troll

Meanings

Noun

• A supernatural being of varying size, now especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.
• An ugly person of either sex, especially one seeking sexual experiences.
• 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.
• An instance of trolling, especially, in fishing, the trailing of a baited line.
• A person who provokes others (chiefly on the Internet) for their own personal amusement or to cause disruption.
• The act of moving round; routine; repetition.
• A song whose parts are sung in succession; a catch; a round.
• A trolley.

Verb

• To saunter.
• To trundle, to roll from side to side.
• To draw someone or something out, to entice, to lure as if with trailing bait.
• To fish using a line and bait or lures trailed behind a boat similarly to trawling; to lure fish with bait.
• To angle for with a trolling line, or with a hook drawn along the surface of the water; hence, to allure.
• To fish in; to try to catch fish from.
• To stroll about in order to find a sexual partner.
• (to post inflammatory material so as) to attempt to lure others into combative argument for purposes of personal entertainment and/or gratuitous disruption, especially in an online community or discussion
• To incite anger (including outside of an Internet context); to provoke, harass or annoy.
• To move circularly; to roll; to turn.
• To send about; to circulate, as a vessel in drinking.
• 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.

Origin

• From Norwegian or Swedish troll or Danish trold, from Old Norse trǫll ("witch, mage, conjurer") (compare Icelandic tröll), related to Middle High German trol ("spook, wraith, monster, ogre"). 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"). droll.
• From Middle English trollen, from Old French troller (French trôler), of Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *truzlōną, which is probably related to *trudaną. Related to Middle High German trollen, Middle Low German drullen.
• Fishing sense possibly influenced by trawl and/or trail; internet sense influenced by Etymology 1.
• From Middle English trollen, trollin. Cognate with Low German trullen ("to troll").