DROLL

droll

(adjective) comical in an odd or whimsical manner; “a droll little man with a quiet tongue-in-cheek kind of humor”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

droll (comparative droller, superlative drollest)

Oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish.

Synonym: Thesaurus:witty

Noun

droll (plural drolls)

(archaic) A funny person; a buffoon, a wag.

Verb

droll (third-person singular simple present drolls, present participle drolling, simple past and past participle drolled)

(archaic) To jest, to joke.

Anagrams

• roll'd

Source: Wiktionary

Droll, a. [Compar. Droller; superl. Drollest.] Etym: [F. drôle; cf. G. & D. drollig, LG. drullig, D. drol a thick and short person, a droll, Sw. troll a magical appearance, demon, trolla to use magic arts, enchant, Dan. trold elf, imp, Icel. tröll giant, magician, evil spirit, monster. If this is the origin, cf. Trull.]

Definition: Queer, and fitted to provoke laughter; ludicrous from oddity; amusing and strange.

Syn.

– Comic; comical; farcical; diverting; humorous; ridiculous; queer; odd; waggish; facetious; merry; laughable; ludicrous.

– Droll, Laughable, Comical. Laughable is the generic term, denoting anything exciting laughter or worthy of laughter; comical denotes something of the kind exhibited in comedies, something humorous of the kind exhibited in comedies, something, as it were, dramatically humorous; droll stands lower on the scale, having reference to persons or things which excite laughter by their buffoonery or oddity. A laughable incident; a comical adventure; a droll story.

Droll, n.

1. One whose practice it is to raise mirth by odd tricks; a jester; a buffoon; a merry-andrew. Prior.

2. Something exhibited to raise mirth or sport, as a puppet, a farce, and the like.

Droll, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drolled; p. pr. & vb. n. Drolling.]

Definition: To jest; to play the buffoon. [R.]

Droll, v. t.

1. To lead or influence by jest or trick; to banter or jest; to cajole. Men that will not be reasoned into their senses, may yet be laughed or drolled into them. L'Estrange.

2. To make a jest of; to set in a comical light. [R.] This drolling everything is rather fatiguing. W. D. Howells.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition