troll

noun

1. 1

   a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.

   He followed their advice, and rode through a rye-field, where the Trolls were unable to follow him, but in their exasperation cried after him, "The red cock shall crow over thy dwelling." And behold! his house stood in a blaze.

   The Scandinavian fancied himself surrounded by Trolls,—a kind of goblin men, with vast power of work and skilful production,—divine stevedores, carpenters, reapers, smiths, and masons, swift to reward every kindness done them, with gifts of gold and silver.

   The bear got so angry that he rushed at the trolls and scratched them all over, while Peter took the other handspike and hammered away at them as if he wanted to beat their brains out. The trolls had to clear out at last, but Peter stayed and enjoyed himself with all the Christmas fare the whole week. After that the trolls were not heard of there for many years.

   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, hints as elusive as the phantom heroes in the Saxon poems, and as unforgettable.

2. 2

   obsoletea giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges. A type of diminutive supernatural being; a dwarf.

3. 3

   slangAn ugly or unpleasant person.

   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. He had that kind of face.

   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.

   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." / "Troll? Impossible. I'm wearing beige and do I look like a troll?" / "Since you asked—"

   Edwin Baer was an ugly troll of a man. He stood just about five feet, six inches and maybe weighed 140 pounds soaking wet.

4. 4

   An optical ejection from the top of the electrically active core region of a thunderstorm that is red in colour and seems to occur after tendrils of vigorous sprites extend downward towards cloudtops.

5. 5

   informalA Michigander who lives on the mainland, i.e. not a resident of the Upper Peninsula, so named due to living south of the Mackinaw Bridge.

   People from the Upper Peninsula—the UP, or the Yoop—some-times call citizens of northern Michigan trolls, because they live “below the bridge.”

verb

1. 1

   Senses relating to a rolling motion. To move (something, especially a round object) by, or as if by, rolling; to bowl, to roll, to trundle.

   Take trustie (to trust to) that thinkest to thee, / That trustily thriftines trowleth to thee.

   [T]o trovvle in the caſh throughout all nations chriſtendome there is no fellovve to the red herring.

   She fancied these Elysian shades / The sweetest place for masquerades: / How pleasant on the banks of Styx, / To troll it in a coach and six!

   […] I was wont to trowl down the nine-pins in the skittle-ground— […]

2. 2

   obsoleteSenses relating to a rolling motion. Often followed by in: to cause (something) to flow or roll in like a stream.

3. 3

   Senses relating to a rolling motion. To roll; also, to turn round and round; to rotate, to spin, to whirl.

   Mrs Putler, this is Lady—Lady—these tamn'd Southern names rin out o' my head like a stane trowling down hill— […]

4. 4

   Senses relating to a rolling motion. To move or walk at a leisurely pace; to ramble, to saunter, to stroll.

   Prepoſt'rous foole, thou troul'ſt amiſſe: / Thou err'ſt; That's not the vvay, 'Tis this: / Thy hopes, inſtructed by thine Eye, / Make thee appeare more neare than I; […]

5. 5

   slangSenses relating to a rolling motion. Chiefly of a man: synonym of cruise (“to stroll about to find a (male) sexual partner”).

6. 6

   obsoleteSenses relating to a rolling motion. Followed by in: to flow or roll in like a stream.

   This little ape gets money by the sack-full, / It trolls upon her.

7. 7

   archaicSenses relating to the motion of passing around. To sing the parts of (a catch, round, or similar song) in succession; also (generally), to sing (a song) freely or in a carefree way, or loudly.

   [Caliban] Thou mak'ſt me merry: I am full of pleaſure, Let vs be iocond. VVill you troule the Catch You taught me but vvhileare?

   His Sonnets charm'd the attentive Crowd, / By wide-mouth'd Mortal troul'd aloud; […]

   [S]he vvould be more vvelcome to thee than a Reprieve vvould, if thou vvert juſt novv trolling out Hopkins and Sternhold upon a Ladder.

   But hark! our merry-men so gay / Troll forth another roundelay.

8. 8

   obsoleteSenses relating to the motion of passing around. To pass (something, specifically a bowl or other communal drinking vessel) from one person to another; to circulate, to send about.

   And Tyb my wyfe, that as her lyfe / loueth well good ale to ſeeke, / Full ofte drynkes ſhee, tyll ye may ſee / the teares run downe her cheekes: / Then dooth ſhe trowle, to mee the bowle / euen as a mault worme shuld, / And ſayth ſweete hart, I took my part / of this ioly good ale and olde.

   Trowle the boll, the iolly Nut-browne boll, / And here kind mate to thee: / Let's ſing a dirge for Saint Hughes ſoule, / And downe it merrily.

   Come, trowl the brown bowl to me, / Bully boy, bully boy, / Come, trowl the brown bowl to me: / Ho! jolly Jenkin, I spy a knave in drinking, / Come, trowl the brown bowl to me.

9. 9

   archaicSenses relating to the motion of passing around. Of bells: to ring a sequence of tones in a resounding manner.

10. 10

    archaicSenses relating to the motion of passing around. Of a person: to sing the parts of a catch, round, or similar song in succession; also (generally), to sing freely or in a carefree way, or loudly.

    The Greeks figured Pan, the god of Nature, now terribly stamping his foot, so that armies were dispersed; now by the woodside on a summer noon trolling on his pipe until he charmed the hearts of upland ploughmen.

    [H]e trolled with ample lungs; and the sound of his voice took hold upon the hillside and set the air shaking in the leafy glens.

    [H]e 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:— […]

    Here Challander trolleth from the crucified vine; / The Ring-dove moaneth, chattereth the Stare; / The snowy Culver fast from nest doth fare / The Throstle percheth high on olive-tine: […]

11. 11

    archaicSenses relating to the motion of passing around. Of a song: to be sung freely or in a carefree way, or loudly; also, of a tune: to be constantly in someone's mind.

    I have had the moſt happy invention this morning, and a Tune trouling in my head; […]

    Then he strolled away, an air from "The Grand Duchess" lightly trolling from his lips.

12. 12

    obsoleteSenses relating to the motion of passing around. Of a bowl or other communal drinking vessel, or the drink inside it: to be passed around from one person to another.

    Novv the cups trole about to vvet the goſſips vvhiſtles / It poures dovvne I faith, they neuer thinke of payment.

    Well can the green-garbed ranger tell, / How, when, and where, the monster fell; / […] / While round the merry wassel bowl, / Garnished with ribbons, blithe did trowl.

13. 13

    Senses relating to a light, quick motion. To say (something) lightly and quickly, or in a deep, resounding voice.

    VVhat does hee elſe but cant? Or if he runne / To his Iudiciall Aſtrologie, / And trovvle the Trine, the Quartile and the Sextile, / […] / Does not he cant? VVho here does vnderſtand him?

    But they [people from Pisa] speak well out, trolling the words clearly over the tongue.

14. 14

    obsoleteSenses relating to a light, quick motion. To move (the tongue) lightly and quickly when speaking.

    [T]hat fair femal Troop […] / Bred onely and completed to the taſte / Of luſtful appetence, to ſing, to dance, / To dreſs, and troule the Tongue, and roule the Eye.

15. 15

    Senses relating to a light, quick motion. To speak lightly and quickly, or in a deep, resounding voice.

    Such ſhuld be our trollynges⸝ Chriſt vs ſo teacheth / Commaunding euer peace⸝ amonges vs for to be / Vntruly he trolleth⸝ that otherwyſe preacheth / Styreng to any ſedicion⸝ malyce or enuye

16. 16

    obsoleteSenses relating to a light, quick motion. To move lightly and quickly; especially of the tongue when speaking; to wag.

    Fill him but a boule, it will make his tongue troule, / For flowing speech flows from a [pot of good ale].

