troll

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“
I'm not sure, but I think what makes someone a troll is the whole bit about resisting counter-measures and coming back after they've concluded they're not welcome.

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Definitions (51)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (16)

  1. transitive verb To fish for by trailing a baited line from behind a slowly moving boat.
  2. transitive verb To fish in by trailing a baited line: troll the lake for bass.
  3. transitive verb To trail (a baited line) in fishing.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (20)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (50)

  • By the time he became a young man, he was still small and ugly for a troll--not even six-and-a-half feet tall, with thick black hair and pale skin. —  Fantasy and Science Fiction - [Vol 111] - Issue 04-05 - October-November 2006
  • Gary started to counter, then thought the better of it, for the troll was recovering much more quickly this time. —  The Woods Out Back
  • It was said that the only thing a troll was afraid of was his wife-with excellent reason. —  The Source of Magic
  • I want to know who came into my house and carried off my wife and house-troll, and I worked this spell to find out. —  F ;SF; - vol 096 issue 02 - February 1999
  • If he were a troll, his name would change to Tom Green. —  Original Signal - Transmitting Digg
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This word has been looked up 148 times.

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Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English trollen, to wander about, from Old French troller, of Germanic origin.
  2. Old Norse.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. Formerly also trole, troul, trowl; from Middle English trollen, roll, stroll, from Old French troller, trauler, troler, run hither and thither, range, stroll, French trôler, lead, drag about, also stroll, ramble (Picard droler, go hither and thither, Norman treuler, idle, lazy), prob. from Middle High German trollen, German trollen, roll, troll, run, dial. (Swiss) trohlen, roll, tröhlen, roll, bowl, =Middle Dutch drollen =Low German drulen, roll, troll. Cf. Welsh troelli, turn, wheel, whirl, troell, a whirl, wheel, reel, pulley, windlass, screw, trolian, trwlian, troll, roll, trolio, trwlio, roll, trolyn, a roller. trol, a roller, etc.; Breton trôel, a winding plant, trô, a circle. The relation of the Teutonic and Celtic forms is uncertain. Cf. troll, n., and trolley.
  2. from troll, v. Cf. Middle Dutch drol, a top, little ball, etc., =Middle Low German drol, drul, anything round.
  3. from Icelandic troll = Swedish troll = Danish trold, a troll, = Dutch drol = Low German droll, a troll, a humorous fellow, droll, = German droll, troll, a troll, etc.: see droll.
 

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/troʊl/
by American Heritage

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