Droll, n. 1. One
whose practice it is to raise mirth by odd tricks; a jester; a
buffoon; a merry-andrew. Prior.
2. Something exhibited to raise mirth or
sport, as a puppet, a farce, and the like.
Droll, v. i. [imp. & p.
p. Drolled (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Drolling.] To jest; to play the buffoon. [R.]
Droll (?), a.
[Compar. Droller (?);
superl. Drollest (?).] [F.
drôle; cf. G. & D. drollig, LG. drullig,
D. drol a thick and short person, a droll, Sw. troll a
magical appearance, demon, trolla to use magic arts, enchant,
Dan. trold elf, imp, Icel. tröll giant, magician,
evil spirit, monster. If this is the origin, cf. Trull.]
Queer, and fitted to provoke laughter; ludicrous from oddity;
amusing and strange.
Syn. -- Comic; comical; farcical; diverting; humorous;
ridiculous; queer; odd; waggish; facetious; merry; laughable;
ludicrous. -- Droll, Laughable, Comical.
Laughable is the generic term, denoting anything exciting
laughter or worthy of laughter; comical denotes something of
the kind exhibited in comedies, something humorous of the kind
exhibited in comedies, something, as it were, dramatically
humorous; droll stands lower on the scale, having
reference to persons or things which excite laughter by their
buffoonery or oddity. A laughable incident; a comical
adventure; a droll story.
Droll, v. t. 1. To
lead or influence by jest or trick; to banter or jest; to
cajole.
Men that will not be reasoned into their senses, may
yet be laughed or drolled into them.
L'Estrange.
2. To make a jest of; to set in a comical
light. [R.]
This drolling everything is rather
fatiguing.
W. D. Howells.