    His tongue troules like a Mill-clack: a towzes the Lady ſiſters, as a tumbling Dog does young Rabets; […]

17. 17

    Senses relating to fishing. To fish in (a place) using a running fishing line (that is, a line with a hook on the end which is drawn along the water surface, possibly a line which would originally have been spooled on to a troll (etymology 2, noun etymology 2, noun sense 8.1)).

    Chearful at morn he vvakes from ſhort repoſe, / Breaſts the keen air, and carrols as he goes; / VVith patient angle trolls the finny deep, / Or drives his vent'rous plovv-ſhare to the ſteep.

18. 18

    figurativeSenses relating to fishing. To attract or draw out (someone or something); to allure, to elicit, to entice, to lure.

    One while they courſing went / Upon the top of all the ſkie: anon againe full round / They troll me downe to lower wayes and nearer to the ground.

    [M]y houſe is haunted / By a levvd packe of theeves, of harlots, murtherers, / Rogues, vagabonds, I foſter a decoy here, / And ſhe trovvles on her ragged cuſtomer, / To cut my throat for pillage.

    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.

19. 19

    Senses relating to fishing. To fish using a running fishing line.

    I, nor chuſe to bear / The thieviſh nightly net, not barbed ſpear: / Nor drain I ponds the golden carp to take, / Nor trovvle for pikes, diſpeoplers of the lake.

    My flies alone disturbed the placid waters. A half-grown-up lad, who was standing behind me on the bank, advised me to "troll with bait"—a cluster of worms fastened to the hook, which is dragged in jerks over the surface of the water—and offered to find the bait for me.

20. 20

    Senses relating to fishing. To fish using a line and bait or lures trailed behind a boat similarly to trawling.

    Their young men […] trolled along the brooks that abounded in fish.

21. 21

    figurativeSenses relating to "fishing" for a reaction. To post irrelevant or inflammatory statements in an online discussion in an attempt to start a heated argument or to derail a conversation, either for one's personal entertainment or as part of an organized political campaign.

    Don't pay attention to that guy, he's always trolling this board.

    When an argument gets heated, it can often be difficult to figure out who's serious and who's just trolling.

    I trolled, and no one bit! [title]

    There are plenty of commenters who disagree with me vehemently, and are also valued members of the community; if you find yourself unsure as to how to leave a comment without trolling, try asking yourself WWFD (What Would Freddie Do?). Remember, Smokey the Bear says, "Only you can prevent flame wars".

22. 22

    Senses relating to "fishing" for a reaction. To persistently harass someone over the Internet.

    Many people have been trolling me due to my activism, but I don't let it get to me.

    No one who spoke to Al Jazeera seemed surprised that 54 percent of girls had suffered some form of online harassment. […] Internet psychologist Graham Jones offers some explanations as to the mentality of people who troll online. In an email to Al Jazeera he explained that some forms of trolling could be unintentional.

    Although many media outlets were being trolled by Chinese accounts well before 2020, "the main campaign appears to have picked up steam around mid-March as a loose network of Twitter accounts designed to mimic and harass Western media", according to the Institute's researchers Elise Thomas and Albert Zang.

    Bullying tactics such as trolling are used to reinforce power dynamics and keep females quiet and complacent with timeworn traditions. And while I could spend hours typing up elaborate responses to each Tweet, I have only two words for men who try to use my religion to justify misogyny: "mute" and "block."

23. 23

    Senses relating to "fishing" for a reaction. To prank, tease, or mess with someone in a lighthearted way.

    The actress was widely trolled online after accidentally revealing that she didn't know the names of the continents.

    This is lazy outrage bait. But I am biting anyway, because while Time could have trolled readers by calling a ban for the word on "feminist" any time, the magazine is considering it in a year when the conversation about the meaning of the term is as rich as it has been in some time–even if some of that conversation is being conducted through mass culture.

    We like to troll, we like to go the night before one of their primaries, we just, we do a little trolling, it's called we do a little trolling.

