Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to go out, to stroll, to run, to depart, to look for some fun or entertainment.

1946, 1950		Partridge DU (1950).
1972		‘Rawbone Malang’ Ah Big Yaws? 25: Jawl, ... Various meanings attach to this word ... It could mean ‘to hurry’.
1974		‘Blossom’ in Darling 9 Oct. 95: The German band jols off to pastures new [DSAE].
1982		P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at the Palace (1985) 70: Better jol back to Durbs, hey?
1985		B. Simon ‘Outers’ Born in the RSA (1997) 39: Hell, that Giovanni, I bet you he’s jolling somewhere.
1986		P. Slabolepszy ‘Boo to the Moon’ in Mooi Street (1994) 95: So maybe some dassies [i.e. rabbits] are moving? They jolling down to the coast. Maybe some dassies dig the surf?
1990		P. Hotz Muzukuru 28: You’re not even back a day and you’re jolling again.
1990		R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart 52: If you were brave, you could jol to a shebeen in Soweto [...] You could jol to Zoo Lake on a Sunday afternoon to laze on the greensward [...] and you could jol to Swaziland.
1998		Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 15 May 🌐 Rockey Street [...] is probably South Africa’s most famous jolling street.

2. (also jola) to have an affair with, to flirt, to ‘carry on’; thus jolling n.

1964		A. La Guma Threefold Cord 93: You was supposed to jol with me. You my girl, isn’t it.
1969		J. Mbongwe letter in Post 5 Oct. 5: Is love and ‘jolling’ the same thing? [...] Let me advise our girls who go around ‘jolling’ with every Tom, Dick and Harry [...] You’ll hear most girls say: ‘I love nobody. I only “jol”’ [...] You will not be good housewives because you have wasted your time ‘jolling’ [DSAE].
1979		in Staffrider 2:3 9: ‘If we do not hate each other why don’t we jola? People who love each other ...’ and then she was in his arms [DSAE].

3. to tease, to joke.

1970

informant in DSAE (1996).

4. to play, to frolic, to have fun, to ‘party’.

1970		informant in DSAE.
1978		Darling 26 April 16: Jagger jolls while Bianca broods [DSAE].
1988		S. Gordon Under the Harrow 228: We really jolled, and the blacks can do that!
1990		R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart (1991) 69: So I spent eight hours a day in the magistrates’ court, and at night, I jolled.

5. to hang around, to loiter.

1985

B. Simon ‘Outers’ Born in the RSA (1997) 75: I know he jols here [...] I know he’s got a place near Joubert Park – he has to jol here.