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A Writer's Dictionary:

rolling Definition


Dictionary Home » Words Starting with R » roll up ... rondavel » rolling


roll
noun
    1. A cylinder or tube formed by rolling up anything flat (such as paper, fabric, etc).
      Example: I used six rolls of wallpaper for this room
    2. A rolled document; a scroll.
    3a. A small individually-baked portion of bread;
      Thesaurus: bap, bun, bagel.
    3b. One of these with a specified filling.
      Example: a cheese roll
    4. A folded piece of pastry or cake with a filling.
      Example: swiss roll
      Example: sausage roll
    5. A rolled mass of something.
      Example: rolls of fat
    6. An undulation, eg in a surface or of a landscape.
    7a. An official list of names, eg of school pupils, members of a club or people eligible to vote;
      Thesaurus: list, roster, register, record, inventory, index, catalogue, census.
    7b. The total number registered on such a list.
    8. An act of rolling.
    9. A swaying or rolling movement, eg in walking or dancing, or of a ship.
    10. A long low prolonged sound.
      Example: a roll of thunder
      Thesaurus: noise, boom, resonance, drumbeat, grumble.
    11. A trill or trilling sound, especially an ‘r' sound.
    12. A series of quick beats on a drum.
      Form: a drum roll (also)
    13. A complete rotation around its longitudinal axis by an aircraft.
    14. A roller or cylinder used to press, shape or apply something.
    15a. An act or bout of rolling;
      Example: Sparky had a roll in the sand
    15b. A gymnastic exercise similar to, but less strenuous than, a somersault.
      Example: a backward roll
    16. colloq
      Money, especially a wad of banknotes.
verb rolled, rolling
    tr & intr
    1. To move or make something move by turning over and over, as if on an axis, and often in a specified direction.
      Example: rolled the dice
      Thesaurus: turn, revolve, rotate, spin, spiral, reel, swirl, pivot, swivel, twirl, undulate, surge.
    tr & intr
    2. To move or make something move on wheels, rollers, etc, or in a vehicle with wheels.
      Thesaurus: advance, progress, move, proceed, propel.
    intr
    3. Said of a person or animal, etc that is lying down: to turn with a rolling movement to face in another direction.
      Form: roll over (also)
    tr & intr
    4. To move or make something move or flow gently and steadily.
    intr
    5. To seem to move like or in waves.
      Example: a garden rolling down to the river
    intr
    6. Said eg of a ship: to sway or rock gently from side to side.
    intr
    7. To walk with a swaying movement.
      Example: rolled in drunk at six o'clock
    tr & intr
    8. To begin to operate or work.
      Example: the cameras rolled
    tr & intr
    9. To move or make (one's eyes) move in a circle, especially in disbelief, despair or amazement.
    tr & intr
    10. To form, or form something, into a tube or cylinder by winding or being wound round and round.
    11a. To wrap something by rolling;
      Example: rolled a spliff
      Form: roll up (also)
    11b. To curl around.
      Example: The hamster rolled up into a ball
      Form: roll up (also)
    12. To spread it out or make it flat or flatter, especially by pressing and smoothing with something heavy.
      Example: rolled out the pastry
      Form: roll something out (also)
    intr
    13. To make a series of long low rumbling sounds.
      Thesaurus: sound, echo, thunder, reverberate.
    14. To pronounce (especially an ‘r' sound) with a trill.
    15. slang
      To rob someone who is helpless, usually because they are drunk or asleep.
    16a. To make (the credits) appear on a screen;
    16b. To appear on a screen.
    17a. To make (a car) do a somersault;
    intr
    17b. Said of a car: to overturn.
Derivative: rolled
adj
    Derivative: roller
      See separate entries.
    Idiom: a roll in the hay
      colloq
      An act of sexual intercourse.
    Idiom: heads will roll
      Severe punishment will be dealt out, especially involving loss of job or status.
    Idiom: on a roll
      (hiefly US)
      colloq
      Going through a period of continuous good luck or success.
    Idiom: rolled into one
      Combined in one person or in one thing.
    Idiom: roll with the punches
      Said of a boxer: to move the body away from and in the same direction as an opponent's punches to reduce their impact.
      To go along with something negative and to offer no resistance in order to lessen its impact.
    Idiom: strike someone off the roll
      To remove the right to practise from (a doctor, solicitor, etc), after professional misconduct.
    Idiom: roll on ...
      May a specified event, time, etc come soon.
        Example: Roll on the holidays
    Etymology: 14c: from French rolle, from Latin rotula, diminutive of rota a wheel.

    Phrasal Verb: roll by or on or past
      Said especially of time: to pass or follow steadily and often quickly.
        Example: The weeks rolled by
    Phrasal Verb: roll in
      To come or arrive in large quantities.
    Phrasal Verb: be rolling in something
      To have large amounts of it (especially money).
    Phrasal Verb: roll over
      To overturn.See verb 3 above.Said of a jackpot prize, eg in the UK National Lottery: to be carried across to the next week because it has not been won. See also roll-over.
        Example: the jackpot might roll over three times in one year
    Phrasal Verb: roll something over
      To defer demand for repayment of (a debt, loan, etc) for a further term. See also roll-over.
    Phrasal Verb: roll up
      To arrive.To come in large numbers. See also roll-up.



    rolling
    adj
      1. Said of land, countryside, etc: with low, gentle hills and valleys, and without steep slopes and crags.
      2. colloq
        Extremely wealthy.
      3. colloq
        Staggering with drunkenness.
      4. Said of a contract: subject to review at regular intervals.
      5. Said of planned events, etc: organized so as to take place successively, on a relay or rota system, or with a steadily maintained or increasing effect.


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