troll
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (4)trolls
- (Scandinavian folklore) a supernatural creature (either a dwarf or a giant) that is supposed to live in caves or in the mountainsType of mythical monster, mythical creature
- a partsong in which voices follow each other; one voice starts and others join in one after another until all are singing different parts of the song at the same time“they enjoyed singing rounds”Synonyms: roundType of partsong
- a fisherman's lure that is used in trolling“he used a spinner as his troll”Type of fisherman's lure, fish lure
- angling by drawing a baited line through the waterSynonyms: trollingType of angling
Verb (7)trolls, trolled, trolling
- circulate, move aroundMore general circle
- cause to move round and round“The child trolled her hoop”More general wheel, roll
- sing the parts of (a round) in successionMore general sing
- angle with a hook and line drawn through the waterMore general angle
- sing loudly and without inhibitionMore general sing
- praise or celebrate in song“All tongues shall troll you”More general praise
- speak or recite rapidly or in a rolling voice
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Noun person who sows discord, or spreads misinformation or
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: 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. Botany Same as Globeflower (a).
Origin: OE. trollen to roll, F. trôler, 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.— John Milton
2. To send about; to circulate, as a vessel in drinking.
Then doth she troll to the bowl.—
Troll the brown bowl.— Sir Walter 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 ?— William Shakespeare
His sonnets charmed the attentive crowd, By wide-mouthed mortaltrolled aloud.—
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.— Oliver Goldsmith
1. To roll; to run about; to move around; as, to troll in a coach and six.
2. To move rapidly; to wag. Francis 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.— George Bancroft
1. The act of moving round; routine; repetition. Edmund 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.— John Wilson
3. A trolley.
Troll plate Machinery, 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.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
An array language for continuous simulation, econometric modelling or statistical analysis.
["TROLL Reference Manual", D0062, Info Proc Services, MIT (1973-76)].
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)
The Jargon File
1.v.,n. [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.n. 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 they 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.” Compare kook.
3.n. [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.
The use of ‘troll’ in any of these senses is a live metaphor that readily produces elaborations and combining forms. For example, one not infrequently sees the warning “Do not feed the troll” as part of a followup to troll postings.