roll v.
1. to have sexual intercourse [orig. meaning work, it was extended in blues songs to mean intercourse, i.e. the physical effort involved].
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘In the Days When We Went Rogering’ in Nancy Dawson’s Cabinet of Songs 30: Ve roll’d ’em in the haycocks then, / Or in the grass so green. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Long Lonesome Day Blues’ 🎵 Ahh, tell me sweetie mama how d’you want your rolling done / Ahh, tell me sweetie mama how d’you want your rolling done / Say, ‘I want to do just like my old-time rider done’. | |
| in Erotic Muse (1992) 70: We rolled and we toppled ’til I got my heart’s desire. | |
| ‘Hungry Calf Blues’ 🎵 Said I roll jelly in the mornin’ / And I also roll at night. | |
| interviewee q. in Adams Thesis in Gordon & Nemerov Lost Delta Found (2005) 279: Roll me baby / Like you roll your wagon wheel / Roll me in the morning / Roll me late at night . | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | (con. 1940s) Sowers of the Wind 37: They needn’t run away from a man — I’d as soon roll my own grandmother as one of them. | |
| ‘Shake Your Moneymaker’ 🎵 She won’t shake her moneymaker, won’t shake her moneymaker, She wanna roll her activator. | |
| (con. 1900s) Pops Foster 20: We thought it meant you could go down there, pick out a chick, and roll around with her. | |
| ‘Rock Me’ 🎵 Want you to roll me, like I roll a waggon wheel / You know I want you to roll me over, you know how good that makes me feel. | |
| Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 194: You in a relationship with him, have rolled him many a time. |
2. in drug uses.
(a) (drugs, also roll up) to roll a marijuana cigarette.
| Saddle and Mocassin 153: Squito would nestle down on a log by the hearth [...] gaze dreamily into the fire, rolling herself little Mexican cigarettes, in bits of maize leaf, from time to time. | |
| (con. 1950s) Man Walking On Eggshells 196: Raymond rolled up some joints. | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 98: I had bought some pot with the five left over and rolled some good-size bombers that immediately put me in business. | |
| Underground Dict. (1972) 162: roll up [...] Make a marijuana cigarette. | |
| ‘A Pimp Toast’ in (1972) 289: Come on, baby, let’s go for a stroll [...] You ain’t got no weed, I got some to roll. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 252: roll Roll a marijuana cigarette. | |
| in Living Dangerously 94: I learnt to roll [...] when I was about thirteen. | |
| Sheepshagger 112: Who’s rolling up? Marc an Fran, do one each an give em to each other. | |
| ‘Big World’ in Turning (2005) 14: Meg rolls another spliff. | |
 | ‘Live Corn’ 🎵 M rolled up and he’s buzzing. |
(b) to take MDMA; thus roll face, to exhibit the signs of having taken MDMA.
| Campus Sl. Apr. | |
| Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 roll v [...] 2. to use Ecstasy. (‘That girl was rolling all night long.’). | |
| Campus Sl. Fall 9: ROLL [...] Use the illegal substance ecstasy. | |
| What Fire Cannot Burn 97: A couple of white kids, rolling on E. | |
| (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014. | |
| (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2016 8: ROLL/ROLL FACE — get high on some form of the drug ecstacy: ‘Look how big Zach’s pupils are—he’s got to be rolling’; ‘I can tell she’s rolling face’. |
(c) of a vein, to move away from the syringe when one is attempting to inject oneself with narcotics.
| Candy 198: I was getting tiny veins and they would roll. |
3. to assault [one rolls the victim over].
(a) to rob, usu. a drunk or any helpless person; thus roll a stiff v.; lush roll under lush n.1
| diary 18 July in A Webfoot Volunteer (1965) 213: They get some fellows drunk and entice them to the outskirts of the town and then ‘roll him’ for all he has. | |
| A la Calif. 298: When one of these fellows makes a raise by ‘rolling a drunk’ (i.e. taking the valuables from the pockets of a drunken man on the sidewalk). | |
| Pacific Metropolis 12 June 6/3: [At] Mission, between Third and First, [...] where the hoodlum ‘rolls’ fallen drunks [DA]. | |
| S.F. Call 5 Sept. 2/6: [heading] Rolling a Drunk. | |
| ‘The Road’ in Jack London Reports (1970) 311–21: ‘Rolling a stiff,’ as they call robbing a drunken man, is a mere pastime. | |
| Road 170: Drunken men are the especial prey of the road-kids. Robbing a drunken man they call ‘rolling a stiff.’. | |
| Snare of the Road 81: ‘Rolled a drunken mariner for the duds, Chow?’ I laughingly asked. | |
| Haunch Paunch and Jowl 79: The gang listens intently to the wisdom learned in the reform school. How to ‘roll a lush’ (rob a drunken man). | |
| ‘So Help Me’ in Texas Stories (1995) 18: He was pretty wobbly, and when he seen the kid right away he wants to roll him, and pick up a rock as big as your head to do it with. | |
| Swag, the Spy and the Soldier in Lehmann Penguin New Writing No. 26 32: Somebody rolled me. If I could only get my hands on that bastard! | |
| in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/2: Most of these are small-time criminals. When they are pulled in by the police, often enough it is because they have ‘lumbered’ or ‘rolled’ (robbed) a victim. | |
| From Here to Eternity (1998) 165: Bloom’s got a queer lined up [...] he thinks he can roll a guy with quite a lot of dough. | |
| Mad mag. Aug.–Sept. 5: Remember how I helped you roll drunks in ’Frisco. | |
| Imabelle 59: See them muggers ganged around the door, they looking for a drunk to roll. | |
| Damned and Destroyed 37: I’ve been rolled [...] Some crud of a lightfinger cannoned me while I was on the nod! | |
| Rage in Harlem (1969) 55: [as 1957] . | |
| S.R.O. (1998) 28: ‘You think any S.R.O manager is going to let these Welfare cases take their checks [...] and then get drunk and rolled before they get back?’. | |
| Sun. Times Mag. 30 Sept. 41: You roll a guy and you get £10. | |
| (con. 1950s–60s) in Little Legs 35: He’d been flashing his money round, and they rolled him. | |
| Deathdeal [ebook] ‘And you two clowns thought you’d see if you could roll me and buy yourselves three hundred grand’s worth of happiness’. | |
| Everybody Smokes in Hell 11: You can’t stay around here, man. Someone’s going to roll you. | |
| Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] I go up to have a lousy look at some CDs and I nearly get rolled. | |
| in Jack of Jumps (2007) 202: Malik [...] was running the women, with Greenwood there to roll the punters. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 74: [Sex] workers are sometimes rolled (robbed) after a night working. | |
| ‘Killer, Duck and The Boys’ in ThugLit Apr. [ebook] ‘[W]hy don’t we roll some hookers?’. | |
| Boy from County Hell 63: [T]he seamen said they should roll some queers. |
(b) to attack.
| Mr Dooley’s Philosophy 24: I’ll lave these la-ads roll each other as much as they plaze. | |
| Big Town 180: If you don’t keep your clam shut I’ll roll you for a natural. | |
| College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Roll (verb) [...] 4. To fight. | |
| Source Oct. 156: These guys came to roll on us [...] They hooked up with a gang in the projects. |
(c) (US) to be robbed or cheated, without violence.
| ‘The Whirling Hub’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 29 June 15/1: Those wise lassies of the pavement set a high price upon ofay lovers [...] Samuel Gorodetsky [...] complained to the gendarmes of being ‘rolled’ for eleven smackers. |
(d) in fig. use of sense 1, to defraud.
| Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 16: Here I am being rolled for half a million bucks by some cunt and he thinks it’s hilarious. |
4. in senses of movement.
(a) (US) to walk.
![[Ind]](/static/img/flags/ind.png "India") | ‘The Bow Flume Cable-Car’ in Civil & Military Gaz. 10 Sept.(1909) 187: ‘The boys used to roll down [i.e. to a bar] and get full’. | |
| ‘A Stockman’s Adventures in New York’ in Ranch Verses 157: An’ up ole Cortlandt street I rolled, er-feelin’ kinder blue. | |
| ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 285: The boy came out and in his rear — perhaps twenty feet behind — the skull-cracker rolled. | |
| Flirt & Flapper 14: Flapper: I’ve been sitting here nights and nights after I roll home, and you’ve never spoken again. | |
| Let Us Be Glum 11: You may roll round with Ribbentrop and all your comic crowd. | |
| Do or Die (1992) 52: When somethin’ happen and an enemy roll by, you don’t think about dyin’. | |
| Source Oct. 199: John Davis [...] rolled these streets with Malik, Jacob and Ali. | |
| (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Roll - go or move purposefully, proceed. | |
| Widespread Panic 5: ‘You roll to the pad, and then what?’. |
(b) (US, also roll off) to move / to start moving, lit. or fig., thus phr. let’s roll, let’s go, let’s leave.
| Psmith in the City (1993) 80: Comrade Waller [...] seems to find no difficulty in rolling to the office every morning. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 23 July 10/1: Let them roll home with a load on to a somersaulting bed; /Let them rise to face to-morrow, and to wish that they were dead. | |
| diary 18 Sept. in Carnes Compensations of War (1983) 20: All the Fords are ready to roll. | |
| ‘Blackmailers Don’t Shoot’ in Red Wind (1946) 78: The car went out into the sea of lights, rolled east a short way. | |
| Right Ho, Jeeves 6: The first move of my little circle [...] is always to roll around and put the thing up to him. | |
| Foveaux 272: Every time I’ve tried to settle down something has occurred to set me rolling again. There’s a kind of hoodoo against my resting long in one place. | |
| Halo For Satan (1949) 78: Roll her, Mac. I unlocked the ignition. | |
| (con. 1944) A Stone for Danny Fisher 284: The truck’s loaded and ready to roll. | |
| College for Sinners 118: ‘I’m close to broke,’ Dave said. ‘The IRT is good enough for me. Let’s roll’. | |
| Billy Bunter at Butlins 40: ‘Roll off, anyway,’ said Harry. Bunter did not roll off. | |
| Jones Men 27: I’ll start to get it rollin’ as soon as you walk out that door. | |
| Glitter Dome (1982) 300: It wasn’t often that veteran homicide detectives rolled on an all-units call unless it was code three. | |
| Native Tongue 143: Better roll. | |
| Deathdeal [ebook] ‘Let’s roll’. | |
| Shame the Devil 95: A situation came up here that I have to take care of. After that I’m ready to roll. | |
| Campus Sl. Apr. | |
| Check the Technique 438: ‘People would just roll by other people's sessions and we'd be in there all night [...] working’. | |
| Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] Call me back in an hour, we may roll today. | |
| Crongton Knights 9: ‘You rest before you roll to work’. | |
| Orphan Road 207: ‘Let’s roll, old man’. |
(c) (US) to drive a car [seemingly coined by the US student volunteers driving ambulances in France c.1914].
| [ | | Nocturnal Revels I 113: A certain Nostrum-monger, who rolls in his chariot and lives nearr Soho]. |
| diary 21 Dec. in DeWolfe Howe Harvard Volunteers (1916) 125: I rolled last, about five. Blessés, French and Germans were coming in quickly, some hung in blankets for want of stretchers. | |
| Friends of France 54: At night there were always one or two interruptions, especially whenever an ambulance-driver was wanted. Those who were sent to call him always succeeded in waking the whole lot of sleepers before finding the man whose turn it was to ‘roll.". | |
| Black Mask Aug. III 24: Bud’ll be meeting me with a hired car [...] Bud and me roll easily downtown. | |
| Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye in Four Novels (1983) 96: We rolled right through the heart of town to a garage in the wholesale district. | |
| USA Confidential 246: Many colored cab-drivers carry their wives, daughters or lovers in the front seat. These will go into the back and turn a trick with the passenger, while the hack keeps rolling. | |
| Slam the Big Door (1961) 178: Okay, you wrecker guys! Hook up and roll ’em! | |
| Carlito’s Way 67: My white Lincoln what I was rolling around in at the time. | |
| ‘Ya Better Bring a Gun’ 🎵 Now Compton is the city where the homeboys stay / Rollin in a different car everyday. | |
| Mr Blue 287: As the bus rolled, I realized that the jail bureaucracy [...] saw me as someone eligible for the farm. | |
| ‘Front, Back and Side to Side’ 🎵 Some fool roll Lincoln, some fools roll Jag / but the crew from Texas roll them Lacs. | |
| Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 54: You had her [i.e. a daughter] when you was outside rolling. | |
| The Force [ebook] Rolling up Lenox now, past the old Mount Morris park. | |
| Who They Was 9: The gunmetal grey Porsche, which is what Big D always rolls in. |
(d) in fig. use, to exist, to conduct one’s life.
