Obama goes troll-hunting, 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.
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.

From Middle English troll ("to go about", "to stroll", "to roll from side to side"), from Old French troller ("") (French trôler) and Middle High German trollen ("to stroll"); fishing sense possibly influenced by trawl and/or trail

Verb

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 1500s1906: 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. — Thomas W. Lawson (businessman), "Fools and Their Money: Some After-Claps of Frenzied Finance", Everybody's Magazine XIV(5) May 1906, p. 690
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
• BancroftTheir 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.
• GoldsmithWith patient angle trolls the finny deep.
7. (slang, intransitive) To stroll about in order to find a sexual partner, to cruise originally homosexual slang. from 20th c.His favorite place to troll is that bar on 42nd street.I am trolling for custom, said the actress to the bishop.
8. (intransitive, internet slang) In an online community or discussion, (to post inflammatory material so as) to attempt to lure others into combative argument for purposes of personal entertainment and/or gratuitous disruption. from late 20th c.
9. (transitive, internet slang) By extension, to incite anger (outside of an internet context); to provoke, harass or annoy.

Noun

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

Derived terms

Related terms

• griefer

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

Verb

1. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To move circularly; to roll; to turn. from the 15th c.
• Miltonto dress and troll the tongue, and roll the eye
2. (transitive, obsolete) To send about; to circulate, as a vessel in drinking.
• Gammer Gurton's NeedleThen doth she troll to the bowl.
• Sir Walter ScottTroll 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.
• ShakespeareWill you troll the catch?
• HudibrasHis sonnets charmed the attentive crowd,
  By wide-mouthed mortal trolled aloud.
4. Troll the ancient Yuletide carol. Fa la la la la la la la la.
• 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin HoodNext, 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

1. The act of moving round; routine; repetition.
2. A song whose parts are sung in succession; a catch; a round.
• Professor WilsonThence 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

• troll plate