- to move along a surface by revolving or turning over and over, as a ball or a wheel.
- to move or be moved on wheels, as a vehicle or its occupants.
- to flow or advance in a stream or with an undulating motion, as water, waves, or smoke.
- to extend in undulations, as land.
- to elapse, pass, or move, as time (often followed by on, away, or by).
- to move as in a cycle (usually followed by around or round): as soon as summer rolls around again.
- to perform a periodical revolution in an orbit, as a heavenly body.
- to emit or have a deep, prolonged sound, as thunder, drums, etc.
- to trill, as a bird.
- to revolve or turn over, once or repeatedly, as a wheel on an axis or a person or animal lying down.
- to turn around in different directions or in a circle, as the eyes in their sockets.
- (of a vessel)
- to rock from side to side in open water.
- to sail with a side-to-side rocking motion.
- to walk with a swinging or swaying gait.
- to begin to move or operate; start; commence: Let's roll at sunrise.
- to go forward or advance without restrictions or impediments: The economy is finally beginning to roll.
- to curl up so as to form a tube or cylinder.
- to admit of being formed into a tube or cylinder by curling up.
- to be spread out after being curled up (usually followed by out).
- to spread out as under a roller: The paint rolls easily.
- (of an aircraft or rocket) to deviate from a stable flight attitude by rotation about its longitudinal axis.
- to cause to move along a surface by revolving or turning over and over, as a cask, a ball, or a hoop.
- to move along on wheels or rollers; convey in a wheeled vehicle.
- to drive, impel, or cause to flow onward with a sweeping or undulating motion: The wind rolled the waves high on the beach.
- to utter or give forth with a full, flowing, continuous sound:rolling his orotund phrases.
- to trill: I have trouble rolling my R’s in Spanish.
- to cause to revolve or turn over or over and over: to roll oneself onto one's front.
- to cause to sway or rock from side to side, as a ship.
- to wrap (something) around an axis, around upon itself, or into a cylindrical shape, ball, or the like: to roll string.
- to make by forming a tube or cylinder: to roll a cigarette.
- to spread out flat (something curled up) (often followed by out): He rolled the map out on the table.
- to wrap, enfold, or envelop, as in some covering: to roll a child in a blanket.
- to spread out, level, smooth, compact, or the like, as with a rolling pin, roller, the hands, etc.: to roll dough;to roll a tennis court.
- to form (metal) in a rolling mill.
- to tumble (metal pieces and abrasives) in a box or barrel in such a way that their relative positions remain the same.
- to beat (a drum) with rapid, continuous strokes.
- to cast or throw (a die or dice).
- to obtain (a specified number of pips) when casting a die or dice: If you roll two sixes, you get an extra turn.
- to apply (ink) with a roller or series of rollers.
- Slang.
- to rob (a sleeping or drunk victim), especially by going through the person’s pockets to find money: Bar staff had been rolling the tourists before sending them back to their hotels in taxis, and their victims never remembered a thing when they woke up.
- to mug by beating the victim unconscious and then stealing from that person: When we ran out of money, we rolled our dealer and took his stash.
- to beat up: New gang members were rolled as part of their initiation.
- to defeat (an adversary) soundly: The home team rolled the visiting team and ran up the score in the final minutes of the game.
- to deceive or manipulate (a decision-maker or influencer) in order to get one’s way or advance one’s agenda: The inexperienced new chairman was rolled by executives who never supported the company’s rebranding efforts.
- a document of paper, parchment, or the like, that is or may be rolled up, as for storing; scroll.
- a list, register, or catalog, especially one containing the names of the persons belonging to a company, class, society, etc.
- anything rolled up in a ringlike or cylindrical form: a roll of wire.
- a number of papers or other items rolled up together.
- a length of cloth, wallpaper, or the like, rolled up in cylindrical form (often forming a definite measure).
- a cylindrical or rounded mass of something: rolls of fat.
- some article of cylindrical or rounded form, as a molding.
- a cylindrical piece upon which something is rolled along to facilitate moving.
- a cylinder serving as a core upon which something is rolled up.
- a roller with which something is spread out, leveled, crushed, smoothed, compacted, or the like.
- Cooking.
- a small cake of bread, originally and still often rolled or doubled on itself before baking:a dinner roll with butter.
- thin cake spread with jelly or the like and rolled up: cinnamon rolls.
- meat rolled up and cooked: cabbage rolls with ground beef and rice.
- a kind of sushi, shaped into a cone, or into a cylinder that is sliced into bite-size pieces: We ordered some sashimi and a few rolls.
- the act or process or an instance of rolling.
- undulation, as of a surface: the roll of a prairie.
- a sonorous or rhythmical flow of words.
- a deep, prolonged sound, as of thunder: the deep roll of a breaking wave.
- the trill of certain birds, especially of the roller canary.
- the continuous sound of a drum rapidly beaten.
- a rolling motion, as of a ship.
- a rolling or swaying gait.
- Aerospace.