| Boys of Summer 297: My younger brother Roy [. . .] had good ability, but he was too hardheaded. He had to roll separate. | |
| ‘Int’l Player’s Anthem’ 🎵 Baby you been rollin’ solo, time to get down with the team. | |
| Rough Trade [ebook] ‘We don’t know how Byron rolls’. | |
| Widespread Panic 237: ‘No heavy petting, Janey. I don’t roll in that direction’. |
(e) (US campus) to leave, to avoid a class.
| College Sl. Dict. 🌐 roll [Okl. State] to cut class. |
(f) (US) to leave home.
| Workin’ It 62: When I was fifteen and a half or sixteen, I rolled. You know, I got out of it. |
(g) (US black) to perform, e.g. as a rapper.
| untitled track on College Dropout [album] 🎵 I really wanted to roll hip-hop. |
5. (US) to work [? double entendre for sense 1].
| Blind Lemon Jefferson ‘Chock House Blues’ [lyics] I say these women wants these men to act like some ox from dawn / Grab a pick and shovel and roll from sun to sun. | |
| ‘Married Man Blues’ 🎵 Get you a job and roll for the man and try to carry your labor home. | |
| ‘I’m a Steady Rollin’ Man’ 🎵 I’m a steady rollin’ man, I roll both night and day / [...] / I’m a hard-workin’ man, have been for many years I know. | |
| Leadbelly 76: Huddie decided to live by a new plan, to become a ‘rollin’ sonofabitch,’ the hardest-working man in the Texas penal system . |
6. in fig. uses [‘roll with the punches’].
(a) (US, also roll high) to prosper, to do well, to succeed.
| Thicker ’n Thieves 78: Brenda [...] was rootin’, tootin’ and gatherin’ in the ‘scratch’ (or money), at the apex of her career as Boss Madame of a regiment of Hollywood prostitutes when she was really steaming and rolling. | |
| Breakfast at Tiffany’s 33: She had something working for her, she had them interested, she could’ve really rolled. | |
| No Beast So Fierce 246: Jesus, it’s shitty . . . just when you were starting to roll. | |
| Brown’s Requiem 202: Let the bummer roll! | |
| Central Sl. 45: rollin’ high Living the big money life, having a fancy car, clothes, lots of money, women, etc. | |
| Indep. Rev. 10 July 8: When I’d finished, everybody in the place applauded – and after that I’ve been rolling. | |
| (con. 1964–8) Cold Six Thousand 147: The liquor stores rolled. Bottle hounds and out-the-door biz. |
(b) (US black) to survive, to live, to conduct oneself.
| ‘Heartbeat’ 🎵 Just rollin’ thick as hell, champagne I sip as well. | |
| ‘Some L.A. Shit’ 🎵 We roll deep, smoke on weed drink and back heat / Requirements for survival each day -- in L.A.! | |
| Campus Sl. Nov. 6: roll – do things with a distinctive style or attitude: We pick up girls at clubs. That’s how we roll! | |
| Guardian G2 8 Aug. 🌐 ‘The nail polish is,’ he coolly explains, ‘just how I roll’. | |
| Straight Dope [ebook] I ain’t rollin’ like I was back then. |
7. in context of laughter [abbr. SE rolling in the aisles].
(a) to laugh hysterically.
| Campus Sl. Oct. | |
| Sl. U. | |
| Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 roll v 1. to laugh very hard. (‘When he fell, I was rolling so hard my stomach hurt.’). | |
| Source Aug. 68: This film had me rollin’. |
(b) to make someone laugh.
| Sl. U. |
8. to happen, to turn out.
| Rakim Told Me 85: ‘[T]hat's the way that a lot of sessions roll. If you're there, whether you're the engineer or someone invited to hang out, you could wind up being on our album’. | |
| Rakim Told Me 147: ‘I had to connect with them and roll with whatever was rolling, because I was a one-man team coming into school, with no back-up’. |
9. see roll in v. (1)
In derivatives
(N.Z. prison) a group of influential prisoners.
