droll

English

Etymology

From French drôle (“comical, odd, funny”), from drôle (“buffoon”) from Middle French drolle (“a merry fellow, pleasant rascal”) from Old French drolle (“one who lives luxuriously”), from Middle Dutch drol (“fat little man, goblin”) from Old Norse troll (“giant, troll”) (compare Middle High German trolle (“clown”)), from Proto-Germanic *truzlą (“creature which walks clumsily”), from Proto-Germanic *truzlaną (“to walk with short steps”). More at troll.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɹəʊl/
(US) IPA^(key): /dɹoʊl/
Rhymes: -əʊl

Adjective

droll (comparative droller, superlative drollest)

Oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish.

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:witty

Derived terms

drollery
drolly
drollness

Translations

oddly humorous; whimsical

Bulgarian: смешен (bg) (smešen), комичен (bg) (komičen)
Catalan: estranyament divertit (ca) m
Finnish: hassunkurinen, lystikäs (fi)
French: fantaisiste (fr)

German: drollig (de)
Ido: fantaziema
Irish: áiféiseach
Spanish: ^{(please verify)} extrañamente divertido

Noun

droll (plural drolls)

(archaic) A buffoon.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[[Episode 12: The Cyclops]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare & Co.; Sylvia Beach, OCLC 560090630; republished London: Published for the Egoist Press, London by John Rodker, Paris, October 1922, OCLC 2297483:
  Our two inimitable drolls did a roaring trade with their broadsheets among lovers of the comedy element and nobody who has a corner in his heart for real Irish fun without vulgarity will grudge them their hardearned pennies.

Verb

droll (third-person singular simple present drolls, present participle drolling, simple past and past participle drolled)

(archaic) To joke, to jest.
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped
  "Eh, man," said I, drolling with him a little, "you're very ingenious! But would it not be simpler for you to write him a few words in black and white?

Anagrams

roll'd

Icelandic

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /trɔtl/
Rhymes: -ɔtl

Noun

droll n (genitive singular drolls, no plural)

dawdling, loitering

Declension

declension of droll

	indefinite	definite
n-s	singular
nominative	droll	drollið
accusative	droll	drollið
dative	drolli	drollinu
genitive	drolls	drollsins

Related terms

drolla