    Cristiano Ronaldo's dislike of dessert has been trolled by a former teammate. ¶ Ben Foster proudly showed off his apple crumble, having joked that he was skipping dessert.

noun

1. 1

   An act of moving round; a repetition, a routine.

   They [legislators] reduce men to looſe counters merely for the ſake of ſimple telling, and not to figures vvhoſe povver is to ariſe from their place in the table. […] The troll of their categorical table might have informed them that there vvas ſomething elſe in the intellectual vvorld beſides ſubſtance and quantity.

2. 2

   An act of fishing by using a running fishing line, or by trailing a line with bait or lures behind a boat.

3. 3

   A fishing line, bait, or lure used to fish in these ways.

4. 4

   figurativeAn inflammatory or insincere statement posted in an attempt to lure others into combative argument (a flame war), originally a way for regulars (long-time users) to poke light-hearted fun at new posters (especially in Usenet newsgroups) and promote in-group cohesion ("trolling for newbies").

5. 5

   A person who makes or posts inflammatory or insincere statements in an attempt to lure others into combative argument for purposes of personal entertainment or to manipulate their perception, especially in an online community or discussion.

   Katie Hopkins: My Fat Story 9pm, TLC The professional troll and one-time Apprentice stirrer piles on the pounds in order to shed them in this two-part doc, which feels at times like an overly long This Morning item.

   It was the place you went, shrouded in anonymity, for pornography, hard-core racism, revenge porn, Nazi cheerleading, Jew-baiting, creepshots, fat-shaming, mindless anarchy and pictures of dead kids or of women who had been beaten. If anyone bothered to look, Reddit was proof that on the internet, the trolls were in charge.

   As the board’s director, Ms. Jankowicz, 33, bore the brunt of the attacks, a subject she knows well. Her most recent book, called “How to Be a Woman Online,” chronicles abuses she and other women face from trolls and other malign actors on the internet.

   But [US Vice President J.D.] Vance has his own agenda, and he poorly served his president in service to it. What is his agenda? To be America’s foremost troll.

6. 6

   A person who sows discord, or spreads misinformation or propaganda, in order to promote an agenda as part of an organized political campaign.

   Already, U.S. operatives in both parties have made early efforts at using trolls for political gain. Rogue progressives stealthily launched fake social media campaigns against Roy Moore, the GOP nominee for Senate in Alabama, during a 2017 special election. Their campaign aimed to confuse voters into thinking Moore supported banning alcohol and that Russian bots were working on his behalf.

   Social media accounts tied to a group of Russian trolls are amplifying claims of election fraud, according to researchers at the Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition of misinformation experts.

   "The Dissident" saw as many as 500 low audience scores, out of just 2,400, flood the popular film-rating site Rotten Tomatoes on Jan. 12, filmmakers said, an act they believe came from trolls operating on behalf of the Saudi government to create a false sense of popular dissatisfaction.

   And, perhaps unsurprisingly, pro-war Chinese trolls denounced the authors – who are based in Nanjing, Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai – as "shameful" and "traitorous". "Why did you not say anything during the west's invasion in Iraq," one quipped sarcastically.

7. 7

   informalA company, person, etc., that owns and legally enforces copyrights, patents, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights in an aggressive and opportunistic manner, often with no intention of commercially exploiting the subjects of the rights.

   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.

8. 8

   A song the parts of which are sung in succession; a catch, a round.

   At the opening of every club night he is called in to sing his "Confession of Faith," which is the famous old drinking trowl from Gammer Gurton's needle.

   And thence the catch and troll, while "laughter, holding both his sides" sheds tears to song and ballad pathetic on the woes of married life, and all the ills that "our flesh is heir to."

9. 9

   obsoleteA small wheel; specifically (fishing), the reel or winch of a fishing line.

10. 10

    obsoleteA trolley.

11. 11

    Variant of trullobsoleteObsolete form of trull (“a harlot”).

Forms

plural

trolls

past tense

trolled

past participle

trolled

present participle

trolling

third person singular

trolls