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 155/2: rollers n. = players sense 1. |
In phrases
(orig. US black) to have a large number (in context) of individuals in one’ s group or gang.
| ‘Shut Up’ 🎵 They roll deep, I roll squaddy / Got about 25 goons in my posse. |
In compounds
(US black) someone with whom one drives around.
| Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 roll-dog n 1. a good or best friend. | |
| Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 roll dog Definition: one you can ride around with Example: He my roll dog...dat nigga always down to ride. |
(US) a piece of grafitto art painted on a roll-down metal door.
| ‘Traces of a Name’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] I did fill-ins on some of those roll-downs. |
(US Und.) a street robbery, a mugging.
| Hoodlums (2021) 72: ‘A roll job?’ he barked. ‘This ain’t no roll job. And it ain’t no foolin’ around time either’. | |
| ‘. . . Or Leave It Alone’ in Jungle Kids (1967) 66: He began going through my pockets [...] ‘What is this, a roll job?’. |
(US prison) a generically branded cigarette.
| Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Roll Right: Cigarette, not named brand. |
(US teen) to drive an expensive car.
| Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 gettin ya’ roll on v. To drive an expensive vehicle. |
see under number n.
(US) to betray, to inform on.
| ‘One Arrest’ Wire ser. 1 ep. 7 [TV script] You roll back on the people who killed Willian Ganvoort, or you gonna eat the whole meal. |
see deep adv. (3)
(US black) to be very aggressive, fearless.
| Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 roll hard Definition: 1. fear nothing 2. capable of getting very violent 3. [to be] a good fighter. Example: They kept tryin’ to start shit wit us, but little did they know, my girl rolls harder than most of my niggaz. |
see sense 5a above.
see separate entry.
see under ivory n.
see separate entry.
1. to arrive.
| Life in St George’s Fields 6: He rolled into the Coffee room. | |
| ‘Let Me at the Enemy’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 44: Just wait ’til I roll into L.A. an’ tell her how much fun I been havin’. | |
| letter 21 Oct. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 281: I shall roll into King’s Cross at 4.44, & make for your abode straight away. | |
| (con. 1970s) King Suckerman (1998) 25: Said he’d be rolling into town in a red Mopar. |
2. (Aus.) to attack.
| Robbery Under Arms (1922) 5: He rolled into a man big enough to eat him and polished him off. | |
| ‘The Bush Fire’ in Roderick (1972) 433: Peter, the station-hand [...] rolled up his sleeves, ready, as he said afterwards, to ‘roll into’ either the father or the son. |
to stay out all night on the spree.
| New Sprees of London 16: We advise all who would roll it for a night merrily, to pay Evans’ a visit. | |
| ‘Joskin’s Vocab.’ in Yokel’s Preceptor 29: Rolling it, stopping out all night on the spree. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 6 Feb. 6/3: Some woman, taking advantage of her masque, would accost some male individual and ask him [...] ‘was he on’ or ‘did he roll’. |
1. see roll up v. (2)
2. see roll up v. (5)
see jelly roll v.
see under kennel n.2
see sense 4b above.
(US) to accede to seduction.
| The Same Old Grind 14: Flame hadn’t planned on rolling of the vine so soon, but [...] she might as well do whatever it took. |
see separate entry.
(US) to get into action, to move oneself.
| Wyoming (1908) 69: Y’u better roll your trail, seh. | |
| Bucky O’Connor (1910) 45: Now, roll yore trail to the wall. Face this way! | |
| ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 213: roll bones, v. – to fight. |
1. to do well, to succeed.
| DSUE (8th edn) 984/2: ca. 1870–1930. |
2. (US, also roll one’s tail) to leave.
(also roll one’s tail) | Butte Inter-Mountain (MT) 11 Apr. 7/3: The slick-eared maverick will soon roll his tail and pull for the wild bunch. | |
| Salt Lake City Herald (UT) 3 Mar. 17/5: We could not agree [...] I told him to roll his hoop, and [...] I went up to the Court House and got my second Decree. | |
| Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. ii: My goodness, I’ve got to roll my hoop and do a shopping number. | |
| Goodwin’s Wkly (Salt Lake City, UT) 20 Dec. 18/3: ‘You go back to him and tell him to roll his hoop’. | |
| Wash. Herald (DC) 27 Mar. 6/3: The bride gave the ring back and told him to roll his hoop. | |
| Law O’ The Lariat 17: Roll yore tails, every dam one o’ yu. | |
| One-Way Ride 88: Roll your hoop, Dean [...] We’re not looking for trouble. | |
| ‘Killer’s Cure’ Hollywood Detective Mar. 🌐 Go on, roll your hoop, or I’ll pinch you along with the jane. |
see roll one’s hoop
1. (also US) to get out of bed, to get up.
