Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To make (a liquid) turbulent or muddy or cloudy by stirring up sediment.
- intransitive verb To cause to be in a state of agitation or disorder.
- intransitive verb Usage Problem To put in a state of emotional agitation; rile or upset.
- intransitive verb To move or be in a state of turbulence, especially because of an abundance of something.
- intransitive verb To be agitated or chaotic.
- intransitive verb To be vexed or upset.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To run; wander; roll; rove.
- noun A Flemish horse.
- To render turbid by stirring up the dregs or sediment: as, to
roil wine, cider, or other liquor in casks or bottles. - To excite to some degree of anger; annoy; vex: now more commonly, in colloquial use, rile.
- To perplex.
- To salt (fish) by means of a roiler.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To render turbid by stirring up the dregs or sediment of; , in casks or bottles; to
roil a spring. - transitive verb To disturb, as the temper; to ruffle the temper of; to rouse the passion of resentment in; to perplex.
- intransitive verb obsolete To wander; to roam.
- intransitive verb Prov. Eng. To romp.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To render
turbid by stirring up thedregs orsediment of - verb To
annoy ; to make someoneangry . - verb intransitive To bubble,
seethe . - verb obsolete, intransitive To
wander ; toroam . - verb obsolete, UK, dialect, intransitive To
romp .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make turbid by stirring up the sediments of
- verb be agitated
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The word roil has appeared in 33 New York Times articles in the past year, including on Aug. 8 in The Caucus blog post "Rick Perry to Make Clear He Intends to Run," by Jeff Zeleny:
NYT > Home Page By THE LEARNING NETWORK 2011
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(BTW, "roil" means, disturb, muddy the waters - I had to look it up.)
Slugger O'Toole 2009
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Young Americans came to view religion, according to one survey, as judgmental, homophobic, hypocritical, and too political.49 All these were premonitory signs that a second major aftershock was about to roil the American religious landscape.
American Grace Robert D. Putnam 2010
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In a rare interview with a reporter, Harry A. Blackmun spoke publicly for the first time about the controversial decision that continues to roil the political waters 38 years later.
Al Eisele: The Quiet Man Who Wrote Roe v. Wade Al Eisele 2011
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It it, he spoke publicly for the first time about the controversial decision that continues to roil the political waters 38 years later.
Al Eisele: The Quiet Man Who Wrote Roe v. Wade Al Eisele 2011
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It it, he spoke publicly for the first time about the controversial decision that continues to roil the political waters 38 years later.
Al Eisele: The Quiet Man Who Wrote Roe v. Wade Al Eisele 2011
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In a rare interview with a reporter, Harry A. Blackmun spoke publicly for the first time about the controversial decision that continues to roil the political waters 38 years later.
Al Eisele: The Quiet Man Who Wrote Roe v. Wade Al Eisele 2011
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That will roil the water and freeze it, but not boil it.
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It it, he spoke publicly for the first time about the controversial decision that continues to roil the political waters 38 years later.
Al Eisele: The Quiet Man Who Wrote Roe v. Wade Al Eisele 2011
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In a rare interview with a reporter, Harry A. Blackmun spoke publicly for the first time about the controversial decision that continues to roil the political waters 38 years later.
Al Eisele: The Quiet Man Who Wrote Roe v. Wade Al Eisele 2011
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