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Troll   /troʊl/   Listen
Troll

noun
1.
(Scandanavian folklore) a supernatural creature (either a dwarf or a giant) that is supposed to live in caves or in the mountains.
2.
A partsong in which voices follow each other; one voice starts and others join in one after another until all are singing different parts of the song at the same time.  Synonym: round.
3.
A fisherman's lure that is used in trolling.
4.
Angling by drawing a baited line through the water.  Synonym: trolling.



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"Troll" Quotes from Famous Books



... they bent down to take the rose a big dense snowdrift came and carried them away 168 The Troll was quite willing, and before long he fell asleep and began snoring 176 As soon as they tugged at the rope, the Captain and the Lieutenant pulled up the Princesses, the one after the other 184 No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing ...
— East of the Sun and West of the Moon - Old Tales from the North • Peter Christen Asbjornsen

... sang as now I sing, when the Prehistoric spring Made the piled Biscayan ice-pack split and shove; And the troll and gnome and dwerg, and the Gods of Cliff and Berg Were about me and beneath ...
— Verses 1889-1896 • Rudyard Kipling

... fair female troop thou sawest, that seemed Of Goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay, Yet empty of all good wherein consists Woman's domestick honour and chief praise; Bred only and completed to the taste Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance, To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye: To these that sober race of men, whose lives Religious titled them the sons of God, Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame Ignobly, to the trains and to the smiles Of these fair atheists; and now swim ...
— Paradise Lost • John Milton

... hold up your hands, just how many of you boys like to go fishing? One, two, three—why, nearly all of you. Some, I suppose are fond of still-fishing—that is to fish from the bank or from an anchored boat, and not move around very much. And some like to troll, I suppose—that is to use an artificial bait and let the line drag in the water quite a distance back of the row boat as you propel it through the water. And others, perhaps, like to cast—that is, to throw the bait away out into the ...
— Crayon and Character: Truth Made Clear Through Eye and Ear - Or, Ten-Minute Talks with Colored Chalks • B.J. Griswold

... would help them.' So they turned back again. Geirrid had a blue cloak on her. Now when the party was seen and reported to Katla, and it was said that they were thirteen in number, and one had on a coloured dress, Katla exclaimed, 'That troll Geirrid is come! I shall not be able to throw a glamour over their eyes any more.' She started up from her place and lifted the cushion of the seat, and there was a hole and a cavity beneath: into this she thrust Odd, ...
— The Book of Were-Wolves • Sabine Baring-Gould

... dimensions, and with faded silken ends, on which the inscription was still legible: DEM GROSSEN KUNSTLER, JOHANNES SCHWARZ!—Open on a chair, with an embroidered book-marker between its pages, lay ATTA TROLL; and by the stove, a battered wooden doll sat against the wall, in a relaxed attitude, with a set ...
— Maurice Guest • Henry Handel Richardson

... content be equal, and our praise, therefore, none the less. Father, if Master Stoddard, the great fisher of Tweedside, be with thee, greet him for me, and thank him for those songs of his, and perchance he will troll thee a ...
— Letters to Dead Authors • Andrew Lang

... late Royal Commission I did my best to prevent the infliction of needless pain for any purpose, I think it is my duty to take this opportunity of expressing my regret at a condition of the law which permits a boy to troll for pike or set lines with live frog bait for idle amusement, and at the same time lays the teacher of that boy open to the penalty of fine and imprisonment if he uses the same animal for the purpose of exhibiting ...
— The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley Volume 2 • Leonard Huxley

... Spanish fleet which was sweeping the narrow seas. We see the king sitting on deck in his jacket of black velvet, his head covered by a black beaver hat "which became him well," and calling on Sir John Chandos to troll out the songs he had brought with him from Germany, till the Spanish ships heave in sight and a furious fight begins which ends in a victory that leaves Edward "King of ...
— History of the English People, Volume II (of 8) - The Charter, 1216-1307; The Parliament, 1307-1400 • John Richard Green

... "troll" his line in the most approved fashion; and was soon again joined by his brother "piscator," who, after settling the scores with the second fish he had caught, had adjusted a fresh bait, and once more flung his line ...
— The Ocean Waifs - A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea • Mayne Reid

... uncontrollable emotion). HILDA, there is not a corner of me safe from you! Yes, I see now that must have been the way of it. Then I was a troll in that, too! But isn't it terrible the price I have had to pay for it? To have a wife who——. No, I shall never roll a pill ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, March 18, 1893 • Various

... med oss i lund dronningi i saelan blund: Byssam, byssam barne, gryta heng i jarne. Troll og nykk, gakk burt med dykk denne saele skymingsstund! So god natt! ...
— An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in Norway • Martin Brown Ruud

