stroll n.
1. (mainly US black) the main street, esp. when used as a social centre.
in Bk of Sports 146: My moll oft’ tips the knowing dive / When sea-crabs gang the stroll. | ||
in Chicago Defender 29 Feb. 11: You’re one of the best sports along the stroll [...] you’re o.k. | ||
schloss club. | ‘’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||
Really the Blues 206: You couldn’t see for looking, there were so many things to dig on The Stroll between 131st and 132nd. | ||
AS XXXII:4 277: stroll. Street, avenue. | ‘Vernacular of the Jazz World’ in||
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. | ||
(con. 1920s) 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. | ||
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. | ||
(con. 1964–8) 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.
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 . | ||
🎵 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. | ‘Down on Pennsylvania Avenue’||
[ | Ten Story Gang Aug. 🌐 The girls plastered their mugs with make-up ready for their strolls on the stem]. | ‘Clip-Joint Chisellers’ in|
Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: ’Cause my little sister Lily has a stroll on Piccadilly. | ||
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). | ||
On the Stroll 3: The hookers who work it [i.e. 42nd Street, NYC] call it the stroll. | ||
(con. early 1950s) L.A. Confidential 366: A well-known prostie stroll. | ||
At Home on the Stroll 21: Before 1972 I hadn’t heard of male prostitutes, male strolls or male escort services. | ||
(con. 1975–6) Steel Toes 101: I’m lookin’ for where they [i.e. whores] stroll. | ||
ThugLit Mar. [ebook] ‘My mama was on the stroll and your daddy’s mama took me in for a while’. | ‘The Rat & the Cobra’ in
3. (US) anything requiring only minimal effort, an easy task.
Pitching in a Pinch 236: The first day that Ames pitched in Boston he won, and won in a stroll. | ||
Semi-Tough 268: ‘Just a stroll in the country, bunch. That’s all it is. Just pickin’ up flowers’. | ||
Experience 343: He [...] usually beats me at a stroll. |
4. (US black) a place where drugs are sold.
Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 stroll Definition: place where drugs are sold. Example: Man, I been on the stroll all day. |
In derivatives
1. (US black) one who frequents the main entertainment street(s) of a town or city.
‘’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.
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
(UK, Belfast) to be hanged.
(con. 1945) 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.’. |