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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

roll.

To revolve by turning over and over; to move by turning on a horizontal axis; to impel forward with a revolving motion on a supporting surface.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɹəʊl/Received-Pronunciation[ɹɒʊɫ]Received-Pronunciation/ɹɒl/Received-Pronunciation/ɹoʊl/Canada, General-American
  1. To revolve by turning over and over; to move by turning on a horizontal axis; to impel forward with a revolving motion on a supporting surface.

    ergative
    To roll a wheel, a ball, or a barrel.
    The child will roll on the floor.
  2. To wrap (something) round on itself; to form into a spherical or cylindrical body by causing to turn over and over.

    ergative
    To roll a sheet of paper; to roll clay or putty into a ball.
    The cloth rolls unevenly; the snow rolls well.
  3. To bind or involve by winding, as with a bandage; to enwrap; often with up.

    transitive
    To roll up the vase in bubble wrap.
  4. To drive, impel, or flow onward with a steady, wave-like motion.

    ergative · figuratively · sometimes
    This river will roll its waters to the ocean.
    The years roll on.
  5. To pour or trickle.

    intransitive
    Drops of sweat rolled down his face.
  6. To utter copiously, especially with sounding words; to utter with a deep sound; — often with forth, or out.

    ergative
    To roll forth someone's praises; to roll out sentences.
  7. To press, level, spread, or form with a roller or rollers.

    ergative
    to roll a field; to roll paste; to roll steel rails.
    The pastry rolls well.
  8. To move upon rollers or wheels.

    ergative
  9. To tumble in gymnastics; to do a somersault.

    intransitive
  10. To leave or begin a journey; sometimes with out.

    Canada · US · colloquial · intransitive
    I want to get there early; let's roll.
  11. To leave or begin a journey; sometimes with out. To compete, especially with vigor.

    Canada · US · colloquial · intransitive
    OK guys, we're only down by two points. Let's roll!
  12. To leave or begin a journey; sometimes with out. To walk, especially leisurely or idly; to stroll.

    Canada · US · colloquial · intransitive
    Let's roll around town on foot and see the sights.
  13. To beat with rapid, continuous strokes, as a drum; to sound a roll upon.

    transitive
  14. To apply (one line or surface) to another without slipping; to bring all the parts of (one line or surface) into successive contact with another, in such a manner that at every instant the parts that have been in contact are equal.

  15. To turn over in one's mind, as of deep thoughts; to (cause to) be considered thoroughly.

    ergative
  16. To behave in a certain way; to adopt a general disposition toward a situation.

    US · intransitive · slang
    I was going to kick his ass, but he wasn't worth getting all worked up over; I don't roll like that.
  17. To throw dice. To roll dice such that they form a given pattern or total.

    intransitive · transitive
    If you roll doubles, you get an extra turn.
    With two dice, you're more likely to roll seven than ten.
  18. To throw dice. To create a new character in a role-playing game, especially by using dice to determine properties.

    intransitive
    I'm gonna go and roll a new shaman tonight.
  19. To throw dice. To generate a random number.

    intransitive
  20. To perform an operation similar to a bit shift, but with the bit that "falls off the end" being wrapped around to the other end.

  21. To rotate about the fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down. Compare pitch, yaw.

    intransitive
  22. To rotate about the fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down. Compare pitch, yaw. To travel by sailing.

    intransitive
  23. To beat up; to assault.

    transitive
  24. To (cause to) betray secrets or testify for the prosecution.

    ergative · slang
    The feds rolled him by giving him a free pass for most of what he'd done.
    He rolled on those guys after being in jail two days.
  25. To be under the influence of MDMA (a psychedelic stimulant, also known as ecstasy).

    intransitive · slang
  26. To (cause to) film.

    ambitransitive
    The cameras are rolling.
    It's time to roll the cameras.
  27. To slip past (a defender) with the ball.

    transitive
  28. To have a rolling aspect.

    intransitive
    the hills rolled on
  29. To make a loud or heavy rumbling noise.

    intransitive
    The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed.
  30. To utter with an alveolar trill.

    transitive
    Many languages roll their r's.
  31. To enrobe in toilet-paper (as a prank or spectacle).

