Verb

Infinitive to roll

Third person singular rolls

Simple past rolled

Past participle rolled

Present participle rolling

to roll (third-person singular simple present rolls, present participle rolling, simple past and past participle rolled)

1. (ergative) To cause to revolve by turning over and over; to move by turning on an axis; to impel forward by causing to turn over and over on a supporting surface.

   Roll a wheel, a ball, or a barrel.

2. To wrap round on itself; to form into a spherical or cylindrical body by causing to turn over and over.

   Roll a sheet of paper.

   Roll clay or putty into a ball.

3. To bind or involve by winding, as in a bandage; to inwrap; often with up.

   Roll up a parcel.

4. (ergative) To drive or impel forward with an easy motion, as of rolling.

   This river will roll its waters to the ocean.

5. (ergative) To utter copiously, especially with sounding words; to utter with a deep sound; -- often with forth, or out.

   Roll forth someone's praises.

   Roll out sentences.

6. To press or level with a roller; to spread or form with a roll, roller, or rollers.

   Roll a field.

   Roll paste.

   Roll steel rails.

7. (ergative) To move, or cause to be moved, upon, or by means of, rollers or small wheels.
8. To beat with rapid, continuous strokes, as a drum; to sound a roll upon.
9. (geometry) 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.
10. To turn over in one's mind; to revolve.
11. (US slang) To behave in a certain way; to adopt a general disposition toward a situation.

    I was going to kick his ass, but he wasn't worth getting all worked up over, I don't roll like that.

    • 2006, Times Herald-Record, Tuesday, November 21, by Chris McKenna. At [1].

      "This is how we roll in Spring Valley," one teen reportedly boasted.

12. (gaming, transitive or intransitive) To throw dice.
13. (gaming, transitive) To roll dice such that they form a given pattern or total.

    If you roll doubles, you get an extra turn.

    With two dice, you're more likely to roll seven than ten.

14. (gaming) To create a new character in a role-playing game.

    I'm gonna go and roll a new shaman tonight.

15. (computing) To generate a random number.
16. To turn over and over.

    The child will roll on the floor.

17. To tumble in gymnastics.
18. (nautical) when a nautical vessel rotates on its fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down. Compare with pitch.
19. (transitive) To beat up.
    • 2006, Elizabeth Gaffney, Metropolis‎, page 422:

      They rolled him for his money, and that would have been that, but the guy tried to fight back.

20. (transitive, slang) To cause to betray secrets of or testify against.

    The feds rolled him by giving him a free pass for most of what he'd done.

21. (intransitive, slang) To betray secrets.

    He rolled on those guys after being in jail two days.

Derived terms

• rollable
• roller
• roll out
• roll-out
• roll-over
• roll over
• roll up
• let's roll

Roll can refer to:

People

• Bob Roll (born 1960), American professional cyclist and commentator
• Charles Rolls (1877–1910), co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited and a pioneer aviator
• Eric Roll (1907–2005), academic economist, public servant and banker
• Ferdinand Nicolai Roll (1831–1921), Norwegian jurist and politician
• Gary Lee Roll (1951–2000), executed by lethal injection in the U.S. state of Missouri
• Michael Roll (actor) (born 1961), German television actor
• Richard Roll (born 1939), American economist
• William G. Roll (born 1926), American psychologist and parapsychologist
• Michael Roll (pianist) (born 1946), British pianist

Places

• Roll, Indiana
• Roll, Oklahoma