rollick

English

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɹɑlɪk/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɹɒlɪk/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Hyphenation: rol‧lick
  • Rhymes: -ɒlɪk

Etymology 1

Presumably a blend of roll +‎ frolic; appeared 1811 as rollicking, 1826 as rollick.[1]

Verb

rollick (third-person singular simple present rollicks, present participle rollicking, simple past and past participle rollicked)

  1. To behave in a playful or carefree manner; to frolic or romp.
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 34, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 163:
      But the third Emir, now seeing himself all alone on the quarter-deck, seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint; for, tipping all sorts of knowing winks in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right over the Grand Turk’s head; and then, by a dexterous sleight, pitching his cap up into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes down rollicking so far at least as he remains visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by bringing up the rear with music.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From bollock.

Alternative forms

Verb

rollick (third-person singular simple present rollicks, present participle rollicking, simple past and past participle rollicked)

  1. (euphemistic, transitive) To reprimand.

Etymology 3

Noun

rollick (plural rollicks)

  1. Alternative form of rowlock.

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “rollicking”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams