droll

droll (drōl)

adjective

amusing in an odd or wry way

Etymology: Fr drôle, orig. n., buffoon, jester < MDu drol, short, stout fellow, lit., bowling pin

noun

Now Rare a droll person; jester

intransitive verb

Now Rare to joke; play the jester

droll′·ness noun drol′ly adverb

modif.

Modifies a noun

humor: Will always be with us with his droll humor.
observation: Sandra's droll observations, however, consistently managed to remind us what a strange little world Brighton can sometimes be.
sense: She was efficient and friendly, with a droll sense of humor about the world.
wit: Nothing, it seemed, was more intriguing or worthy of their droll wit than someone else's uncomfortable but not life-threatening medical condition.
delivery: Indeed, it was only Clive's droll delivery that kept me going.
way: They sometimes confound quantity and numbers in a droll way, too.

Modifying Another Word

very: Nick is very droll; he's got a very good dry sense of humor.
wonderfully: Top marks for Biggins who makes a wonderfully droll ' Doctor ' !
deliciously: Another deliciously droll, deadpan comic delight from Jarmusch: small, but strangely beautiful.
really: I will try to keep this brief You know, Franz Kafka once had a really droll joke about that.

Used with adjective complement

look: They look very droll when moving, rather like what a canal barge would look like at sea with a few rolling billows about.

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