| Prairie Experiences 237: The cook’s voice shouts ‘Roll out;’ you jump up, but before you have time to dress [...] it is ‘Breakfast!’. | |
| Gem 30 Sept. 21: ‘Oh! I believe I’ve been asleep,’ yawned Fatty Wynn. ‘Yes, I believe you have. Roll out!’. | |
| ‘Logger Talk’ in AS I:3 139: ‘Roll out or roll up,’ is the morning call. | |
| Cowboy Lingo 152: A cheery voice ringing out about daybreak, shouting ‘Roll out there, fellers.’. | |
| ‘The Castration of the Strawberry Roan’ in Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 94: I rolls out at sun up, I’ve still got the shits, / I fills up on coffee to sharpen my wits. |
2. (US) to leave, to depart, also excl.
| Journal Birmingham Emigrating Company 13: They hitched up and 13 men, 5 wagons and 23 Horses rolled out [DA]. | |
| Americanisms 223: To roll out [...] means there to begin a journey or commence an enterprise. | |
| letter 30 Jan. in Gone To Texas (1884) 49: We had to turn out and get bedding, &c., into the wagon, eat breakfast, and roll out. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Aberdeen people’s Jrnl 18 Apr. 2/4: ‘Roll out!’ The cook’s voice rings out [...] calling the sleeping cowboys into action. | |
| Fifty Years on the Old Frontier 34: We will roll out tomorrow. | |
| AS VII Oct. 12: ‘To roll out’ also meant to prepare and depart from membership with the company [DA]. | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 218: We rolled out, not too noisy, ’cause the cop would stop us, but politely high and good-natured. | |
| ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 65: Let’s roll out and get some food. | |
| Street Talk 2 37: You rollin’ out with me? | |
| Corner (1998) 407: Tyreeka wasn’t so young any more. She rolled out. | |
| ‘The Target’ Wire ep. 1 [TV script] The Major wants to talk to you before you roll out. | |
| ‘She’s So Fly’ 🎵 So, we hopped in the Land, and we rolled out, yeah. | |
| (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 Fall . |
3. (US prison) to release from jail.
| Homeboy 104: They rolled her out [...] They found a halfway house will to take a broad who killed her own baby. |
4. (US prison) to move to a new cell.
| Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Roll Out: To move to other housing. Originally from rolling one’s belongings into the mattress for a move. |
see separate entry.
see roll in v. (1)
(US drugs) to move around wholesale quantities of narcotics.
| ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 108/1: To roll stuff. To transport narcotics in wholesale quantities. |
(US prison) to open a row of cell doors using a remote mechanism that opens every door simultaneously.
| Prison Sl. 7: Rollin’ the Bars [...] In many prisons, the cell doors on each row of cells are opened and closed automatically at specific times. The cell doors are made of steel bars and operate on steel rollers that are connected so they open or close simultaneously. |
see under bones n.1
(drugs) to smoke opium.
| Opium Addiction in Chicago. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 196: roll the boy To smoke opium [...] rolling the log The act of smoking opium. | |
| Traffic In Narcotics 314: roll the boy. To smoke opium. | |
| Narcotics Lingo and Lore. |
(UK black) to attend an event.
| hubpages.com ‘Roadman Slang 4 Jun. 🌐 Roll through - to attend an event. e.g. ‘are you rolling through tonight?’. |
1. see sense 2a above.
2. see also separate entry.
1. to approach.
| Hard Candy (1990) 161: Wesley was standing against the wall [...] Dayton rolled up on him. | |
| Handbook for Boys 171: [T]he police rolled up on us and said they had seen the deal go down. | |
| Bangs 49: [Patrolman] McDonald rolled up on them to see why they were at the store after hours. | |
| We Own This City 109: [H]e and other officers had rolled up on a group of men just after midnight . |
2. to approach sexually.
| Everybody Smokes in Hell 199: See bitches all day long with their signs hung out, then they wonder why a brother be giving them the eye, tryin’ ta roll up on ’em. |
3. to attack.
| Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 roll-up v. 1. To sneak up on someone – usually in a car. 2. Something that an enemy would do to sneak up on you. ‘Let’s roll up on those fellas and bust a cap!’ 3. To fight. ‘Roll up fool.’. | |
| Soul Circus 138: You need to roll up on those cousins out on the street. |
see under sidewalk n.
