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droll. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
droll, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
droll in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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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 *truzlaną (“to walk with short steps”). Doublet of drôle and troll.
Pronunciation
Adjective
droll (comparative droller, superlative drollest)
- Oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:witty
Derived terms
Translations
oddly humorous; whimsical
- Bulgarian: смешен (bg) (smešen), комичен (bg) (komičen)
- Catalan: estranyament divertit (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 离奇可笑的; 滑稽古怪的
- Czech: směšný (cs), komický (cs), šaškovský
- Esperanto: drola
- Finnish: hassunkurinen, lystikäs (fi)
- French: fantaisiste (fr)
- Galician: garoufeiro m
- German: drollig (de)
- Hungarian: bohókás (hu), bohó (hu), bolondos (hu), mókás (hu), muris (hu), tréfás (hu), szertelen (hu), szeszélyes (hu)
- Ido: fantaziema (io)
- Irish: áiféiseach
- Russian: чудной (ru) (čudnoj)
- Spanish: (please verify) extrañamente divertido
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Noun
droll (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 , 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
(archaic in English) a funny person; a buffoon, a wag
Verb
droll (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
Anagrams
Icelandic
Pronunciation
Noun
droll n (genitive singular drolls, no plural)
- dawdling, loitering
Declension
Related terms