Green’s Dictionary of Slang

stroll n.

[SE stroll, to wander along; usu. US, but note cit. 1832 in sense 1; the original stroll was situated between 26th and 63rd Streets on New York’s West Side, the mid–late 19C centre of the black population. During the 1890s the stroll moved to Seventh Avenue between 23rd to 34th Streets and when the focus of black life moved again, to Harlem (c.1920), the stroll moved up-town on Seventh Avenue between 131st and 132nd Streets]

1. (mainly US black) the main street, esp. when used as a social centre.

[UK] in Egan Bk of Sports 146: My moll oft’ tips the knowing dive / When sea-crabs gang the stroll.
D. Burley in Chicago Defender 29 Feb. 11: You’re one of the best sports along the stroll [...] you’re o.k.
P. Grey ‘’Twixt Night ’n’ Dawn’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 5 Nov. 11/3: Harrison Owens, popular m.c., is back on the Stroll again [...] at the new schloss club.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 206: You couldn’t see for looking, there were so many things to dig on The Stroll between 131st and 132nd.
[US]R.S. Gold ‘Vernacular of the Jazz World’ in AS XXXII:4 277: stroll. Street, avenue.
[US]R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 40: Outside [...] flash acts on roller skates, and undercover cops in lavender net shirts were already on the stroll.
[US](con. 1920s) I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 42: In older black street vernacular, the stroll alluded to the social use of the main street as a promenade. [Ibid.] 74: Harlem nightlife was concentrated on and near Seventh Avenue in the 130s and 140s and, to a lesser extent, on Lenox. Seventh Avenue was Harlem’s promenade—The Stroll.
[US]L. Pettiway Workin’ It 34: And the little bit I do do outside in the street, it’s no cops, since it’s not a main stroll.
[US](con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 149: Negro nite owls on the stroll.

2. (US pimp) those streets or blocks on which prostitutes ply their trade; thus a prostitute; thus as v., to work as a street prostitute.

J.L. Hilpert Englisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Englisches Wörterbuch 1 570/1: Strünzen v. intr. [rather low] to go a petticoat-hunting, to prowl about for a piece; it. [speaking of bad women] to walk the streets, to look out for a flat [i.e. a sucker], to be out on the stroll .
T. Delaney ‘Down on Pennsylvania Avenue’ 🎵 The broads that stroll it just won’t wait / You’ll find them every night on Pennsylvania Avenue [...] Now if you want good loving and you want it cheap / Just drop around ‘bout the middle of the week.
[[US]M. Rand ‘Clip-Joint Chisellers’ in Ten Story Gang Aug. 🌐 The girls plastered their mugs with make-up ready for their strolls on the stem].
[UK]W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: ’Cause my little sister Lily has a stroll on Piccadilly.
[US]Milner & Milner Black Players 19: Pimps and hos are supposed to have no contact with one another [...] anywhere that a ho is ‘on the walk’ or ‘stroll’ (working).
[US]A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 3: The hookers who work it [i.e. 42nd Street, NYC] call it the stroll.
[US](con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 366: A well-known prostie stroll.
[Can]A. Highcrest At Home on the Stroll 21: Before 1972 I hadn’t heard of male prostitutes, male strolls or male escort services.
[US](con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 101: I’m lookin’ for where they [i.e. whores] stroll.
[US]S.A. Cosby ‘The Rat & the Cobra’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] ‘My mama was on the stroll and your daddy’s mama took me in for a while’.

3. (US) anything requiring only minimal effort, an easy task.

[US]C. Mathewson Pitching in a Pinch 236: The first day that Ames pitched in Boston he won, and won in a stroll.
[US]D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 268: ‘Just a stroll in the country, bunch. That’s all it is. Just pickin’ up flowers’.
[UK]M. Amis Experience 343: He [...] usually beats me at a stroll.

4. (US black) a place where drugs are sold.

[US]Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 stroll Definition: place where drugs are sold. Example: Man, I been on the stroll all day.

In derivatives

stroller (n.)

1. (US black) one who frequents the main entertainment street(s) of a town or city.

P. Grey ‘’Twixt Night ’n’ Dawn’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 5 Nov. 11/3: Saw quite a few familiar faces [...] sporting ’em up just like regular strollers.

2. (US) a street prostitute.

J. Roe Same Old Grind 117: ‘All the joints along McPhee Street have been hot for strollers for the past month [...] So what choice has Thorpe got? If he doesn’t hustle for his ladies they’ll all starve’.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

take the morning stroll (v.)

(UK, Belfast) to be hanged.

[Ire](con. 1945) S. McAughtry Touch and Go 101: ‘Do you think he’ll escape the rope?’ [...] ‘Judges are sudden death on working-class men getting full drunk.’ He smiled: ‘Don’t worry, Dan Byrne’ll take the morning stroll.’.