    US · transitive
    The kids rolled the principal's house and yard.
  32. To create a customized version of; often followed by one's own.

    transitive
  33. To engage in sparring in the context of jujitsu or other grappling disciplines.

    transitive
  34. To load ocean freight cargo onto a vessel other than the one it was meant to sail on.

    intransitive
    Containers will be rolled to another mother vessel.
  35. To briskly arpeggiate (a chord), typically in an upward motion.

    transitive
  36. To drum on the reverse of a game controller with one's fingers in rapid succession, pushing the controller face into the opposite hand such that a button is rapidly pressed and depressed.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English rollen, partly from Old French roller, roler, röeler, röoler, from Medieval Latin rotulāre (“to roll; to revolve”), from Latin rotula (“a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”); partly from Anglo-Latin rollāre, from the same ultimate source. Displaced native English welt and partially displaced English wallow.

noun/ɹəʊl/Received-Pronunciation[ɹɒʊɫ]Received-Pronunciation/ɹɒl/Received-Pronunciation/ɹoʊl/Canada, General-American
  1. The act or result of rolling, or state of being rolled.

    the roll of a ball
    Look at the roll of the waves.
  2. Something formed into a compact shape by being rolled up.

    a roll of banknotes
  3. A forward or backward roll in gymnastics; going head over heels. A tumble.

  4. Something which rolls. A heavy cylinder used to break clods.

  5. Something which rolls. One of a set of revolving cylinders, or rollers, between which metal is pressed, formed, or smoothed, as in a rolling mill.

    to pass rails through the rolls
  6. A swagger or rolling gait.

  7. A heavy, reverberatory sound.

    Hear the roll of cannon.
    There was a roll of thunder and the rain began to pour down.
  8. The uniform beating of a drum with strokes so rapid as scarcely to be distinguished by the ear.

  9. The oscillating movement of a nautical vessel as it rotates from side to side, about its fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down, as distinguished from the alternate rise and fall of bow and stern called pitching; or the equivalent in an aircraft.

  10. The measure or extent to which a vessel rotates from side to side, about its fore-and-aft axis.

  11. The rotation angle about the longitudinal axis.

    Calculate the roll of that aircraft.
  12. An instance of the act of rolling an aircraft through one or more complete rotations about its longitudinal axis.

    The pilots entertained the spectators at the airshow by doing multiple rolls.
  13. The act of, or total resulting from, rolling one or more dice.

    Make your roll.
    Whoever gets the highest roll moves first.
  14. A winning streak of continuing luck, especially at gambling (and especially in the phrase on a roll).

    He is on a roll tonight.
  15. A training match for a fighting dog.

  16. An instance of the act of righting a canoe or kayak which has capsized, without exiting the watercraft, or being assisted.

    US
    That was a good roll.
  17. The skill of righting a canoe or kayak which has capsized, without exiting the watercraft, or being assisted.

    She has a bombproof roll.
  18. Any of various financial instruments or transactions that involve opposite positions at different expiries, "rolling" a position from one expiry to another.

  19. An operation similar to a bit shift, but with the bit that "falls off the end" being wrapped around to the other end.

  20. A 14-day deployment.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English rollen, partly from Old French roller, roler, röeler, röoler, from Medieval Latin rotulāre (“to roll; to revolve”), from Latin rotula (“a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”); partly from Anglo-Latin rollāre, from the same ultimate source. Displaced native English welt and partially displaced English wallow.

noun/ɹəʊl/Received-Pronunciation[ɹɒʊɫ]Received-Pronunciation/ɹɒl/Received-Pronunciation/ɹoʊl/Canada, General-American
  1. That which is rolled up.

    a roll of fat, of wool, paper, cloth, etc.
  2. A document written on a piece of parchment, paper, or other materials which may be rolled up; a scroll.

  3. An official or public document; a register; a record.

  4. A catalogue or list, (especially) one kept for official purposes.

    The roll of solicitors contains the names of all admitted solicitors of a jurisdiction.
    Several people sued the state after finding out that they'd been removed from the voter rolls for having died, despite their not actually being dead.
  5. A food preparation comprising one or more ingredients wrapped in, e.g., flatbread, lettuce leaf, etc.

  6. A quantity of cloth wound into a cylindrical form.

    a roll of carpeting; a roll of ribbon
  7. A cylindrical twist of tobacco.

  8. A kind of shortened raised biscuit or bread, often rolled or doubled upon itself; see also bread roll.

  9. A part; an office; a duty; a role.

    obsolete
  10. A measure of parchments, containing five dozen.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English rolle, from Old French rolle, role, roule, from Medieval Latin rotulus (“a roll, list, catalogue, schedule, record, a paper or parchment rolled up”); as such, it is a doublet of role and rotulus.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.