droll
See also: Droll
English
editEtymology
editFrom 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”), itself from Old Norse troll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą.[1] Doublet of drôle.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /dɹəʊl/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /dɹoʊl/
- (Canada) IPA(key): [dɹoːɫ]
- Rhymes: -əʊl
Adjective
editdroll (comparative droller, superlative drollest)
Derived terms
editTranslations
editoddly humorous; whimsical
|
Noun
editdroll (plural drolls)
- (archaic) A funny person; a buffoon, a wag.
- 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
- The lieutenant was a droll in his way, Peregrine possessed a great fund of sprightliness and good humour, and Godfrey, among his other qualifications already recited, sung a most excellent song […] .
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 294:
- 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.
Translations
editVerb
editdroll (third-person singular simple present drolls, present participle drolling, simple past and past participle drolled)
- (archaic) To jest, to joke.
- 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Flight in the Heather: The Heugh of Corrynakeigh”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 205:
- "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?" / "And that is an excellent observe, Mr. Balfour of Shaws," says Alan, drolling with me; [...]
Translations
editReferences
edit- ^ “droll”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
Anagrams
editIcelandic
editEtymology
editSee the verb drolla (“to loiter”)
Pronunciation
editNoun
editdroll n (genitive singular drolls, no plural)
Declension
editDeclension of droll | ||
---|---|---|
n-s | singular | |
indefinite | definite | |
nominative | droll | drollið |
accusative | droll | drollið |
dative | drolli | drollinu |
genitive | drolls | drollsins |
Related terms
editCategories:
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English doublets
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/əʊl
- Rhymes:English/əʊl/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- en:People
- en:Personality
- Icelandic 1-syllable words
- Icelandic terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Icelandic/ɔtl
- Rhymes:Icelandic/ɔtl/1 syllable
- Icelandic lemmas
- Icelandic nouns
- Icelandic neuter nouns
- Icelandic uncountable nouns