Troll Definition | Definition of Troll at Dictionary.com

troll

1 [trohl]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to sing or utter in a full, rolling voice.

2.	to sing in the manner of a round or catch.

3.	to fish for or in with a moving line, working the line up or down with a rod, as in fishing for pike, or trailing the line behind a slow-moving boat.

4.	to move (the line or bait) in doing this.

5.	to cause to turn round and round; roll.

6.	Obsolete. to hand around, as a bowl of liquor at table.

–verb (used without object)

7.	to sing with a full, rolling voice; give forth full, rolling tones.

8.	to be uttered or sounded in such tones.

9.	to fish by trolling.

10.	to roll; turn round and round.

11.	to move nimbly, as the tongue in speaking.

–noun

12.	a song whose parts are sung in succession; a round.

13.	the act of trolling.

14.	a lure used in trolling for fish.

15.	the fishing line containing the lure and hook for use in trolling.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME trollen to roll, stroll < MF troller to run here and there < MHG trollen walk or run with short steps

Related forms:

troller, noun

troll

2 [trohl]

–noun

1.	(in Scandinavian folklore) any of a race of supernatural beings, sometimes conceived as giants and sometimes as dwarfs, inhabiting caves or subterranean dwellings.

2.	Slang. a person who lives or sleeps in a park or under a viaduct or bridge, as a bag lady or derelict.

Origin:
1610–20; < ON troll demon

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To troll

troll¹ (trōl)

v. trolled, troll·ing, trolls

v. tr.

1. To fish for by trailing a baited line from behind a slowly moving boat.
2. To fish in by trailing a baited line: troll the lake for bass.
3. To trail (a baited line) in fishing.
4. To sing in succession the parts of (a round, for example).
5. To sing heartily: troll a carol.
Slang To patrol (an area) in search for someone or something: "[Criminals] troll bus stations for young runaways" (Pete Axthelm).
Music
1. To sing in succession the parts of (a round, for example).
2. To sing heartily: troll a carol.
To roll or revolve.

v. intr.

To fish by trailing a line, as from a moving boat.
1. To wander about; ramble.
2. Slang To patrol an area in search for someone or something.
Music To sing heartily or gaily.
To roll or spin around.

1. The act of trolling for fish.
2. A lure, such as a spoon or spinner, that is used for trolling.
Music A vocal composition in successive parts; a round.

[Middle English trollen, to wander about, from Old French troller, of Germanic origin.]
troll'er n.

troll² (trōl)

n. A supernatural creature of Scandinavian folklore, variously portrayed as a friendly or mischievous dwarf or as a giant, that lives in caves, in the hills, or under bridges.

[Old Norse.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Troll

Troll\, n. [Icel. troll. Cf. Droll, Trull.] (Scand. Myth.) A supernatural being, often represented as of diminutive size, but sometimes as a giant, and fabled to inhabit caves, hills, and like places; a witch.

Troll flower. (Bot.) Same as Globeflower (a) .

Troll

Troll\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Trolled; p. pr. & vb. n. Trolling.] [OE. trollen to roll, F. tr[^o]ler, Of. troller to drag about, to ramble; probably of Teutonic origin; cf. G. trollen to roll, ramble, sich trollen to be gone; or perhaps for trotler, fr. F. trotter to trot (cf. Trot.). Cf. Trawl.]

1. To move circularly or volubly; to roll; to turn.

To dress and troll the tongue, and roll the eye. --Milton.

2. To send about; to circulate, as a vessel in drinking.

Then doth she troll to the bowl. --Gammer Gurton's Needle.

Troll the brown bowl. --Sir W. Scott.

3. To sing the parts of in succession, as of a round, a catch, and the like; also, to sing loudly or freely.

Will you troll the catch ? --Shak.

His sonnets charmed the attentive crowd, By wide-mouthed mortaltrolled aloud. --Hudibras.

4. To angle for with a trolling line, or with a book drawn along the surface of the water; hence, to allure.

5. To fish in; to seek to catch fish from.

With patient angle trolls the finny deep. --Goldsmith.

Troll

Troll\, v. i. 1. To roll; to run about; to move around; as, to troll in a coach and six.

