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scroll (skrōl)
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n.
1.
a. A roll, as of parchment or papyrus, used especially for writing a document.
b. An ancient book or volume written on such a roll.
2. A list or schedule of names.
3. An ornament or ornamental design that resembles a partially rolled scroll of paper, as the volute in Ionic and Corinthian capitals.
4. Music The curved head on an instrument of the violin family.
5. Heraldry A ribbon inscribed with a motto.
v. scrolled, scroll·ing, scrolls
v.tr.
1. To inscribe on a scroll.
2. To roll up into a scroll.
3. To ornament with a scroll.
4. Computers To cause (displayed text or graphics) to move up, down, or across the screen so that a line of text or graphics appears at one edge of the screen for each line that moves off the opposite edge: scroll a document; scroll a page of text.
v.intr.
Computers
1. To cause displayed text or graphics to move up, down, or across the screen: scrolled down to the end of the document.
2. To appear onscreen and roll by: "The information scrolls so fast it's unreadable" (Creative Computing).
[Middle English scrowle, alteration (influenced by rolle, roll) of scrowe, from Old French escroue, escroe, strip of parchment, scroll, of Germanic origin.]
scrolla·ble adj.
(click for a larger image)
scroll
top: c. 1641 Dutch scroll of the Book of Esther
bottom: on a violin
(click for a larger image)
scroll
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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