Etymology From Middle English rollen, partly from Old French roller, roler, röeler, röoler, from Medieval Latin rotulāre (“to roll; to revolve”), from Latin rotula (“a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”); partly from Anglo-Latin rollāre, from the same ultimate source. Displaced native English welt and partially displaced English wallow.
Ergative To revolve by turning over and over; to move by turning on a horizontal axis; to impel forward with a revolving motion on a supporting surface.
To roll a wheel, a ball, or a barrel.
The child will roll on the floor.
3 more examples
Huge Trunks of Trees, fell'd from the ſteepy Crown / Of the bare Mountains, rowl with Ruin down.1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 370, lines 267–268:
And her foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone, which rolls, and rolls, and rolls.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
The gentleman aimed the ball once or twice and then threw it up the strand towards Cissy Caffrey but it rolled down the slope and stopped right under Gerty's skirt near the little pool by the rock.1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 13:
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Ergative To wrap (something) round on itself; to form into a spherical or cylindrical body by causing to turn over and over.
To roll a sheet of paper; to roll clay or putty into a ball.
The cloth rolls unevenly; the snow rolls well.
3
To bind or involve by winding, as with a bandage; to enwrap; often with up.
To roll up the vase in bubble wrap.
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Ergative, Figuratively, Sometimes To drive, impel, or flow onward with a steady, wave-like motion.
This river will roll its waters to the ocean.
The years roll on.
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Of drops of liquid To pour or trickle.
Drops of sweat rolled down his face.
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Ergative To utter copiously, especially with sounding words; to utter with a deep sound; — often with forth, or out.
To roll forth someone's praises; to roll out sentences.
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Ergative To press, level, spread, or form with a roller or rollers.
to roll a field; to roll paste; to roll steel rails.
We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
OK guys, we're only down by two points. Let's roll!
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Canada, US, Colloquial To walk, especially leisurely or idly; to stroll.
Let's roll around town on foot and see the sights.
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To beat with rapid, continuous strokes, as a drum; to sound a roll upon.
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Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences To apply (one line or surface) to another without slipping; to bring all the parts of (one line or surface) into successive contact with another, in such a manner that at every instant the parts that have been in contact are equal.
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Ergative To turn over in one's mind, as of deep thoughts; to (cause to) be considered thoroughly.
Here tell me, if thou darest, my conscious soul, what different sorrows did within thee roll?1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon On The Vanity Of The World:
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US, Slang To behave in a certain way; to adopt a general disposition toward a situation.
I was going to kick his ass, but he wasn't worth getting all worked up over; I don't roll like that.
"This is how we roll in Spring Valley," one teen reportedly boasted.2006 November 21, Chris McKenna, “Kids at party chant as police sergeant is beaten by angry teens”, in Times Herald-Record, Middletown, NY, archived from the original on 16 May 2007:
› To throw dice.
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Dice, Games To roll dice such that they form a given pattern or total.
If you roll doubles, you get an extra turn.
With two dice, you're more likely to roll seven than ten.
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Dice, Games To create a new character in a role-playing game, especially by using dice to determine properties.
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences To perform an operation similar to a bit shift, but with the bit that "falls off the end" being wrapped around to the other end.
We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground, Rolling down to Old Maui19th c., anonymous author, “Rolling Down to Old Maui”:
Now we are ready to head for the Horn Way-hey, roll and go!early 20th c., anonymous author, “Randy Dandy-O”:
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To beat up; to assault.
Sometimes I'd roll a stray drunk, maybe steal a suitcase . . . anything so I could make it till morning1990 June 10, Jan Herman, quoting Herbert Huncke, “The Beatnick's Beatnick”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
They rolled him for his money, and that would have been that, but the guy tried to fight back.2006, Elizabeth Gaffney, Metropolis, page 422:
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Ergative, Slang To (cause to) betray secrets or testify for the prosecution.
The feds rolled him by giving him a free pass for most of what he'd done.
He rolled on those guys after being in jail two days.
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Slang To be under the influence of MDMA (a psychedelic stimulant, also known as ecstasy).
