troll

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɹɒl/, /tɹəʊl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tɹoʊl/, /tɹɑl/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl, -ɒl

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”). Doublet of droll.

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.]
   • 1851, Benjamin Thorpe, Northern Mythology, volume II, page 7:

     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.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 150:

     "Will you have a sausage, pussy?" said one of the trolls, and threw a hot frog right into the bear's jaw.

   • 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.

• patent troll
• trolless
• trollish, trollishly, trollishness
• trolllike

From Middle English trollen (“to go about, stroll, roll from side to side”), from Old French troller (“to quest, to wander”) (French trôler), of Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *truzlōną (“to lumber”), which is probably related to *trudaną (“to tread, step on”). Related to Middle High German trollen (“to stroll”), Middle Low German drullen (“to stroll”).

Fishing sense possibly influenced by trawl and/or trail; internet sense influenced by Etymology 1.

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, number 5, 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]
   • 1834-1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.

     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.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 153:

     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.

6. (transitive) To fish in; to try to catch fish from.
   • 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], OCLC 938500648; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, 1885, OCLC 21416084:

     With patient angle trolls the finny deep.

7. (slang, intransitive) To stroll about in order to find a sexual partner. [from 20th c.]

   Synonym: cruise

   He spends most of his waking hours trolling on WIRE.

8. (transitive, intransitive, Internet slang, now also used outside of internet) To post or make inflammatory or insincere statements so as to attempt to lure others into combative argument for purposes of personal entertainment or to manipulate others' perception, especially in an online community or discussion. [from late 20th c.]
   • 1993 October 11, “danny burstein” (username), “I trolled, and no one bit!”, in alt.folklore.urban, Usenet

• Spanish: trolear

troll (plural trolls)

1. An instance of trolling, especially, in fishing, the trailing of a baited line. [from circa 1600]
2. (Internet slang, now also used outside of internet) A person who posts or says inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages to provoke others on the Internet for their own personal amusement or to manipulate others' perception. [from late 20th c.]

   Coordinate term: griefer

   Hyponym: keyboard warrior

   • 2014 December 19, “Friday 2 January's best TV”, in The Guardian‎:

     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.

   • 2016 June 8, Quentin Hardy, “How Gaming Helped Launch the Attack of the Internet Trolls”, in New York Times‎:

     From there, attacking people head-on — though almost always cloaked in anonymity — wasn’t a big leap. And so much more on the internet became like a game, only the score consisted of attention, outrage or approval from like-minded trolls.

   • 2018 October 30, David Streitfeld, “Where Trolls Reigned Free: A New History of Reddit”, in New York Times‎:

     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.

• Spanish: trol

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

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.]
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance,
     To dress, and troule the Tongue, and roule the Eye.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To send about; to circulate, as a vessel in drinking.
   • c. 1553, author unknown, Gammer Gurton's Needle

     Then doth she troll to the bowl.

   • 1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 230694662:

     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.]
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

     […] Will you troll the catch / You taught me but whilere?

   • 1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, OCLC 963614346:

     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, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], OCLC 22773434:

     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: […]

troll (plural trolls)

1. The act of moving round; routine; repetition.
   • 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], OCLC 946162345:

     The troll of their categorical table might have informed them that there was something else in the intellectual world besides substance and quantity.

2. A song whose parts are sung in succession; a catch; a round.
   • 1845, John Wilson, The genius and character of Burns

     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.

• troll plate

• IPA^(key): /tʁɔl/

From Swedish troll, from Old Norse troll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂-.

troll m (plural trolls)

1. troll (mythical being)

Borrowed from English troll.

troll m (plural trolls)

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

• “troll”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Unadapted borrowing from English troll.

troll m (invariable)

1. troll (grotesque person, Internet troll)

• trollare

From Old Norse trǫll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂-.

• IPA^(key): /trol/, [tɾɔl]
• Rhymes: -ɔl

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

1. troll (supernatural being)

• “troll” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse trǫll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂-.

• IPA^(key): /trolː/, [trɞ̞lː], (palatalisation) /troʎː/, [trɞ̞ʎː]

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

1. (folklore) an evil supernatural being
   • 1856, Ivar Aasen, Norske Ordsprog [Norwegian Proverbs]:

     Dat eine Trollet skræmer inkje dat andre.

     The one troll does not scare the other.

   1. a troll (a (often large) grotesque humanoid creature that lives in the forest or the mountain)
2. a greedy, aggressive or violent animal or person
3. a predator
4. the name of various diseases, previously believed to be caused by evil beings

• “troll” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from English troll, from Old Norse trǫll.

• IPA^(key): /trɔl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔl
• Syllabification: troll

troll m anim

1. troll (supernatural being)
2. (colloquial, Internet slang) troll

• troll in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• troll in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• trol, trole

From Norwegian or Swedish troll, 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”).

• Rhymes: -ɔw, -ol

troll m (plural trolls) (proscribed)

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)

• trolar / trollar

troll m (plural trolls)

1. Alternative spelling of trol

From Old Norse trǫll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂-.

• IPA^(key): /trɔlː/

• Audio

  (file)

troll n

1. troll (supernatural being)
2. troll (internet troll)

• förtrolla
• trolla
• trolldom
• trolldryck
• trollkarl
• trollkona
• trollkongen (Dovregubben)
• trollkonst
• trollkonstnär
• trollkärring
• trollunge

From Middle English trollen, from Old French troller.

troll (present participle trolleen)

1. to roll

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 73