Library / English Dictionary |
ROLLER
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A grounder that rolls along the infield
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("roller" is a kind of...):
ground ball; groundball; grounder; hopper ((baseball) a hit that travels along the ground)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Pigeon that executes backward somersaults in flight or on the ground
Synonyms:
roller; tumbler; tumbler pigeon
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("roller" is a kind of...):
domestic pigeon (domesticated pigeon raised for sport or food)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Old World bird that tumbles or rolls in flight; related to kingfishers
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("roller" is a kind of...):
coraciiform bird (chiefly short-legged arboreal nonpasserine birds that nest in holes)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "roller"):
Coracias garrulus; European roller (common European blue-and-green roller with a reddish-brown back)
ground roller (Madagascan roller with terrestrial and crepuscular habits that feeds on e.g. insects and worms)
Holonyms ("roller" is a member of...):
Coraciidae; family Coraciidae (rollers)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A mechanical device consisting of a cylindrical tube around which the hair is wound to curl it
Example:
a woman with her head full of curlers is not a pretty sight
Synonyms:
crimper; curler; hair curler; roller
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("roller" is a kind of...):
mechanical device (mechanism consisting of a device that works on mechanical principles)
Derivation:
roll (arrange or or coil around)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("roller" is a kind of...):
cylinder (a solid bounded by a cylindrical surface and two parallel planes (the bases))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "roller"):
garden roller (heavy cast-iron cylinder used to flatten lawns)
paint roller (a roller that has an absorbent surface used for spreading paint)
platen (the roller on a typewriter against which the keys strike)
sprocket (roller that has teeth on the rims to pull film or paper through)
trundle (small wheel or roller)
Holonyms ("roller" is a part of...):
roller blind (a window shade that rolls up out of the way)
Derivation:
roll (move by turning over or rotating)
Sense 6
Meaning:
A small wheel without spokes (as on a roller skate)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("roller" is a kind of...):
wheel (a simple machine consisting of a circular frame with spokes (or a solid disc) that can rotate on a shaft or axle (as in vehicles or other machines))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "roller"):
caster; castor (a pivoting roller attached to the bottom of furniture or trucks or portable machines to make them movable)
Holonyms ("roller" is a part of...):
roller skate (a shoe with pairs of rollers fixed to the sole)
Derivation:
roll (move by turning over or rotating)
Sense 7
Meaning:
A long heavy sea wave as it advances towards the shore
Synonyms:
roll; roller; rolling wave
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("roller" is a kind of...):
moving ridge; wave (one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water))
Derivation:
roll (move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion)
Context examples:
People who hire all these things done for them never know what they lose, for the homeliest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them, and Meg found so many proofs of this that everything in her small nest, from the kitchen roller to the silver vase on her parlor table, was eloquent of home love and tender forethought.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Far behind them the two galleys labored heavily, now sinking between the rollers until their yards were level with the waves, and again shooting up with a reeling, scooping motion until every spar and rope stood out hard against the sky.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The breeze blew, the sail bellied, over heeled the portly vessel, and away she plunged through the smooth blue rollers, amid the clang of the minstrels on her poop and the shouting of the black crowd who fringed the yellow beach.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Already it was deep summer on roadhouse roofs and in front of wayside garages, where new red gas-pumps sat out in pools of light, and when I reached my estate at West Egg I ran the car under its shed and sat for a while on an abandoned grass roller in the yard.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)