In 1884, Angelo Moriondo of Turin, Italy, demonstrated the first working example of an espresso machine.
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
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CRITICAL
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