troll
Pluraltrolls
Pluraltrolls
Formstrolls, trolling, trolled
- 1A person who posts provocative, insincere, or false messages, especially online, to start angry arguments, for fun or to push a political agenda.
The talk-show host has built a career as a professional troll, saying outrageous things to keep viewers furious.
Moderators finally banned the troll whose fake outrage had derailed every thread on the forum for months.
UsageOften in don't feed the trolls, meaning don't reply to them.
Similarprovocateur
Note
The label has outgrown the comment thread. The Guardian in 2014 called Katie Hopkins a professional troll, and in 2025 Jonah Goldberg wrote that J. D. Vance wanted to be America's foremost troll: public figures, named and visible, who provoke for entertainment or to bend opinion. Such a troll need not be anonymous, or even online.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- The Guardian called Katie Hopkins a professional troll in 2014. theguardian.com
- In 2025, Jonah Goldberg wrote that J. D. Vance's agenda was to be America's foremost troll. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A supernatural being from Scandinavian folklore and modern fantasy, usually pictured as large, ugly and human in shape, living in a cave, in the hills or beneath a bridge.
According to the legend, the troll in the mountain turned to stone the moment the sun rose.
Her fantasy novel pits a band of travelers against a troll that guards the only mountain pass.
Note
Not every picture is of a brute: Emerson, in English Traits (1856), describes trolls as goblin craftsmen, swift to reward a kindness. The trolls of the internet come mainly from a different word, the angler's verb.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- English Traits is by Ralph Waldo Emerson and was first published in 1856. upload.wikimedia.org
- Emerson describes trolls as goblin craftsmen who promptly reward kindness. gutenberg.org
- 3To post provocative or offensive messages online to start arguments, disrupt a discussion, or harass a particular person.
Paid accounts troll on behalf of the campaign, flooding comment sections with divisive posts.
Someone has been trolling the team's fan forum all week with fake trade rumors.
UsageUsed alone or with a person or forum as object: they're just trolling; trolling the forum.
Note
The fishing picture is still visible in the online verb: the provocation is cast like bait, and anyone who answers in anger has bitten. In 1993 danny burstein headed a post to alt.folklore.urban "I trolled, and no one bit!"
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The online verb uses a fishing metaphor: provocative posts are bait and responses are bites. en.wiktionary.org
- In 1993, danny burstein posted to alt.folklore.urban with the title "I trolled, and no one bit!". en.wiktionary.org
- 4To prank or tease someone, or otherwise mess with them, in a lighthearted way.
The players trolled their coach by swapping his whistle for a kazoo before practice.
Don't believe a word he says about the exam being canceled; he just likes to troll you.
Similarpunk
Note
The object need not be a person: a former teammate trolled Cristiano Ronaldo's dislike of dessert. People can own it cheerfully, as Donald Trump did at a 2020 rally: we do a little trolling.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- A former teammate trolled Cristiano Ronaldo's dislike of dessert. en.wiktionary.org
- Donald Trump said “we do a little trolling” at a rally in 2020. presidency.ucsb.edu
- 5To fish by drawing a baited line or lure through the water, usually behind a moving boat.
Anglers troll for salmon on the loch from small motorboats, dragging lures at a steady pace.
They spent the afternoon trolling across the lake with two baited lines out the back of the boat.
UsageDon't confuse with trawl: you troll with lines or lures, but trawl with a net.
Note
Anglers use the word for fishing from a slowly moving boat, lines trailing behind.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Trolling includes fishing from a slowly moving boat with lines trailing behind. en.wikipedia.org
- 6To comb through sources such as websites, listings, or records, often for a long while, hoping to turn up something interesting.
Reporters troll public court records for stories nobody else has noticed.
He spent the weekend trolling used-car sites for a reliable pickup.
Similartrawl, comb, scour, search
Note
It is often taken for a mix-up with trawl, and the two are close: trawling drags a net, while trolling trails a baited line behind a boat, as in the fishing sense.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Trawling involves dragging a net through water. en.wikipedia.org
- Trolling involves trailing a baited fishing line behind a boat. en.wiktionary.org
- 7A company or other party that owns copyrights, patents, trademarks, or other intellectual property and legally enforces them in an aggressive, opportunistic way, often with no intention of using them commercially.
The startup spent two years fighting a troll that held a vague software patent but had never built a product of its own.
Lawmakers proposed new rules to stop trademark trolls from registering common phrases and then demanding payment from small businesses.
UsageUsually in compounds: patent troll, copyright troll.