Cindy replied, “Wow, that’s great. Did you try E at those parties?” Steel said, “Oh yeah. I was rolling hard at the Willy Wonka party.”2000, Michael Sunstar, Underground Rave Dance, Writers Club Press, →ISBN, page 15:
The crowd was rolling on Ecstasy, and the lights enhanced the experience. […] He would use it to keep his teeth from chattering while he was rolling.2003, Karin Slaughter, A Faint Cold Fear, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 169:
1 more example
a. 2007, unidentified Internet user quoted in Joseph A. Kotarba, “Music as a Feature of the Online Discussion of Illegal Drugs”, in Edward Murguía et al. (editors), Real Drugs in a Virtual World: Drug Discourse and Community Online, Lexington Books (2007), →ISBN So the question is When you are rolling what gets you in that “ecstasy” state more: hard pounding energetic music or smoother and gentler music? Personally for me its gentler music because when I’m rolling my mind can’t really keep up with all the hard pounding intriquet sounds […]
So it was against the run of play that their London rivals took the lead two minutes before the interval through Drogba. He rolled William Gallas inside the area before flashing a stunning finish high past keeper Carlo Cudicini.2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC:
Rolled far too easily by Marc-Antoine Fortuné, Demichelis compounded his error by standing on the striker's foot. In the absence of the injured Watson, Gómez converted the penalty.2014 March 9, Jacob Steinberg, “Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals”, in The Guardian:
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To have a rolling aspect.
the hills rolled on
In this part of Warwickshire, the land rolls gently, so that, upon cresting a low rise or passing a copse of wind turbines, you suddenly spot a lot full of lorries or a complex of gigantic sheds.2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian:
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To make a loud or heavy rumbling noise.
The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed.
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To utter with an alveolar trill.
Many languages roll their r's.
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US To enrobe in toilet-paper (as a prank or spectacle).
Let's go through and outline how you might roll a kernel for a networked Linux machine you are using as your desktop machine and a file server for a network of Windows and Mac machines.2000, Mark F. Komarinski, Cary Collett, Red Hat Linux System Administration Handbook, page 311:
The clap in "Situation" is a standard Roland TR- 808 clap with a some compression and a bunch of reverb. But we can roll our own version using a soft synth and a have more flexibility, specifically in getting the extra decay for full "smash," as opposed to the short clap on Roland TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines.2006, Keyboard, volume 32, page 188:
2 more examples
For the second prototype's example, shown in Listing 5–64, we roll our own version of the Sum operator.2010, Joseph Rattz, Adam Freeman, Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in C# 2010, page 208:
We implement Cube_ as a special case of an N-dimensional array. Unfortunately, our need to efficiently Swap with lower-dimensional containers is not supported by the boost::multi_array template, so we must roll our own.2015, Hyer Thomas, Derivatives Algorithms - Volume 1: Bones (Second Edition), page 135:
Economics, Sciences, Shipping, Transport To load ocean freight cargo onto a vessel other than the one it was meant to sail on.
Containers will be rolled to another mother vessel.
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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music To briskly arpeggiate (a chord), typically in an upward motion.
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Video games To drum on the reverse of a game controller with one's fingers in rapid succession, pushing the controller face into the opposite hand such that a button is rapidly pressed and depressed.
Etymology From Middle English rollen, partly from Old French roller, roler, röeler, röoler, from Medieval Latin rotulāre (“to roll; to revolve”), from Latin rotula (“a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”); partly from Anglo-Latin rollāre, from the same ultimate source. Displaced native English welt and partially displaced English wallow.
The act or result of rolling, or state of being rolled.
the roll of a ball
Look at the roll of the waves.
2 more examples
the roll of her eyes
Leaving behind us the town at the bottom of its deep bay, we set out to explore a bluff-headed parallelogramical promontory, bounded by Thurso Bay on the one hand, and Murkle Bay on the other, and which presents to the open sea, in the space that stretches between, an undulating line of iron-bound coast, exposed to the roll of the northern ocean.1857, Hugh Miller, The Cruise of the Betsey:
2
Something formed into a compact shape by being rolled up.
a roll of banknotes
3
A forward or backward roll in gymnastics; going head over heels. A tumble.
› Something which rolls.
