1. [n]  the act of rolling something (as the ball in bowling)
2. [n]  a flight maneuver; aircraft rotates about its longitudinal axis without changing direction or losing altitude
3. [n]  walking with a rolling gait
4. [n]  the act of throwing dice
5. [n]  anything rolled up in cylindrical form
6. [n]  photographic film rolled up inside a container to protect it from light
7. [n]  a document that can be rolled up (as for storage)
8. [n]  a list of names; "his name was struck off the rolls"
9. [n]  a long heavy sea wave as it advances towards the shore
10. [n]  the sound of a drum (especially a snare drum) beaten rapidly and continuously
11. [n]  a deep prolonged sound (as of thunder or large bells)
12. [n]  rotary motion of an object around its own axis; "wheels in axial rotation"
13. [n]  small rounded bread either plain or sweet
14. [n]  a roll of currency notes (often taken as the resources of a person or business etc.); "he shot his roll on a bob-tailed nag"
15. [n]  a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles
16. [v]  execute a roll, in tumbling; "The gymnasts rolled and jumped"
17. [v]  shape by rolling; "roll a cigarette"
18. [v]  boil vigorously; "The liquid was seething"
19. [v]  pronounce with a roll, of the phoneme /r/ "She rolls her r's".
20. [v]  flatten or spread with a roller; "roll out the paper"
21. [v]  wrap or coil around; "roll your hair around your finger"; "Twine the thread around the spool"
22. [v]  begin operating or running; "The cameras were rolling"; "The presses are already rolling"
23. [v]  to rotate or cause to rotate; "The child rolled down the hill"; "She rolled the ball"; "They rolled their eyes at his words"; "turn over to your left side"; "Ballet dancers can rotate their legs outward"
24. [v]  move along on or as if on wheels or a wheeled vehicle; "The President's convoy rolled past the crowds"
25. [v]  emit, produce, or utter with a deep prolonged reverberating sound; "The thunder rolled"; "rolling drums"
26. [v]  sell something to or obtain something from by energetic and esp. underhanded activity
27. [v]  occur in soft rounded shapes; "The hills rolled past"

1. \Roll\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Rolled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Rolling}.] [OF. roeler, roler, F. rouler, LL. rotulare, fr.
   L. royulus, rotula, a little wheel, dim. of rota wheel; akin
   to G. rad, and to Skr. ratha car, chariot. Cf. {Control},
   {Roll}, n., {Rotary}.]
   1. To cause to revolve by turning over and over; to move by
      turning on an axis; to impel forward by causing to turn
      over and over on a supporting surface; as, to roll a
      wheel, a ball, or a barrel.
   2. To wrap round on itself; to form into a spherical or
      cylindrical body by causing to turn over and over; as, to
      roll a sheet of paper; to roll parchment; to roll clay or
      putty into a ball.
   3. To bind or involve by winding, as in a bandage; to inwrap;
      -- often with up; as, to roll up a parcel.
   4. To drive or impel forward with an easy motion, as of
      rolling; as, a river rolls its waters to the ocean.
            The flood of Catholic reaction was rolled over
            Europe.                               --J. A.
                                                  Symonds.
   5. To utter copiously, esp. with sounding words; to utter
      with a deep sound; -- often with forth, or out; as, to
      roll forth some one's praises; to roll out sentences.
            Who roll'd the psalm to wintry skies. --Tennyson.
   6. To press or level with a roller; to spread or form with a
      roll, roller, or rollers; as, to roll a field; to roll
      paste; to roll steel rails, etc.
   7. To move, or cause to be moved, upon, or by means of,
      rollers or small wheels.
   8. To beat with rapid, continuous strokes, as a drum; to
      sound a roll upon.
   9. (Geom.) To apply (one line or surface) to another without
      slipping; to bring all the parts of (one line or surface)
      into successive contact with another, in suck manner that
      at every instant the parts that have been in contact are
      equal.
   10. To turn over in one's mind; to revolve.
             Full oft in heart he rolleth up and down The beauty
             of these florins new and bright.     --Chaucer.
   {To roll one's self}, to wallow.
   {To roll the eye}, to direct its axis hither and thither in
      quick succession.
   {To roll one's r's}, to utter the letter r with a trill.
      [Colloq.]
   

2. \Roll\, v. i.
   1. To move, as a curved object may, along a surface by
      rotation without sliding; to revolve upon an axis; to turn
      over and over; as, a ball or wheel rolls on the earth; a
      body rolls on an inclined plane.
            And her foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical
            stone, which rolls, and rolls, and rolls. --Shak.
   2. To move on wheels; as, the carriage rolls along the
      street. ``The rolling chair.'' --Dryden.
   3. To be wound or formed into a cylinder or ball; as, the
      cloth rolls unevenly; the snow rolls well.
   4. To fall or tumble; -- with over; as, a stream rolls over a
      precipice.
   5. To perform a periodical revolution; to move onward as with
      a revolution; as, the rolling year; ages roll away.
   6. To turn; to move circularly.
            And his red eyeballs roll with living fire.
                                                  --Dryden.
   7. To move, as waves or billows, with alternate swell and
      depression.
            What different sorrows did within thee roll.
                                                  --Prior.
   8. To incline first to one side, then to the other; to rock;
      as, there is a great difference in ships about rolling; in
      a general semse, to be tossed about.
            Twice ten tempestuous nights I rolled. --Pope.
   9. To turn over, or from side to side, while lying down; to
      wallow; as, a horse rolls.
   10. To spread under a roller or rolling-pin; as, the paste
       rolls well.
   11. To beat a drum with strokes so rapid that they can
       scarcely be distinguished by the ear.
   12. To make a loud or heavy rumbling noise; as, the thunder
       rolls.
   {To roll about}, to gad abroad. [Obs.]
            Man shall not suffer his wife go roll about.
                                                  --Chaucer.
   

3. \Roll\, n. [F. r[^o]le a roll (in sense 3), fr. L. rotulus
   ? little wheel, LL., a roll, dim. of L. rota a wheel. See
   {Roll}, v., and cf. {R[^o]le}, {Rouleau}, {Roulette}.]
   1. The act of rolling, or state of being rolled; as, the roll
      of a ball; the roll of waves.
   2. That which rolls; a roller. Specifically:
      (a) A heavy cylinder used to break clods. --Mortimer.
      (b) One of a set of revolving cylinders, or rollers,
          between which metal is pressed, formed, or smoothed,
          as in a rolling mill; as, to pass rails through the
          rolls.
   3. That which is rolled up; as, a roll of fat, of wool,
      paper, cloth, etc. Specifically:
      (a) A document written on a piece of parchment, paper, or
          other materials which may be rolled up; a scroll.
                Busy angels spread The lasting roll, recording
                what we say.                      --Prior.
      (b) Hence, an official or public document; a register; a
          record; also, a catalogue; a list.
                The rolls of Parliament, the entry of the
                petitions, answers, and transactions in
                Parliament, are extant.           --Sir M. Hale.
                The roll and list of that army doth remain.
                                                  --Sir J.
                                                  Davies.
      (c) A quantity of cloth wound into a cylindrical form; as,
          a roll of carpeting; a roll of ribbon.
      (d) A cylindrical twist of tobacco.
   4. A kind of shortened raised biscuit or bread, often rolled
      or doubled upon itself.
   5. (Naut.) The oscillating movement of a vessel from side to
      side, in sea way, as distinguished from the alternate rise
      and fall of bow and stern called pitching.
   6. A heavy, reverberatory sound; as, the roll of cannon, or
      of thunder.
   7. The uniform beating of a drum with strokes so rapid as
      scarcely to be distinguished by the ear.
   8. Part; office; duty; r[^o]le. [Obs.] --L'Estrange.
   {Long roll} (Mil.), a prolonged roll of the drums, as the
      signal of an attack by the enemy, and for the troops to
      arrange themselves in line.
   {Master of the rolls}. See under {Master}.
   {Roll call}, the act, or the time, of calling over a list
      names, as among soldiers.
   {Rolls of court}, {of parliament} (or of any public body),
      the parchments or rolls on which the acts and proceedings
      of that body are engrossed by the proper officer, and
      which constitute the records of such public body.
   {To call the roll}, to call off or recite a list or roll of
      names of persons belonging to an organization, in order to
      ascertain who are present or to obtain responses from
      those present.
   Syn: List; schedule; catalogue; register; inventory. See
        {List}.
   

the common form of ancient books. The Hebrew word rendered "roll" or "volume" is _meghillah_, found in Ezra 6:2; Ps. 40:7; Jer. 36:2, 6, 23, 28, 29; Ezek. 2:9; 3:1-3; Zech. 5:1, 2. "Rolls" (Chald. pl. of sephar, corresponding to Heb. sepher) in Ezra 6:1 is rendered in the Revised Version "archives." In the New Testament the word "volume" (Heb. 10:7; R.V., "roll") occurs as the rendering of the Greek kephalis, meaning the head or top of the stick or cylinder on which the manuscript was rolled, and hence the manuscript itself. (See BOOK.)