2. To move rapidly; to wag. --F. Beaumont.

3. To take part in trolling a song.

4. To fish with a rod whose line runs on a reel; also, to fish by drawing the hook through the water.

Their young men . . . trolled along the brooks that abounded in fish. --Bancroft.

Troll

Troll\, n. 1. The act of moving round; routine; repetition. --Burke.

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

Thence the catch and troll, while "Laughter, holding both his sides," sheds tears to song and ballad pathetic on the woes of married life. --Prof. Wilson.

3. A trolley.

Troll plate (Mach.), a rotative disk with spiral ribs or grooves, by which several pieces, as the jaws of a chuck, can be brought together or spread radially.

Language Translation for : troll

Spanish: trol,

German: der Troll,

Japanese: 伝説の怪物

More Translations »

troll

v.,n.
1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. See also YHBT.
2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll."
3. [Berkeley] Computer lab monitor. A popular campus job for CS students. Duties include helping newbies and ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably so-called because it involves lurking in dark cavelike corners.

Some people claim that the troll (sense 1) is properly a narrower category than flame bait, that a troll is categorized by containing some assertion that is wrong but not overtly controversial. See also Troll-O-Meter.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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troll (v.)

1377, "to go about, stroll," later (c.1425) "roll from side to side, trundle," from O.Fr. troller, a hunting term, "wander, to go in quest of game without purpose," from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. trollen "to walk with short steps"), from P.Gmc. *truzlanan. Sense of "sing in a full, rolling voice" (first attested 1575) and that of "fish with a moving line" (1606) are both extended technical applications of the general sense of "roll, trundle," the latter perhaps confused with trail or trawl. Fig. sense of "to draw on as with a moving bait, entice, allure" is from 1565. Meaning "to cruise in search of sexual encounters" is recorded from 1967, originally in homosexual slang.

troll (n.)

"ugly dwarf or giant," 1616, from O.N. troll "giant, fiend, demon." Some speculate that it originally meant "creature that walks clumsily," and derives from P.Gmc. *truzlan, from *truzlanan (see troll (v.)). But it seems to have been a general supernatural word, cf. Swed. trolla "to charm, bewitch;" O.N. trolldomr "witchcraft." The old sagas tell of the troll-bull, a supernatural being in the form of a bull, as well as boar-trolls. There were troll-maidens, troll-wives, and troll-women; the trollman, a magician or wizard, and the troll-drum, used in Lappish magic rites. The word was popularized in Eng. by 19c. antiquarians, but it has been current in the Shetlands and Orkneys since Viking times. The first record of it is from a court document from the Shetlands, regarding a certain Catherine, who, among other things, was accused of "airt and pairt of witchcraft and sorcerie, in hanting and seeing the Trollis ryse out of the kyrk yeard of Hildiswick." Originally conceived as a race of giants, they have suffered the same fate as the Celtic Danann and are now regarded in Denmark and Sweden as dwarfs and imps supposed to live in caves or under the ground.

TROLL
An array language for continuous simulation, econometric modelling or statistical analysis.
["TROLL Reference Manual", D0062, Info Proc Services, MIT (1973-76)].

troll
An electronic mail message, Usenet posting or other (electronic) communication which is intentionally incorrect, but not overtly controversial (compare flame bait), or the act of sending such a message. Trolling aims to elicit an emotional reaction from those with a hair-trigger on the reply key. A really subtle troll makes some people lose their minds.
(1994-10-17)

troll

in early Scandinavian folklore, giant, monstrous being, sometimes possessing magic powers. Hostile to men, trolls lived in castles and haunted the surrounding districts after dark. If exposed to sunlight they burst or turned to stone. In later tales trolls often are man-sized or smaller beings similar to dwarfs and elves. They live in mountains, sometimes steal human maidens, and can transform themselves and prophesy. In the Shetland and Orkney islands, Celtic areas once settled by Scandinavians, trolls are called trows and appear as small malign creatures who dwell in mounds or near the sea. In the plays of the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, especially Peer Gynt (1867) and The Master Builder (1892), trolls are used as symbols of destructive instincts. Trolls in modern tales for children often live under bridges, menacing travelers and exacting tasks or tolls.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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