Note
Writers enjoy dragging in the folktale creature: the 2013 article Obama goes troll-hunting likened the president's new measures to the sunlight that turns trolls to stone.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- An article titled “Obama goes troll-hunting” appeared in 2013. en.wiktionary.org
- The article compared Obama's measures against patent trolls with sunlight's petrifying effect on mythical trolls. en.wiktionary.org
- Trolls turning to stone in sunlight is a feature of Scandinavian folklore. en.wikipedia.org
- 8An ugly or unpleasant person.
Her date turned out to be a rude, sweaty troll who complained about the food all night.
The landlord was a scowling troll of a man who never fixed anything.
Similaruggo, minger, munter, schlub
Note
The insult takes the grotesque look of the folktale creature and pins it on a person, for their face or their manners.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The insult extends the grotesque folktale creature's name to an ugly or unpleasant person. en.wiktionary.org
- 9An inflammatory or insincere post meant to lure others into a heated argument; originally, especially on Usenet, a way for longtime users to tease newcomers and bond as a group.
His question about whether the moon landing was faked was clearly a troll, and three regulars took the bait anyway.
Longtime members of the newsgroup would post an obvious troll and wait to see which newcomers jumped into the flame war.
Similarragebait, flamebait, bait
Note
Here the troll is the message, not the person: that question was a troll judges a post, while he's a troll judges the poster. Its near-synonyms are bait, flamebait and ragebait, and the Usenet catchphrase trolling for newbies shows the noun and the verb growing up together.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- “Trolling for newbies” was an early Usenet expression. en.wikipedia.org
- Both the noun and verb belonged to early Usenet trolling terminology. jargon.net
- 10An outing or spell of fishing in which a running line is used, or in which a line carrying bait or lures is towed behind a boat.
A two-hour troll along the drop-off produced three lake trout and a pike.
The guide suggested one last troll past the weed beds before the wind picked up.
Note
One noun covers both ways of trolling, not only the boat method: whether the angler is working a running line or trailing bait behind a boat, the outing is a troll. Only the context tells which kind went on.
- 11To attract, entice, or draw out someone or something.
The startup trolled for talent at college job fairs, dangling stock options and free lunches in front of every graduate.
She posted the photo only to troll for compliments, and it worked.
UsageOften troll for: troll for compliments, troll for talent.
Similarlure, coax, entice, draw
Note
The fisherman's lure turned on people is far older than the internet: John Ford's play The Lady's Trial (1639) has a decoy who trowles on her ragged customer. Watch for troll someone along, keeping them on the hook over time, as Thomas William Lawson writes in 1906: troll them along two years.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
- The use of troll for enticing people predates the internet. en.wiktionary.org
- Arthur Golding's complete translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses appeared in 1567. sites.broadviewpress.com
- The cited passage describes the sun's horses physically drawing a chariot; it does not illustrate enticing someone. en.wikisource.org
- The Lady's Trial was first published in 1639. The 1638 date concerns its licensing and performance, rather than publication. quod.lib.umich.edu
- Ford wrote a passage about a decoy who trowles on her ragged customer. en.wiktionary.org
- Thomas William Lawson used troll them along two years in 1906, describing prolonged enticement. en.wiktionary.org
- The Lawson quotation has the wording troll them along two years. en.wiktionary.org
- 12To walk or move about at a leisurely, unhurried pace.
Similarstroll, amble, saunter, wander
Note
Wandering is the meaning the verb's ancestors share most plainly: Middle English trollen meant to go about or wander, and Old French troller, which may have fed into it, meant to ramble or walk aimlessly. Francis Quarles, in his Emblemes (1635), leans on that aimlessness (thou troul'st amiss, thou err'st) where the stroll turns into going astray.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The English verb derives from Middle English trollen, which included the meaning go about or wander. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French troller is a possible source and meant to ramble or walk aimlessly. en.wiktionary.org
- Francis Quarles wrote Emblemes, first published in 1635. archive.org
- Emblemes contains the quoted words, with modernized spelling, in a passage about taking the wrong path. en.wiktionary.org
- 13Especially of a man, to stroll about looking for a sexual partner, typically another man.
Back in the seventies, he and his friends would troll along the waterfront looking for men to take home.
He spent the evening trolling through the bars on the strip, hoping for a hookup.
UsageWorks like cruise: trolling through the bars, trolling along the waterfront.
Note
The unhurried walk of strolling gains a purpose here: finding a sexual partner, usually a man looking for another man.
Less common meanings
- 14A Michigander who lives in the Lower Peninsula rather than the Upper Peninsula, so called for living south of the Mackinac Bridge.
Yoopers love to rib the trolls who cross the bridge every summer and crowd their campgrounds.
She's a troll from Lansing who married into a family from the Upper Peninsula and never hears the end of it.
