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roll

Pronunciation: /ɹəʊl/

The English word “roll” has 20 meanings listed here.

verb

  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.
  2. To wrap (something) round on itself; to form into a spherical or cylindrical body by causing to turn over and over.
  3. To bind or involve by winding, as with a bandage; to enwrap; often with up.
  4. To drive, impel, or flow onward with a steady, wave-like motion.
  5. To pour or trickle.
  6. To utter copiously, especially with sounding words; to utter with a deep sound; — often with forth, or out.
  7. To press, level, spread, or form with a roller or rollers.
  8. To move upon rollers or wheels.
  9. To tumble in gymnastics; to do a somersault.
  10. To leave or begin a journey; sometimes with out.
  11. To compete, especially with vigor.
  12. To walk, especially leisurely or idly; to stroll.
  13. To beat with rapid, continuous strokes, as a drum; to sound a roll upon.
  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.
  16. To behave in a certain way; to adopt a general disposition toward a situation.
  17. To roll dice such that they form a given pattern or total.
  18. To create a new character in a role-playing game, especially by using dice to determine properties.
  19. To generate a random number.
  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.

Etymology

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.