troll
/tɹɑl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.73 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.
noun
a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.
Obsolete
noun
An optical ejection from the top of the electrically active core region of a thunderstorm that is red in colour and seems to occur after tendrils of vigorous sprites extend downward towards cloudtops.
Example Sentences
- "He followed their advice, and rode through a rye-field, where the Trolls were unable to follow him, but in their exasperation cried after him, "The red cock shall crow over thy dwelling." And behold! his house stood in a blaze."
- "The Scandinavian fancied himself surrounded by Trolls,—a kind of goblin men, with vast power of work and skilful production,—divine stevedores, carpenters, reapers, smiths, and masons, swift to reward every kindness done them, with gifts of gold and silver."
- "The bear got so angry that he rushed at the trolls and scratched them all over, while Peter took the other handspike and hammered away at them as if he wanted to beat their brains out. The trolls had to clear out at last, but Peter stayed and enjoyed himself with all the Christmas fare the whole week. After that the trolls were not heard of there for many years."
- "In these manuscripts we are again in an atmosphere of eotens and trolls, there are traces of even older terrors, when the first Teuton settlers in Europe struggled with the aborigines who lived in caves, hints as elusive as the phantom heroes in the Saxon poems, and as unforgettable."
- "The more usual appellation of the Dwarfs is Troll or Trold, a word originally significant of any evil spirit, giant monster, magician, or evil person; but now in a good measure divested of its ill senses, for the Trolls are not in general regarded as noxious or malignant beings. [...] They are obliging and neighbourly; freely lending and borrowing, and elsewise keeping up a friendly intercourse with mankind."
- "The way Torchie had talked about him, I expected him to be some kind of troll. But he could have passed for one of those actors who makes a couple of movies, gets real popular with the girls for a year or two, and then vanishes from sight. He had that kind of face."
Etymology
Partly: * from Middle English trol (“demon (?); sorcerer (?)”) [and other forms], from Old Norse trǫll (“conjurer, mage; witch”), from Proto-Germanic *truzlą (“supernatural being; demon, fiend; giant; monster”), probably from *trudaną (“to step on; to tread”) + *-ilą (suffix forming agent nouns); and * borrowed from Norwegian Bokmål troll, Swedish troll, or Danish trold, from Old Norse trǫll (see above). Doublet of droll and trow. Cognates * Danish fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”) * Icelandic tröll * Middle High German trol, crewtrolle (“spook, wraith; ogre, monster”) * Norwegian fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”) * Swedish trolla (“to conjure”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tɹɑl/
- British English: /tɹɒl/
Usage
Inflected Forms
trolls (plural)
trolls (present, singular)
trolling (participle, present)
trolled (participle, past)
trolled (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
trolled (first person, past)
trollest (archaic, present)
trolled (past, second person)
trolledst (archaic, past)
trolleth (archaic, present)