Other forms: trolleys
A trolley is the big wire basket on four wheels you push round a supermarket, complete with the one wheel that pulls left. At the airport it is the flat one for suitcases; on a train it is the cart of tea and sandwiches coming down the aisle.
Trolley is British. Americans say cart — shopping cart, luggage cart — and keep trolley for something else entirely: a streetcar running on rails, which is where the San Francisco trolley and the trolley problem in philosophy come from. Around a house or a hospital, a trolley is any small wheeled table: a tea trolley, a drinks trolley, the hospital trolley you lie on waiting in A&E. British supermarkets take a coin to release the trolley and give it back when you chain it up again. And off your trolley is British slang for out of your mind.
1nountrolleyA large wheeled basket for carrying goods round a shop.
“He pushed the trolley while she read out the list.”
synonyms: cart, shopping cart
2nounsmallA small table on wheels for carrying food, drinks or equipment.
“The tea trolley came round the office at eleven.”
3nounflatA flat wheeled frame for moving luggage or heavy loads.
“She loaded the cases onto a trolley at arrivals.”
4nounstreetcarIn American English: a streetcar running on rails through a city.
“We took the trolley up the hill and walked back down.”
trolley is a wheeled container.
Also accepted in games: cart, shopping cart
Trolley shows up in English around 1823 as a dialect word from Suffolk meaning a cart. It probably comes from troll, in its older sense of rolling or trundling along, with -ey on the end. Everything since — supermarket trolleys, tea trolleys, American trolleys on rails — is that rolling cart given a new job.
Proto-Germanic
*truzlōną — to lumber
Middle High German
trollen — to stroll, walk with short strides
Old French
troller — to run here and there; to walk aimlessly, ramble, stroll; (hunting) to wander about looking for game
Middle English
trollen — to go about, wander; to move (something) to and fro, rock; to roll; to turn
English
troll
English, today
trolley
Built from
Early 19th century (1823) meaning "cart", of dialectal origin (Suffolk), probably from troll + -ey. troll The verb is derived from Middle English trollen (“to go about, wander; to move (something) to and fro, rock; to roll; to turn”)trolle, trowl, trul, trull, trulle, of unknown origin; perhaps in part from Old French troller (“to run here and there; to walk aimlessly, ramble, stroll; (hunting) to wander about looking for game”) (modern French troller); further etymology uncertain, yet probably from or related to Middle High German trollen (“to stroll, walk with short strides”) (modern German trollen (“to move slowly, trundle; to push off, toddle off”)), ultimately from Proto-Germanic truzlōną (“to lumber”), which is probably related to trudaną (“to step on, tread”) (see further at etymology 1). a doublet of trull. Verb fish by trailing (“to fish using a line and bait or lures trailed behind a boat”) is possibly influenced by trail and/or trawl. The noun is probably derived from the verb. Noun internet troll (“person who makes or posts inflammatory or insincere statements in an attempt to lure others into combative argument”) is possibly influenced by troll (etymology 1).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA