troll, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

troll v.

[ult. OF troller, to search for game (without purpose) of Fr. trôler, to ramble]

1. (also troll about, ...around) to wander around, to saunter; also fig.

c.1367–86		Langland Piers Plowman’s Vision (B) XVIII line 298: And thus hath he trolled forth thise two and thritty wynter.
1613		Middleton Chaste Maid in Cheapside III ii: Now the cups troll about to wet the gossips’ whistles.
c.1663		‘Iter Hibernicum’ in Carpenter Verse in English from Tudor & Stuart Eng. (2003) 387: But as the Knights on the Road were trouling, / They heard a sad and grievous howling.
1671		‘A Furious Scold’ in Ebsworth Westminster Drolleries (1875) 37: Yet she with her Cronies must trole it about.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Troll away bowl away, or trundle away. Troll about, saunter, loiter, wander about.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. n.p.: troll-about, saunter, loiter, wander about.
1754		G. Stevens ‘A Cant Song’ Muses Delight 177: As I trolled a-long I grappled her shell, she stag’d rum bowman & knew me full well.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1845		late 17C ballad q. in Sporting World 19 Apr. 50/1: I depend on my Doe, / Who, a garden-stuff draper, trulls out on the cadge.
1853		Worcester Jrnl 15 Oct. 8/1: [headline] Trolling in the Avon.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1965		Took & Feldman Round the Horne 10 June [BBC radio] Now – I can see it – a troupe of Rhinoceroses dragged up as Pierrots trolling about a Salford Slum and singing ‘Keep the Home Burning.’.
1977		S. Berkoff East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 80: Trolling down the Green / Bethnal to you.
2004		T. Winton Turning (2005) 151: In the city they trolled through boutiques and sat in cafés.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 30: She would sometimes be seen trolling the Boulevard Saint-Germain.

2. of a prostitute, to look for clients.

1825		T.E. Hook Sayings and Doings 2nd Ser. 9: Sweet Fanny — she’s dead; / And Kate, merry soul! / Is doing the gawdy / In — Square, a lord he / Is caught, (so they troll / These ladies of certain description).
1968		J.Q. Wilson Police Behavior 108: Men, mostly white, drive slowly through the Negro area [...] girls hail them and they negotiate through the open car window [...] The practice is called ‘trolling’.
1984		Flame : a Life on the Game 112: I went and sat on the corner of the street where the female prostitutes trolled.
1991		W.T. Vollmann Whores for Gloria 2: Laredo [...] stood on the corner of Jones and Sutter [...] acting like a whore and trolling for whores and pimps and johns and dealers and whatever else might come her way.

3. (gay) to walk the streets in search of a sexual partner.

[1784		Rambler’s Mag. June 224/4: You are an angler [...] you understand me — I made use of the bait — but I had no gudgeon! — I trolled him, to be sure — but he trolled me at last].
1952		K. Williams Diaries 6 July 78: Another ridiculous and wasted day. L & I trolled to Hyde Park trés usual traditional worry. Ridicule.
1960		G. Westwood A Minority 174: Before I met Jack I would [...] go for a drink and look for trade – not troll from place to place, but keep my eyes open.
1981		Burbridge & Walters Breaking the Silence 50: I saw another schoolfriend trolling. He must know I’m gay.
1997		P. Cornwell Hornet’s Nest 22: I’ve got people down there undercover, hookers, pimps, trolling, hanging out, whatever it takes.
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘Assailants’ in Knockemstiff 127: The speed-freak nurses from the VA hospital were starting early today. First, they’d get cranked up at home, then go out trolling for men in the bars uptown.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 299/1: troll to walk around, perhaps with sexual intent.

4. to search, to root around for.

1966		Took & Feldman ‘Bona Books’ Round the Horne 20 Mar. [BBC radio] Hello, Mr. Horne. What brings you trolling in here?
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 93: Maggie was trolling for something.
1992		J. Mowry Way Past Cool 199: It was just some ole winehead trollin for cans, what it was!
2001		Week (US) 29 June 19: Old men out trolling for prostitutes.
2013		J. Stahl Bad Sex on Speed 135: Watched Huncke troll for dip-bait.

5. (US campus) to go drinking in a succession of bars.

1985

Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 10: troll – to go to bars to drink. ‘Tonight after your midterm, let’s go trolling.’.

In phrases

troll about/around (v.)

see sense 1 above.

troll for faggots (v.) (also troll for fairies) [faggot n.¹ (3)]

(gay) to search the streets for a sexual partner.

1957		N. Algren ‘G-String Gomorrah’ in Entrapment (2009) 199: Once in a while he’ll trill, ‘Now I’m trolling for fairies,’ [...] with his shirt flowing behind and his pants falling till they bind his ankles and he stands in the spot in his baggy shorts.
1970		(con. 1950s) H. Junker ‘The Fifties’ in Eisen Age of Rock 2 (1970) 101: Driving around with your penis hanging out the window was trolling for faggots.

troll hazard of trace (n.) [sense 1 above + trace, a track or line of footprints]

(UK Und.) someone who follows their master as far as the master can be seen.

c.1561

Awdeley Fraternitye of Vacabondes in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 12: Troll hazard of trace is he that goeth behynde his Maister as far as he may see hym. Such knaues commonly vse to buy Spicecakes, Apples, or other trifles, and doo eate them as they go in the streetes lyke vacabond Boyes.

troll hazard of tritrace (n.) [sense 1 + tritrace, an unknown word which ? linked to treytrace, itself another mystery]

(UK Und.) one who ‘goeth gaping after his master’ (Awdeley, Fraternitie of Vagabondes, c.1561).

c.1561

Awdeley Fraternitye of Vacabondes in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 13: Troll hazard of tritrace, is he that goeth gaping after his Master, looking to and fro tyl he haue lost him. This knaue goeth gasyng about lyke a foole at euery toy, and then seeketh in euery house lyke a Maisterles dog, and when his Maister nedeth him, he is to seeke.

troll with (n.)

(UK Und.) a servant who walks alongside his master; ‘he that no man shall know the seruaunt from ye Maister’ (Awdeley, op cit).

c.1561

Awdeley Fraternitye of Vacabondes in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 12: Troll with is he that no man shall know the seruaunt from ye Maister. This knaue with his cap on his head lyke Capon hardy, wyll syt downe by his Maister, or els go cheeke by cheeks with him in the streete.