4
A heavy cylinder used to break clods.
5
One of a set of revolving cylinders, or rollers, between which metal is pressed, formed, or smoothed, as in a rolling mill.
to pass rails through the rolls
6
A swagger or rolling gait.
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A heavy, reverberatory sound.
Hear the roll of cannon.
There was a roll of thunder and the rain began to pour down.
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The uniform beating of a drum with strokes so rapid as scarcely to be distinguished by the ear.
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Aeronautics, Aerospace, Aviation, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Nautical, Physical sciences, Transport The oscillating movement of a nautical vessel as it rotates from side to side, about its fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down, as distinguished from the alternate rise and fall of bow and stern called pitching; or the equivalent in an aircraft.
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Nautical, Transport The measure or extent to which a vessel rotates from side to side, about its fore-and-aft axis.
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The rotation angle about the longitudinal axis.
Calculate the roll of that aircraft.
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An instance of the act of rolling an aircraft through one or more complete rotations about its longitudinal axis.
The pilots entertained the spectators at the airshow by doing multiple rolls.
13
The act of, or total resulting from, rolling one or more dice.
Make your roll.
Whoever gets the highest roll moves first.
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A winning streak of continuing luck, especially at gambling (and especially in the phrase on a roll).
He is on a roll tonight.
15
A training match for a fighting dog.
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US An instance of the act of righting a canoe or kayak which has capsized, without exiting the watercraft, or being assisted.
That was a good roll.
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The skill of righting a canoe or kayak which has capsized, without exiting the watercraft, or being assisted.
She has a bombproof roll.
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Business, Finance Any of various financial instruments or transactions that involve opposite positions at different expiries, "rolling" a position from one expiry to another.
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Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences An operation similar to a bit shift, but with the bit that "falls off the end" being wrapped around to the other end.
Etymology From Middle English rolle, from Old French rolle, role, roule, from Medieval Latin rotulus (“a roll, list, catalogue, schedule, record, a paper or parchment rolled up”); as such, it is a doublet of role and rotulus.
A document written on a piece of parchment, paper, or other materials which may be rolled up; a scroll.
Busy angels spread / The lasting roll, recording what we say.1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon On The Vanity Of The World:
3
An official or public document; a register; a record.
As to the rolls of parliament, viz. the entry of the several petitions, answers and transactions in parliament. Those are generally and successively extant of record in the Tower1713 Sir M. Hale, The History of the Common Law of England (posthumously published)
4
A catalogue or list, (especially) one kept for official purposes.
The roll of solicitors contains the names of all admitted solicitors of a jurisdiction.
Several people sued the state after finding out that they'd been removed from the voter rolls for having died, despite their not actually being dead.
1 more example
The roll and list of that army doth remain.c. 1666, John Davies, Historical Relations: Or, a Discovery of the True Causes Why Ireland Was Never Entirely Subdued, Nor Brought Under Obedience of the Crown of England Until the Beginning of the Reign of King James I:
5
Cooking, Food, Lifestyle A food preparation comprising one or more ingredients wrapped in, e.g., flatbread, lettuce leaf, etc.
6
A quantity of cloth wound into a cylindrical form.
a roll of carpeting; a roll of ribbon
7
A cylindrical twist of tobacco.
8
A kind of shortened raised biscuit or bread, often rolled or doubled upon itself; see also bread roll.
Well, then, fix it up nice, waiter, and make mine baked hash an’ mashed ’taters and stewed corn and waiter!—plain white bread, no fancy rolls!1936 December 23, Hazel Livingston, “‘Love’s Litany’”, in Walter V. Hogan, editor, The Daily Reporter, volume XX, number 53, White Plains, N.Y.: White Plains Publishing Company, →OCLC, chapter IX, page 18, column 4:
THE Methods of Government and of Humane Society, muſt be Preſerv’d, where Every Man has his Roll, and his Station Aſſign’d him ; and it is not for One Man to break in upon the Province of Another.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Abstemius, &c.] Fab[le] CCCXI. A Son Singing at his Brothers Funeral.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 273:
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A measure of parchments, containing five dozen.
Parchement is sold by the dozen, and by the roll of five dozens.1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 594: