loll

English

WOTD – 15 September 2017

Etymology

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Jeunes filles de Sparte (Young Women of Sparta, between 1868 and 1870), from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, US. The woman in the foreground is depicted lolling on an animal skin.

Lolling her tongue (see sense 3)

From Middle English lollen, lullen (“to lounge idly, hang loosely”), of uncertain origin; the Middle English Dictionary suggests a derivation from Middle Dutch lollen, lullen (“to doze; to mumble, talk nonsense”), though the words could merely be cognate. Compare modern Dutch lol (“fun”)), Icelandic lolla (“to act lazily”). See also lull.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /lɒl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /lɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɒl

Verb

loll (third-person singular simple present lolls, present participle lolling, simple past and past participle lolled)

1. (intransitive) To act lazily or indolently while reclining; to lean; to lie at ease. [from mid-14th c.]
   • 1726, Aulus Persius Flaccus; John Dryden, transl., “The Second Satyr”, in The Satyrs of Aulus Persius Flaccus. Made English by Mr. Dryden, published in The Satyrs of Decimus Junius Juvenalis: And of Aulus Persius Flaccus. Translated into English Verse by Mr. Dryden, and Several Other Eminent Hands. To which is Prefix’d a Discourse concerning the Original and Progress of Satyr, 5th edition, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, →OCLC, page 251:

     And think'ſt thou, Jove himſelf, with Patience then / Can hear a Pray'r condemn'd by wicked Men? / That, void of Care, he lolls ſupine in State, / And leaves his Bus'neſs to be done by Fate?

   • 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, “Ice Age: Continental Drift”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 March 2014:

     The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but [Ice Age:] Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.

   • 2015, Mary Davis, chapter 8, in Winning Olivia’s Heart (Heartsong Presents; HP1145), New York, N.Y.: Love Inspired Books, →ISBN, page 104:

     Liv's head lolled to the side and rested on his shoulder.

2. (intransitive) To hang extended from the mouth, like the tongue of an animal heated from exertion. [from 1610s]
   • 1697, Virgil, “The Eighth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, pages 445–446, lines 396–400:

     Nor thy reſiſtleſs Arm the Bull withſtood: / Nor He the roaring Terror of the Wood. / The triple Porter of the Stygian seat, / With lolling Tongue, lay fawning at thy Feet: / And, ſeiz'd with Fear, forgot his mangled Meat.

   • 1975, Susan Cooper, “Cadfan’s Way”, in The Grey King (The Dark Is Rising Sequence; 4), London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Simon Pulse, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 2007 May, →ISBN, part 1 (The Golden Harp), page 21:

     Crouching on its stomach, the dog moved with him, teeth glittering, tongue lolling.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To let (the tongue) hang from the mouth.

   The ox stood lolling in the furrow.

   • 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 267:

     The combatants with rage most horrible
     Strove, and their eyes started with cracking stare,
     And impotent their tongues they lolled into the air,
     Flaccid and foamy, like a mad dog’s hanging; […]

   • 2011 September, Anna Solomon, chapter 30, in The Little Bride: A Novel, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Riverhead Books, →ISBN, page 307:

     [W]hen he saw the hundreds of heads of cattle lolling their greedy way through his grass, he ran towards them wildly, waving his arms, screaming.

Synonyms

• (to act lazily or indolently): relax, slack, slacken

Derived terms

• loll about
• loll around

 

Translations

to act lazily or indolently

• Arabic: تَكَاسَلَ (takāsala), تَرَاخَى (tarāḵā)
• Bulgarian: излягам се (izljagam se)
• Czech: povalovat se impf, rozvalit se pf
• Finnish: laiskotella (fi), loikoilla (fi), löhötä (fi)
• German: herumliegen, faulenzen (de), räkeln (de), herumlümmeln, sich flegeln (de)
• Greek: χουζουρεύω (el) (chouzourévo), τεμπελιάζω (el) (tempeliázo)
• Hungarian: lézeng (hu), nyúlik-málik
• Maori: hakuhakutai
• Quechua: hant'arqay
• Russian: безде́льничать (ru) (bezdélʹničatʹ) (to laze about)
• Spanish: recostarse (es), arrellanarse (es), repanchingarse (es), repanchigarse (es), reposar (es)

to hang extended from the mouth

• Arabic: تَدَلَّى (tadallā)
• Bulgarian: вися (bg) (visja)
• Czech: plandat impf, viset (cs) impf
• Finnish: roikkua (fi)
• German: heraushängen, hängen (de)

to let the tongue hang from the mouth

• Bulgarian: изплезвам (bg) (izplezvam)
• Finnish: roikottaa suustaan

Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *lolli, sound-symbolic. Cognates include Livonian loļ (“stupid, dumb”), Votic and Ingrian lollo (“fool, idiot; stupid, dumb”) and dialectal Finnish lolli (“fool; stupid, fat, lazy”). Similar sound-symbolic terms can be found in other languages, such as colloquial Swedish lolla (“a redneck, hilbilly; a foolish and naive woman”) and Italian lollo (“unreasonable, foolish”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlolʲː/, [ˈlolʲː]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -olʲː
• Hyphenation: loll

Adjective

loll (genitive lolli, partitive lolli, comparative lollim, superlative kõige lollim)

1. stupid, dumb, foolish

   Synonym: rumal

   Antonym: tark

Synonyms

• rumal

Antonyms

• tark

Derived terms

• lollakas
• lollilt
• lollisti
• lollus

 

Compounds

• lausloll
• puruloll
• püstiloll

 

• lollimoodi
• lollivõitu
• lollpea

 

Noun

loll (genitive lolli, partitive lolli)

1. a fool, idiot

Declension

Declension of loll (ÕS type 22e/riik, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		loll	lollid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	lolli
genitive			lollide
partitive		lolli	lolle lollisid
illative		lolli lollisse	lollidesse lollesse
inessive		lollis	lollides lolles
elative		lollist	lollidest lollest
allative		lollile	lollidele lollele
adessive		lollil	lollidel lollel
ablative		lollilt	lollidelt lollelt
translative		lolliks	lollideks lolleks
terminative		lollini	lollideni
essive		lollina	lollidena
abessive		lollita	lollideta
comitative		lolliga	lollidega

Derived terms

• lolli mängima
• lollikari
• lollike
• lollikene
• lollikindel
• lollitama

 

References

• loll in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “loll”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009