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noun · 1 syllable · /troʊl/

TROLL

What does "TROLL" mean?

A mythical hostile creature of Norse folklore, or a person who provokes others online.

Meanings

  1. An ugly cave- or mountain-dwelling creature of Scandinavian folklore. In the story, a troll guards the bridge and demands a toll to cross.
  2. A person who posts deliberately provocative messages online to upset others. Don't feed the troll - replying is exactly what it wants. informal
  3. To bait or provoke someone, especially on the internet. He trolls every thread he can't win by arguing in good faith. informal
  4. To fish by trailing a baited line behind a slow-moving boat. They trolled along the shoreline hoping for a strike. technical

Word origin

The folklore sense comes from Old Norse 'troll', a giant or demon. The fishing sense is a separate word, from Old French 'troller', to wander about, and these two unrelated roots later fed the internet sense.

Remember it

A TROLL guards a TOLL bridge - swap the R for the bridge and you get its job.

A little poem

Under the cold bridge,
it waits for a passing foot -
now it waits online.

haiku

Wordplay

  • I went fishing and got trolled twice - once by the boat trailing its line, once by the guy mocking my catch from shore.

What it teaches

A bridge-keeper and a comment-keeper share one trade: charging a toll for passage you never owed.

Quick facts

What does TROLL mean?

A mythical hostile creature of Norse folklore, or a person who provokes others online.

Is TROLL a valid word?

Yes — TROLL is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.

How many letters is TROLL?

TROLL has 5 letters and 1 syllable.

Where does TROLL come from?

The folklore sense comes from Old Norse 'troll', a giant or demon. The fishing sense is a separate word, from Old French 'troller', to wander about, and these two unrelated roots later fed the internet sense.

What can TROLL teach us?

A bridge-keeper and a comment-keeper share one trade: charging a toll for passage you never owed.

How players do

Be the first to solve it.

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