1. to agree with, to accept.
| Paper Tiger 112: I avoided thinking about the formidable lead story. Better to roll with it and do it freehand. | |
| Cannibals 45: Jonathan frowned and became impatient. ‘If you’re through with being cute, continue.’ I rolled with the punch and went on. | |
| Report to the Commissioner 62: He already had his two collars and he stepped into a triple homicide, he’d just walk over the bodies and continue on his way. Why let it upset you? Roll with it. | |
| Curvy Lovebox 60: Ain’t none of us rollin’ with this point of view. | |
| ‘Old Cases’ Wire ser. 1 ep. 4 [TV script] Come on Herc, roll with me on this one, all right? | |
| Nature Girl 230: So why don’tcha just roll with it? | |
| OG Dad 46: Let’s just fucking roll with it, okay? | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Joys of War 59: It’s the military; rank is rank. Even when it’s against your better judgement, you’ve got to roll with it. | |
| Dirtbag, Massachusetts 205: [R]olling with the awful haircut. |
2. to associate with.
| Imabelle 21: ‘You want to roll ’em [i.e. craps dice] or roll with ’em?" the lookout asked. | |
| ‘If I Ruled The World’ 🎵 I’m rollin with folks that could never be stopped. | |
| Blood Posse 286: He used to roll with the Gods on Buffalo Park. | |
| Source Oct. 186: A herb who never got in trouble and didn’t roll with anybody. | |
| Westsiders 93: What’s up with our company? You’re always rolling with Cash. | |
| (con. 1990s) in One of the Guys 141: ‘I got a couple of girls in there that’s tough like me so we roll a lot’. | |
| Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 rollin’ 1. chillin’, hangin’ out, rollin’ with the flow, takin’ what life gives ya. ‘I’m rollin’ with the homies.’. | |
| Running the Books 169: There was this black dude [...] who dressed like them, the Hasids, and rolled with them. | |
| Pigeon English 39: If you roll with us [...] we’ll look out for you, innit. | |
| theculturetrip.com ‘Guide to London Slang 10 Jan. 🌐 Roll with – hang out with me. |
3. to adopt a role or position.
| ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] When them New York jokers found out what really happened, we was still rollin’ wit’ that K.G. the boss shit. |
In exclamations
(US) a dismissive retort.
| Union Dues (1978) 152: The woman’s eyes went dead. ‘Go roll in it, buddy.’ ‘Can I believe my ears? An officer of the lawr [sic] subjected to crude language on the very streets of our city?’. |
(US) a dismissive retort.
| Real Latin Quarter 188: All straight, friend — two whiskeys with seltzer on the side — see ? Now go roll your hoop. | |
| Tobogganning on Parnassus (1911) 25: Suppose I pass this Chloe up And say: ‘Go roll your hoop, I’m rid o’ ye!’ Would that drop sweetness in your cup? Eh, Lydia? | |
| Munsey’s mag. XC 723/2: ‘This joint ain’t run fer charity — see?’ ‘Go roll your hoop.’. | |
| ‘Stag Party’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2006) 97: Go roll your hoop. | |
| Foundry 181: Go roll your hoop. | |
| It Can’t Happen Here 425: Senorita go roll your hoop, Or come to bed! Senorita from Guadalupe If Padre sees us we’re in the soup. | |
| Amer. Thes. Sl. | |
| Night the Old Nostalgia Burned Down 101: Those shafts used to be considered quite crushing. If all else fails, I can run the gamut of the Go School: ‘Go paddle your canoe.’ ‘Go roll your hoop.’. | |
| Bread and a Stone 295: You don’ like it, you c’n go roll your hoop. | |
| in Bk Canadian Prose 437: To hell with you Thackeray, go roll your hoop you old bastard. | |
| May There Be a Road 101: ‘Go roll your hoop.’ ‘Don’t be that way,’ Gurney protested. |
see separate entry.