# troll

Pronunciation: say "TROL" US /tɹɑl/, UK /tɹɒl/

## Noun

1. A person who posts provocative, insincere, or false messages, especially online, to start angry arguments, for fun or to push a political agenda.
   - Simple: Someone who says or posts things, often online, to make people angry, for fun or to sway opinion.
   - _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._
2. A 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.
   - Simple: A magical creature in old Scandinavian stories and fantasy, often big and ugly, living in caves, hills or under bridges.
   - _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._
7. A 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. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A company or person that owns rights to ideas or inventions and sues others over them, often without using them.
   - _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._
8. An ugly or unpleasant person. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person who is ugly or not nice to be around.
   - _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._
9. An 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.
   - Simple: A post meant to make people angry and start an argument, first used to tease new users.
   - _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._
10. An 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.
   - Simple: A round of fishing by pulling a line with bait or a lure through the water, sometimes 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._
14. A Michigander who lives in the Lower Peninsula rather than the Upper Peninsula, so called for living south of the Mackinac Bridge. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: A Michigan person who lives south of the Mackinac Bridge, not in the Upper Peninsula.
   - _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._
15. A fishing line, bait, or lure used for fishing with a running line or for trailing behind a boat.
   - Simple: A fishing line, bait, or lure that is pulled through the water or 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._
17. An act of going round; also, a repeated cycle or routine.
   - Simple: One trip around, or the same things done again and again.
18. A song whose parts are sung in succession, as in a catch or round.
   - Simple: A song sung in parts, with each part starting one after the other.

## Verb

3. To post provocative or offensive messages online to start arguments, disrupt a discussion, or harass a particular person. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To post things online to annoy people, start fights, or keep picking on someone.
   - _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._
4. To prank or tease someone, or otherwise mess with them, in a lighthearted way. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To play a joke on someone or tease them in a fun 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._
5. To fish by drawing a baited line or lure through the water, usually behind a moving boat.
   - Simple: To fish by pulling bait or a lure through the water, usually behind a slowly 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._
6. To comb through sources such as websites, listings, or records, often for a long while, hoping to turn up something interesting.
   - Simple: To look through things like websites, lists or records, often for a long time, hoping to find something good.
   - _Reporters troll public court records for stories nobody else has noticed._
   - _He spent the weekend trolling used-car sites for a reliable pickup._
11. To attract, entice, or draw out someone or something.
   - Simple: To attract or pull someone or something toward you, as if with bait.
   - _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._
12. To walk or move about at a leisurely, unhurried pace.
   - Simple: To walk slowly and easily, without hurrying.
13. Especially of a man, to stroll about looking for a sexual partner, typically another man. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To walk around looking for a sex partner, usually a man looking for 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._
16. To roll or spin, or to make something such as a hoop roll along.
   - Simple: To roll or spin around, or to make something roll.
19. To utter something lightly and quickly, or else in a deep, booming voice.
   - Simple: To say something quickly and lightly, or in a deep, loud voice.

## Verb

20. To sing a song, or the parts of a round, freely, cheerfully, or loudly; of a song, to be sung this way. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To sing a song in a loud, happy, carefree way, or to sing parts of a round.
21. Of bells, to ring out a series of notes with a full, resounding tone. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Of bells, to ring a series of loud notes one after another.
22. To pass something around from one person to the next, in particular a bowl or other shared drinking vessel. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To pass something, usually a shared bowl or cup of drink, from one person to the next.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A 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.
- (verb) To send something rolling or pouring in like running water, often with in.
- (verb) To pour or tumble in steadily, the way a stream runs. Used with in.
- (verb) To circulate around a group, said of a shared drinking cup or the liquor it holds.
- (verb) To flick or roll one's tongue nimbly in fast talk.
- (verb) To move with quick, light motions, as the tongue does in rapid speech.
- (noun) A little revolving wheel, in particular the winding device anglers use to let out and take in line.
- (noun) A low wheeled cart for carrying goods or luggage.
- (noun) A prostitute or loose woman, an old spelling of trull.

## Origin

**Meanings 2, 8, 14** — 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.
**Meanings 1, 3–7, 9–13, 15–22** — 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/troll (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).