Note
The joke rests on the creature that lives under bridges: to people from the Upper Peninsula, the UP or the Yoop, everyone south of the bridge lives below it, and so earns the name. It is their word for the rest of Michigan, informal and local, and it means little to anyone outside the state.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The nickname alludes to the folkloric troll living under a bridge, with south of the Mackinac Bridge interpreted as below it. en.wikivoyage.org
- Upper Peninsula residents call residents of Michigan's Lower Peninsula trolls because they live below the Mackinac Bridge. michiganpublic.org
- Michigan's Upper Peninsula is also called the UP or the Yoop. michigan.org
- 15A fishing line, bait, or lure used for fishing with a running line or for trailing behind a boat.
The tackle shop sells hand-painted trolls that flash and wobble as they are dragged behind a boat.
She baited the troll with a strip of herring and drew it slowly across the surface.
Similarlure
Note
From the activity the name passes to the tackle: the line, the bait or the lure drawn through the water can each be called a troll. Keep it apart from the fishing outing, which is the trip on which this tackle is used.
- 16To roll or spin, or to make something such as a hoop roll along.
Take trustie (to trust to) that thinkest to thee, / That trustily thriftines trowleth to thee.
1878, Thomas Tusser, “A Briefe Conclusion, where You may See, ech Word in the Verse, to Begin with a T”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!
1730, Jonathan Swift, “Death and Daphne. To an Agreeable Young Lady, but Extremely Lean.”Note
Rolling something along comes straight from Middle English trollen, which meant to roll, to rock something to and fro, or to turn. Older writers often spell it trowl: in The Fortunes of Nigel (1822), Walter Scott writes of trowling down the nine-pins in the skittle-ground.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The rolling verb derives from Middle English trollen, with the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
- Trowl is an older spelling used by Scott in the passage described. gutenberg.org
- Walter Scott's The Fortunes of Nigel was first published in 1822. walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk
- The novel contains the described reference to knocking down ninepins in a skittle-ground. gutenberg.org
- 17An act of going round; also, a repeated cycle or routine.
Similarround, cycle, turn, revolution, rotation
- 18A song whose parts are sung in succession, as in a catch or 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.
1820, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Little Britain”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."
1845, [John] Wilson, The GeniusNote
The noun belongs beside the singing verb and beside catch, its near-twin: John Wilson writes of the catch and troll. Washington Irving, writing as Geoffrey Crayon in 1820, gives a club its anthem, the famous old drinking trowl from Gammer Gurton's needle.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- The musical noun is associated with the singing verb and means a catch or round. en.wiktionary.org
- John Wilson uses the words 'the catch and troll'. en.wiktionary.org
- 1845 identifies a later edition. Wilson's essay was already published by 1841; the opened historical catalogue records an 1841 edition. Remove the date rather than assign an unverified first-publication year. electricscotland.com
- Washington Irving wrote the cited passage under the name Geoffrey Crayon in a work published in 1820. en.wiktionary.org
- Irving describes a club's customary opening song as the famous old drinking trowl from Gammer Gurton's Needle. gutenberg.org
- 19To utter something lightly and quickly, or else in a deep, booming voice.
But they [people from Pisa] speak well out, trolling the words clearly over the tongue.
1850, Leigh Hunt, “Lord Byron in Italy—Shelley—Pisa”Note
Speech is the thing trolled, and it can come out glib or clear. Ben Jonson, in The Staple of Newes (1631), mocks a man who would trowl the trine, the quartile and the sextile, jargon nobody follows; Leigh Hunt in 1850 praises the people of Pisa for trolling the words clearly over the tongue.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Troll can describe nimble speech. hcmc.uvic.ca
- The first-edition title page is dated 1631; 1625 is its stated performance year. emed.folger.edu
- Jonson satirizes incomprehensible astrological jargon using the quoted expression. hcmc.uvic.ca
- Hunt's Autobiography was published in 1850. guides.lib.uiowa.edu
- Hunt describes the people of Pisa as speaking clearly, using the stated wording. en.wiktionary.org
- 20To sing a song, or the parts of a round, freely, cheerfully, or loudly; of a song, to be sung this way.
But hark! our merry-men so gay / Troll forth another roundelay.
1813, Walter Scott, RokebyFor where could a handsome young scholar not be welcome when he could touch the lute and troll a gay song?
1862, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “A Man’s Ransom”Note
In a catch the tune passes from one voice to the next, which may be how singing came to sit among the verb's meanings of passing things round. Shakespeare's Caliban, in The Tempest, begs his companions to troll the catch they taught him; later writers add out or forth, as Walter Scott does in Rokeby (1813): troll forth another roundelay.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- In a catch, successive voices take up the same melody. en.wikipedia.org
- Caliban, in Shakespeare's The Tempest, asks his companions to sing the catch they taught him. folger.edu
- Later writers use troll with out or forth, including Scott's quoted wording in Rokeby. en.wiktionary.org
- Walter Scott wrote Rokeby, first published in 1813. walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk
- 21Of bells, to ring out a series of notes with a full, resounding tone.