- a single, complete rotation of an airplane about the axis of the fuselage with little loss of altitude or change of direction.
- (of an aircraft or rocket) the act of rolling.
- the angular displacement caused by rolling.
- Informal.
- paper currency carried folded or rolled up: He took out an impressive roll and paid the check with a $100 bill.
- bankroll; funds: People were encouraged to shoot their rolls on mining speculation.
- (in various dice games)
- a single cast of or turn at casting the dice.
- the total number of pips or points made by a single cast; score or point.
- roll back,
- to reduce (the price of a commodity, wages, etc.) to a former level, usually in response to government action.
- to restore to a previous state: The help desk suggested rolling back my computer’s operating system to eliminate the update that was causing the crashes.The laissez-faire policy would roll back some environmental regulations.
- to cause (an enemy) to retreat or withdraw.
- roll in, Informal.
- to arrive, especially in large numbers or quantity: When do my dividends start rolling in?
- to go to bed; retire: They would roll in later and later every night.
- to mix and average the cost of (a higher-priced commodity or item) with that of a cheaper one so as to increase the retail price.
- to add: Labor wants to roll in periodic increases with their wage demands.
- roll out,
- to spread out or flatten: to roll out dough.
- to arise from bed; get up: It was nearly impossible to roll out on the first day back after vacation.
- to execute a rollout.
- to introduce; unveil: a TV advertising campaign to roll out the new car.
- roll over,
- to reinvest funds, especially a tax-free transfer of assets from one retirement plan to another.
- to overturn: The truck rolled over, and the driver hung by her seatbelt.
- to turn over: I rolled over in my sleep and nearly fell out of bed.
- roll up,
- to accumulate; collect: to roll up a large vote.
- to increase.
- to arrive in a conveyance: He rolled up to the front door in a chauffeur-driven limousine.
- on a roll,
- (in a gambling game) having a continuing winning streak.
- enjoying continuing good luck or success: She's been on a roll since taking that course on sales techniques.
- an instance of sexual intercourse.
- to turn one's eyes upward or around in a circle, especially as an expression of disbelief, annoyance, impatience, or disdain: He rolled his eyes when he heard the stupid joke.
- punch1 (def. 16).
- to remove from membership or practice, as to disbar: He will surely be struck off the rolls if this conduct continues.
- to move or cause to move along by turning over and over
- to move or cause to move along on wheels or rollers
- to flow or cause to flow onwards in an undulating movement
- (of animals, etc) to turn onto the back and kick
- to extend in undulations
- to move or occur in cycles
- (of a planet, the moon, etc) to revolve in an orbit
- to pass or elapse
- to rotate or cause to rotate wholly or partially
- to curl, cause to curl, or admit of being curled, so as to form a ball, tube, or cylinder; coil
- to make or form by shaping into a ball, tube, or cylinder
- to spread or cause to spread out flat or smooth under or as if under a roller
- to emit, produce, or utter with a deep prolonged reverberating sound
- to trill or cause to be trilled
- (of a vessel, aircraft, rocket, etc) to turn from side to side around the longitudinal axis
- to cause (an aircraft) to execute a roll or (of an aircraft) to execute a roll (sense 40)
- to walk with a swaying gait, as when drunk; sway
- (of an animal, esp a dog) to lie on its back and wriggle while kicking its legs in the air, without moving along
- to wallow or envelop oneself (in)
- to apply ink to (type, etc) with a roller or rollers
- to throw (dice)
- to operate or begin to operate
- to make progress; move or go ahead
- to rob (a helpless person, such as someone drunk or asleep)
- to have sexual intercourse or foreplay with (a person)
- to open or initiate (an action, discussion, movement, etc)
- the act or an instance of rolling
- anything rolled up in a cylindrical form
- an official list or register, esp of names
- a rounded mass
- a strip of material, esp leather, fitted with pockets or pouches for holding tools, toilet articles, needles and thread, etc
- a cylinder used to flatten something; roller
- a small loaf of bread for one person: eaten plain, with butter, or as a light meal when filled with meat, cheese, etc
- a flat pastry or cake rolled up with a meat (sausage roll), jam (jam roll), or other filling
- a swell, ripple, or undulation on a surface
- a swaying, rolling, or unsteady movement or gait
- a deep prolonged reverberating sound
- a rhythmic cadenced flow of words
- a trilling sound; trill
- a very rapid beating of the sticks on a drum
- a flight manoeuvre in which an aircraft makes one complete rotation about its longitudinal axis without loss of height or change in direction
- the angular displacement of a vessel, rocket, missile, etc, caused by rolling
- a throw of dice
- a bookbinder's tool having a brass wheel, used to impress a line or repeated pattern on the cover of a book
- an act of sexual intercourse or petting (esp in the phrase a roll in the hay)
- an amount of money, esp a wad of paper money
- experiencing continued good luck or success
- strike off the roll or strike off the rolls
- to expel from membership
- to debar (a solicitor) from practising, usually because of dishonesty