stroll

Borrowed from German strollen, a variant of Alemannic German strolchen, from Strolch (“vagabond; rascal”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /stɹəʊl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /stɹoʊl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl

stroll (plural strolls)

1. A wandering on foot; an idle and leisurely walk; a ramble.
2. (preceded by definite article) A dance of the 1950s in which dancers leisurely stepped, cross-stepped, and dipped at the knee to the beat of the music.

• ho stroll
• stroll in the park

stroll (third-person singular simple present strolls, present participle strolling, simple past and past participle strolled)

1. To wander on foot; to ramble idly or leisurely; to rove.
   • 1708, [Jonathan Swift], “The Metamorphosis of Baucis and Philemon, Burlesqu’d; from the 8th Book of Ovid”, in Baucis and Philemon; a Poem. […], London: […] H. Hills, […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 3:

     In Ancient Times, as Story tells, / The Saints would often leave their Cells, / And ſtrole about, but hide their Quality, / To try good Peoples Hoſpitality.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 87–88:

     The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. [...] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.

2. To go somewhere with ease.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “His Own People”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 15:

     [A] delighted shout from the children swung him toward the door again. His sister, Mrs. Gerard, stood there in carriage gown and sables, radiant with surprise. "Phil! You! Exactly like you, Philip, to come strolling in from the antipodes—dear fellow!" recovering from the fraternal embrace and holding both lapels of his coat in her gloved hands.

3. (intransitive, slang) To walk the streets as a prostitute.
   • 1998, Joseph Ferone, Boomboom, page 24:

     "Nammers?" She'd told him before of some Vietnamese gang pressuring her to stroll for them. / "Don't even ask. You don't want to know."

4. (intransitive) To do, obtain, or achieve something in a casual and effortless way.

   My daughter strolled through the exam.

• stroll on

• stroller

• trolls