Note
The subject is the bells themselves: they troll, sending out a run of tones one after another, much as voices follow each other in a sung catch.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- In this sense, bells themselves troll, ringing a resounding sequence of tones. en.wiktionary.org
- Voices enter successively in a sung catch. en.wikipedia.org
- 22To pass something around from one person to the next, in particular a bowl or other shared drinking vessel.
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.
1819, Walter Scott, IvanhoeTrowle 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.
1599, Thomas Dekker, “The Shomakers Holiday. Or The Gentle Craft.. The Second Three-mans Song.”Note
A shared bowl going round the table is the picture behind this use, and its home is the drinking song. Thomas Dekker in 1600 sings trowl the bowl, the jolly nut-brown bowl, and Walter Scott puts come, trowl the brown bowl to me into a song in Ivanhoe (1819).
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- This sense involves passing a shared drinking bowl around. en.wiktionary.org
- The use occurs in drinking songs. gutenberg.org
- Dekker's song contains the quoted line. en.wiktionary.org
- Walter Scott includes the quoted words in a song in Ivanhoe. gutenberg.org
- The first-edition title page is dated 1820, although the novel was issued in December 1819. Under the requested title-page convention, use 1820. walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk
- 23A red burst of light thrown up from the top of a thunderstorm's electrically active core, which seems to follow tendrils of vigorous sprites reaching down toward the cloud tops.
- 24To send something rolling or pouring in like running water, often with in.
- 25To pour or tumble in steadily, the way a stream runs. Used with in.
This little ape gets money by the sack-full, / It trolls upon her.
c. 1623, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley - 26To circulate around a group, said of a shared drinking cup or the liquor it holds.
Novv the cups trole about to vvet the goſſips vvhiſtles / It poures dovvne I faith, they neuer thinke of payment.
c. 1613, Thomas Middleton, A Chast Mayd in Cheape-side. A Pleasant Conceited Comedy - 27To flick or roll one's tongue nimbly in fast talk.
- 28To move with quick, light motions, as the tongue does in rapid speech.
Fill him but a boule, it will make his tongue troule, / For flowing speech flows from a [pot of good ale].
a. 1617 (date written), Francis Beaumont, “The Ex-ale-tation of Ale” - 29A little revolving wheel, in particular the winding device anglers use to let out and take in line.
- 30A low wheeled cart for carrying goods or luggage.
- 31A prostitute or loose woman, an old spelling of trull.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Partly from Middle English trol and partly a later borrowing from Norwegian or Swedish troll or Danish trold, all from Old Norse trǫll, a malevolent supernatural being such as a monster, giant or witch. Droll and trow, the Orkney and Shetland troll, share its ancestry.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 8 facts
- English troll derives partly from Middle English trol. en.wiktionary.org
- A later borrowing came from Norwegian or Swedish troll or Danish trold. en.wiktionary.org
- These forms derive from Old Norse trǫll. en.wiktionary.org
- Old Norse trǫll denoted a malevolent supernatural being, including a monster. en.wiktionary.org
- The Old Norse term could also denote a giant or witch. en.wikipedia.org
- Droll shares troll's ancestry. en.wiktionary.org
- Trow shares troll's ancestry. en.wikipedia.org
- Trow is the corresponding supernatural being in Orkney and Shetland folklore. en.wikipedia.org
The verb goes back to Middle English trollen, which meant to go about or wander, to move something to and fro, to rock, or to roll, and whose origin is uncertain. One possible partial source is Old French troller, meaning to ramble or to run here and there, which probably comes from or is related to Middle High German trollen, meaning to walk with short strides or to stroll, and ultimately Proto-Germanic *truzlōną ("to lumber"). Trail or trawl may have shaped the fishing meaning. The noun most likely comes from the verb, and its internet sense, someone who posts to stir up arguments, may owe something to the creature called a troll. Trull is a doublet.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 8 facts
- The verb derives from Middle English trollen, with the stated senses of wandering, moving to and fro, rocking, and rolling. en.wiktionary.org
- The origin of Middle English trollen is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French troller, with the stated wandering senses, is a possible partial source and probably derives from or is related to Middle High German trollen, with the stated walking senses. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle High German trollen ultimately derives from reconstructed Proto-Germanic *truzlōną, meaning to lumber. en.wiktionary.org
- Trail or trawl may have influenced the fishing sense. en.wiktionary.org
- The noun in this etymological group probably derives from the verb. en.wiktionary.org
- The internet sense may also evoke the mythological creature. en.wikipedia.org
- Trull is an etymological doublet of troll. en.wiktionary.org