... in realms of gold with the Story Girl. She had recently been digging into a couple of old volumes of classic myths and northland folklore which she had found in Aunt Olivia's attic; and for us, god and goddess, laughing nymph and mocking satyr, norn and valkyrie, elf and troll, and "green folk" generally, were real creatures once again, inhabiting the orchards and woods and meadows around us, until it seemed as if the Golden Age ...
— The Story Girl • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... disheartened by historical comparisons. We insisted on putting our living luck to the proof, and finding out for ourselves what kind of fish were left in Jordan Pond. We had a couple of four-ounce rods, one of which I fitted up with a troll, while she took the oars in a round-bottomed, snub-nosed white boat, and rowed me slowly around the shore. The water was very clear; at a depth of twenty feet we could see every stone and stick on the bottom—and no ...
— Days Off - And Other Digressions • Henry Van Dyke

... demons, and is cured by burying thistle-seed in the ground. Similarly, in Iceland, says Mr. Conway, "the farmer guards the grass around his field lest the elves abiding in them invade his crops." Likewise the globe-flower has been designated the troll-flower, from the malignant trolls or elves, on account of its poisonous qualities. On the other hand, the Bavarian peasant has a notion that the elves are very fond of strawberries; and in order that they may be good-humoured ...
— The Folk-lore of Plants • T. F. Thiselton-Dyer

... seen so wonderful a man. He was huge in stature—his hair was black, and black his beard, and on his lower lip there lay a great black fang. His eyes were small and narrow, but his cheekbones were set wide apart and high, like those of a horse. Koll thought him an ill man to deal with and half a troll,[*] and grew afraid of his errand, since in Koll's half-wittedness there was much cunning—for it was a cloak in which he wrapped himself. But as Ospakar sat in the high seat, clothed in a purple robe, with ...
— Eric Brighteyes • H. Rider Haggard

... we find Irma von Troll-Borostyani saying in her book, Im Freien Reich (p. 176): "Go and ask these unfortunate creatures if they willingly and freely devoted themselves to vice. And nearly all of them will tell you a story of need and destitution, ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... counters, merely for the sake of simple telling, and not to figures whose power is to arise from their place in the table. The elements of their own metaphysics might have taught them better lessons. The troll of their categorical table might have informed them that there was something else in the intellectual world besides SUBSTANCE and QUANTITY. They might learn from the catechism of metaphysics that there were eight heads more, in ...
— Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke. • Edmund Burke

... in chains, Your friendly aid implore; Slight you the piteous strains That from their bosoms pour? Shall it be told in story, Or troll'd in burning song, New England's boasted ...
— The Liberty Minstrel • George W. Clark

... levelled at his age and his country will seem singularly modern to the reader of to-day. It is this peculiar modern significance and application that has been one of the two reasons for presenting to the English public the first popular edition of Heine's lyrico-satiric masterpiece "Atta Troll." The other reason is the fine quality of the translation, made by one who is himself well known as a poet, my friend Herman Scheffauer. I venture to say that it renders in a remarkable degree the elusive brilliance, wit, and tenderness ...
— Atta Troll • Heinrich Heine

... sitting in an omnibus. But for trolling, many a boat would come home "clean" in the evening, on days of calm, or when, for other reasons of their own, the trout refuse to take the artificial fly. Yet there are men at Loch Leven who troll all day, and poor sport it must be, as a trout of a pound or so has no chance on a trolling-rod. This method is inimical to fly-fishing, but is such a consolation to the inefficient angler that one can ...
— Angling Sketches • Andrew Lang

... over swarthy singing faces grouped Within the four small wooden walls that made Their home and shut them from the unfathomable Depths of mysterious gloom without that rolled All around them; or Tom Moone would heartily troll A simple stave that struggled oft with thoughts Beyond its reach, yet ...
— Collected Poems - Volume One (of 2) • Alfred Noyes

... he commented, glancing at the trout Lisle laid down. "They'll hardly carry us over to-morrow, and I only got a couple from the canoe with the troll. We've gained nothing by stopping here, ...
— The Long Portage • Harold Bindloss

... not consider this method of fishing a fair way in England," said Hardy; "it is adopted by poachers, to steal fish from private ponds, and it is not popular with anglers. The approved method is to troll for pike." ...
— A Danish Parsonage • John Fulford Vicary

... rocks jutted into the loch in tumbled, broken masses, piled heedlessly one on the other, as if some troll of the mountain had begun in play to make a causeway for himself. The great stones, so old, so fiercely strong, stood knee-deep in the waters, over which they seemed to brood with so patient and indifferent a dignity that human life and affairs took on ...
— The Ashiel mystery - A Detective Story • Mrs. Charles Bryce

... of Lords, And after turn'd out the whole House-full Of Peers, as dang'rous and unusefull? 180 So CROMWELL, with deep oaths and vows, Swore all the Commons out o' th' House; Vow'd that the red-coats would disband, Ay, marry wou'd they, at their command; And troll'd them on, and swore, and swore, 185 Till th' army turn'd them out of door. This tells us plainly what they thought, That oaths and swearing go for nought, And that by them th' were only meant To serve for an expedient. 190 What was the Public Faith found out for, But to slur men ...
— Hudibras • Samuel Butler

... turned her sumptuous head with eyes Of shining expectation fixt on mine. Then while I dragged my brains for such a song, Cyril, with whom the bell-mouthed glass had wrought, Or mastered by the sense of sport, began To troll a careless, careless tavern-catch Of Moll and Meg, and strange experiences Unmeet for ladies. Florian nodded at him, I frowning; Psyche flushed and wanned and shook; The lilylike Melissa drooped her ...
— The Princess • Alfred Lord Tennyson

... were listening up in heaven, understood every word of it. And he inclined to think that the Cantor, or minister who led the praying, also understood; he sang with such feeling and such fervid roulades. Many solos did the Cantor troll forth, to which the congregation listened in silent rapture. The only time the public prayers bored the child was on the Sabbath, when the minister read the Portion of the Week; the Five Books of Moses being read through once a year, week by week, in a strange sing-song with only occasional flights ...
— Dreamers of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill

... from marrying an agreeable negress, is the most pathetic. But I myself am rather fond of the Legende du Mont Saint-Michel. At first one is a little shocked at finding "the great vision of the guarded mount"[504] yoked to the old Scandinavian troll-and-farmer story of the fraudulent bargain as to alternate upper- and under-ground crops. But the magnificent opening description of "the fairy castle planted in the sea"[505] excuses, and is thrown up by, the sequel. Mont-Saint-Michel is not like Naples. When you have ...
— A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 - To the Close of the 19th Century • George Saintsbury

... in the northern parts of Germany, whom it had probably considered as too insignificant to be worth the managing. They universally, therefore, established the reformation in their own dominions. The tyranny of Christiern II., and of Troll archbishop of Upsal, enabled Gustavus Vasa to expel them both from Sweden. The pope favoured the tyrant and the archbishop, and Gustavus Vasa found no difficulty in establishing the reformation in Sweden. Christiern ...
— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations • Adam Smith

... inclined to put the masked man down to Quamina's vivid imagination," declares Eleanor, "if you had not personally encountered him, Carol. He is like a sort of 'troll,' one ...
— When the Birds Begin to Sing • Winifred Graham

... all your letters," was the first thing he said; and when she looked up a little and laughed, he felt that she was the most roguish troll he could meet in a wood; but he was captured, and ...
— A Happy Boy • Bjornstjerne Bjornson

... thinking Solveig one of the most beautiful figures in poetry. Peer deserts her, and she lives in the hut alone and grows an old woman while her lover roams the world, seeking everywhere and through the wildest adventures the satisfaction of his Self, acting everywhere on the Troll's motto, "To thyself be enough," and finding everywhere his major premiss turned against him, to his own discomfiture, by an ironical fate. We have one glimpse of Solveig, meanwhile, in a little scene of eight lines. She is now a middle-aged woman, up in her forest hut in the far north. She ...
— Adventures in Criticism • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... To utter a posting on {Usenet} designed to attract predictable responses or {flame}s. Derives from the phrase "trolling for {newbie}s" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. ...
— The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0

... The Troll came crouching at his feet and wept for lack of it. "Oh, give me back my magic cap, for your great ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

... through some of its forms. In a Norse story[126] a Giant's heart lies in an egg, inside a duck, which swims in a well, in a church, on an island. With this may be compared another Norse tale,[127] in which a Haugebasse, or Troll, who has carried off a princess, informs her that he and all his companions will burst asunder when above them passes "the grain of sand that lies under the ninth tongue in the ninth head" of a certain dead dragon. The grain of sand is found and brought, and the result is that the whole of the ...
— Russian Fairy Tales - A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore • W. R. S. Ralston

... troll in Mountaineer Lake, but caught nothing. Apparently there was nothing there but trout, of which fish I caught eight at the inlet. I shot with my pistol a muskrat that was swimming in the lake, but ...
— The Lure of the Labrador Wild • Dillon Wallace

... camp of August 12th was pitched, hundreds of fish played at its surface, keeping the water in constant commotion. They were in no wise disturbed by our presence and would turn leisurely over within two feet of the canoe. I ran out my troll as we paddled down the lake—but not a nibble did I get. The men said they were ...
— A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador • Mina Benson Hubbard (Mrs. Leonidas Hubbard, Junior)



Words linked to "Troll" :   circulate, mythical creature, utter, sing, talk, trolling, fish lure, circle, mouth, folklore, partsong, mythical monster, angle, wheel, verbalize, speak, verbalise, Scandinavia, fisherman's lure, music, roll, praise, angling



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