roll 
B 
Bookbinders' Roll. 
a, roll, pivoted to furcated 
handle t> at c. 
ores are crushed, (rf) In paper-making, one of the cylin- 
ders of a calender ; also, the cylinder of a pulping-engine. 
See calender*, 1, and pulp-engine. (<) In high milling, one 
of a pair of metal cylinders through a series of which 
pairs grain is passed for successively crushing it to the 
requisite fineness. See high milling, under milling. (/) 
In calico-printing, a cylinder of a calico-printing machine. 
(a) The impression-cylinder of a printing-machine, (h) 
In a great variety of machines, one of the cylinders over 
which an endless apron extends, and upon which it is 
moved, as in the feed-aprons of carding-machines, pickers 
for opening cotton as taken from the bale, machines for 
manufacturing shoddy from rags, etc. (f) Either of a 
pair of plain or fluted cylinders between which material 
is passed to feed it into a machine, as in feeding rags to a 
shoddy-machine, paper to printing-presses, calico to cal- 
ico-printing machines, etc. Such rolls are also called 
feed-rolls, (f) A hand-tool used 
by bookbinders for embossing 
book-covers, or forming thereon 
embossed gilded lines. It con- 
sists of either a plain or an em- 
bossed cylinder with a handle 
adapted to rest (when in use) 
against the shoulder of the 
workman. The roller is heated 
for use In embossing. (*) In the 
manufacture of plate-glass, a 
heavy metallic cylinder which 
spreads the "metal" on the ta- 
ble, and which, being supported 
on ways on opposite sides of the 
table, produces a sheet or plate of uniform thickness. 
[The distinction between roll and roller is exceedingly in- 
definite. The term roller is, however, more generally 
applied to a revolving cylinder working in movable bear- 
ings, as in an agricultural roller for smoothing the surface 
of land, or the roller of a lawn-mower; while roll is more 
commonly used for a cylinder working in fixed bearings, 
as in a rolling-mill for working metals, or in a calender, 
or in a grinding-mill.) 
3. In building : (a) A rounded strip fastened 
upon and extending along the ridge of a roof. 
(b) In a leaden roof, one of a number of round- 
ed strips placed under the lead at intervals, 
whereby crawling of the metal through alter- 
nate expansion and contraction is prevented. 
4. The act of rolling, or the state of being 
rolled ; a rotatory movement : as, the roll of a 
ball ; the roll of a ship. 
These larger hearts must feel the rott 
Of stormier-waved temptation. 
Lowell, At the Burns Centennial. 
6. A deep, prolonged, or sustained sound : as, 
the roll or thunder. Also rolling. 
A roll of periods, sweeter than her [the Muse's] song. 
Thomson, Autumn, 1. 17. 
Fancy, borne perhaps upon the rise 
And long roll of the Hexameter. 
Tennyson, Lucretius. 
Specifically (a) The prolonged sound produced by a 
drum when rapidly beaten, or the act of producing such 
a sound. 
Now, to the roll of muffled drums, 
To thee the greatest soldier comes. 
Tennyson, Death of Wellington, vi. 
The roll [on the side-drum] ... is made by alternately 
striking two blows with the left hand and two with the 
right, very regularly and rapidly, so as to produce one con- 
tinuous tremolo. Grow, Diet Music, I. 466. 
(b) A trill : applied to the notes of certain birds, as the 
canary and nightingale. 
The roll is the most characteristic of all the canary- 
notes. . . . This even and continuous roll is as perfect as 
the trill of any instrument, and can be produced at any 
pitch within the range of the voice. 
Appletorit Ann. Cyc., XI. 87. 
6. In organ-playing, the act or result of taking 
the tones of a chord in quick succession, as in 
an arpeggio. 7f. Kound of duty; particular 
office; function; duty assigned or assumed; 
role. 
In human society every man has his roll and station as- 
signed him. Sir R. L'Estrange. 
8. A swell or undulation of surface: as, the 
roll of the prairie. 9. A rotatory or sidelong 
movement of the head or body ; a swagger ; a 
rolling gait. 
That grave, but confident, kind of roll, peculiar to old 
boys in general. Dickens, Sketches, Characters, vii. 
10. In mining, an inequality in the roof or floor 
of a mine. Gresley Bagimont's Roll, the rent-roll 
of Scotland, made up in 1275 by Benemund or Baiamund 
de Vicci, vulgarly called Bagimont, who was sent from 
Rome by the Pope, in the reign of Alexander III., to 
collect the tithe of all the church livings in Scotland for 
an expedition to the Holy Land. It remained the statu- 
tory valuation, according to which the benefices were taxed, 
till the Reformation. A copy of it as it existed in the 
reign of James V. is in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. 
Also spelled Bajimojtt's Roll. Burgess roll. See burgeta. 
Close rolls. See close? Great roll SameaspipM-oH. 
Judgment roll. See 'judgment. Liberate roll. See 
liberate. Long roll (inUit.), aprolonged roll of thedrums: 
a signal of an attack liy the enemy, or for the troops to 
assemble rapidly in line. Master of the Rolls. See 
master^. Merchant rolls. See merchant. Oblate roll. 
See oblate. Poor's roll, (a) In England, a roll or list of 
paupers, or persons entitled to parochial relief or those 
who have received such aid. (b) In Scots law, the roll 
of litigants who, by reason of poverty, are privileged to 
sue or defend in forma pauperis, their cause being con- 
5214 
ducted gratuitously by the counsel and agents for the 
poor. Ragman's rollt. Same as ragman-roU, \. Rest- 
ant rollst. See reliant. Ridge-roll. See rirfr/e. Roll- 
and-fillet molding, a round 
molding with a square fillet on 
the face of it. It is most usual in 
the Early Decorated style of Eng- 
lish Pointed architecture. Roll 
latten. See latten. Roll-mold- 
ing, in arch., a molding resem- 
bling a segment of a scroll with 
its end overlapping. It occurs 
often in the Early Pointed style, 
in which it is used for dripstones, 
string-courses, etc. Roll of 
arms, a document containing 
written lists of persons entitled 
to bear arms, with descriptions 
of their armorial bearings : usually 
a parchment of medieval origin. 
The earliest of these important 
i. Roll-molding, a. Roll- 
and -fillet molding. 
documents dates from about 1*245. They are of great value 
historically and for questions of genealogy. Rolls of 
court, of parliament, or of any public body, the parch- 
menta, kept in rolls, on which are engrossed by the proper 
officer the acts and proceedings of the body in question, and 
which constitute the official records of that body. Rough- 
ing-down rolls. Same as roughing-rolls. Scavenger 
roU. See scavemjer. To call the roll. See coi.=Syn. 
1. (a) Catalog-lit, etc. See lifts. 
reliable (ro'la-bl), a. [< roll + -afete.] Capa- 
ble of being rolled. 
roll-about (rol'a-bout), a. Thick or pudgy, so 
as to roll when walking. [Colloq.] 
A little fat roll-about girl of six. 
Scott, Guy Mannering, xxri. 
roll-boiling (rdrboi'ling), n. Inwoolen-manuf., 
a process for giving a luster to cloth by scald- 
ing it, while tightly wound upon a roller, in a 
vessel filled with hot water or steam. E. H. 
EniqM, 
roll-box (rol'boks), H. In spinning, the rotary 
can or cylinder of a jack-frame, in which re- 
volve the bobbin and the carrier-cylinder for 
the rovings. E. H. Knight. 
roll-call (rol'kal), n. 1 . The act of calling over 
a list of names, as of a school or society, or of 
men who compose a military or legislative body. 
In the United States military service there are at least 
three roll-calls daily by the first sergeants under a com- 
missioned officer of the company namely, at reveille, at 
retreat, and at tattoo. 
2. The military signal given by the drum, trum- 
pet, or other musical instrument for soldiers 
to attend the calling of the roll. 
roll-cumulus (roTku^mn-lus), n. A form of 
strato-cumulus cloud in which the component 
masses of cloud at a distance from the zenith 
present the appearance of long bars, while over- 
head there is seen only the irregular flat base 
of scattered clouds. The linear arrangement 
increases toward the horizon, and is simply the 
effect of perspective. [Eng.] 
roller (ro'ler), n. [Early mod. E. also rotcler; 
< roll + -erl.] 1. One who or that which rolls, 
especially a cylinder which turns on its axis, 
used for various purposes, as smoothing, crush- 
ing, and spreading out. (a) A heavy cylinder of 
wood, stone, or (now more usually) metal set in a frame, 
used in agriculture, gardening, road-making, etc., to break 
lumps of earth, press the ground compactly about newly 
sown seeds, compress and smooth the surface of grass- 
fields, level the surface of walks or roads, etc. Land- 
rollers are also constructed of a series of disks or a series 
of rings with serrated edges placed side by side. Such 
rollers are used for breaking up clods and cutting up 
rough grass-land, and are known as disk-rollers and clod- 
crushers. Heavy road-rollers are often combined with 
steam traction-engines. Agricultural rollers are also com- 
bined with other tools, as with a seeder or a harrow. See 
rott, a.. 2. 
Pope's [page] is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe, and 
levelled by the roller. Johnson, Pope. 
(b) A rolling-pin, (c) In printing, a cylindrical rod of iron 
covered with a thick composition of glue and molasses, 
or glue, sugar, and glycerin, which takes ink on its sur- 
face by rolling on a table or against other rollers, and 
which deposits this ink on types when it is rolled over 
them, (d) In etching, a cylinder, about three inches in 
diameter, covered with soft leather, and used for revarnish- 
ing an imperfectly bitten plate. The ground is applied to 
the roller with a palette-knife on which a little has been 
taken up. When the ground has, by repeated passing, 
been evenly spread over all parts of the roller, this is care- 
fully passed with slight pressure over the etched plate so 
as to cover its surface with varnish, without allowing it 
to enter the furrows, (e) In organ-bvUding, a wooden bar 
with pins in the ends upon which itmay be rolled or rocked, 
and two projecting arms, usually at some distance from 
each other, one of which is pulled by a tracker from the 
keyboards, while the other pulls a tracker attached to a 
valve. Rollers are primarily designed to transfer motion 
from side to side, but they also often change it from a hori- 
zontal to a vertical plane, or vice versa. The rollers be- 
longing to a single keyboard are usually placed together 
on a common roller-board, and the entire mechanism is 
called a roller boar A action or movement. .See cut under 
organ. (/) Any cylindrical tool or part of a machine serv- 
ing to press, flatten, guide, etc., as the cylinders of a paper- 
making machine, the impression-cylinders in calico-print- 
ing, the roller-die by means of which patterns are trans- 
ferred to such cylinders, etc. (g) The barrel of a musical 
box or of a chime-ringing machine. 
roller-flag 
2. That upon which something may Vie rolled 
up, as a wooden cylinder, or pasteboard rolled 
up, usually with a circular section. 3. A cylin- 
drical or spherical body upon which a heavy 
body can be rolled or moved along: used to 
lessen friction. 
What mighty Jtouirrg, and what massieC'ars, 
Could bring so far so many monstrous Quars? 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Magnificence. 
Specifically (a) A cylindrical piece of wood put under a 
heavy stone to facilitate moving it. (&) A wheel in a roller- 
skate, (c) The wheel of a caster, (d) Same as roller-towel. 
(Colloq. ] (e) A stout heavy sheave which revolves and 
aaves a rope that passes over it from wear by friction. 
4. A go-cart for a child. 
He could run about without a rowler or leading-strings. 
Smith, Lives of Highwaymen, II. 50. (Encyc. Diet.) 
5. That in which something may be rolled; a 
bandage; specifically, a long rolled bandage 
used in surgery. It is unrolled as it is used. 
I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt ; and, 
lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to 
bind it. Ezek. xxx. 21. 
6. In saddlery, a broad padded surcingle, serv- 
ing as a girth to hold a heavy blanket in place. 
E. H. Knight. 7. Along,heavy, swelling wave, 
such as sets in upon a coast after the subsid- 
ing of a storm. 
From their feet stretched away to the westward the sap- 
phire rollers of the vast Atlantic, crowned with a thousand 
crests of flying foam. Kingsley, Westward Ho, xxxii. 
The league-long roller thundering on the reef. 
Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
8. In ornitli,: (a) Any bird of the family Cora- 
ciidse : so called from the way they roll or 
tumble about in flight. The common roller of Europe, 
Asia, and Africa is Coracias gamila. There are many 
other species, of several different genera. The Madagas- 
car ground-rollers are birds of the genera Brachyptera- 
das and Atelamit. See cut under Coracias. (ft) A kind 
of domestic pigeon ; one of the varieties of 
tumblers. 9. In lierjiet., a snake of the family 
Tortricidx; a shorttail. 10. The rockfish or 
striped-bass, Boccus lineatux. [Maryland.] 
Breaking-down rollers, in metal-working, rollers used 
to roll the metal while it is hot, for the purpose of con- 
solidating it. Damping-roller. See damping. Deliv- 
ery-roller. See delivery. Diluting roller, in a paper- 
making machine, a roller which carries water into the 
pulp-cistern to reduce the density of the pulp. Dis- 
tributing-roller, a roller in the inkiug-apparatus of a 
printing-press between the ductor and the niking-rolls; 
a waver. Drawing-rollers, in a drawing-machine, the 
fluted rollers by which the sliver is elongated. Dutch 
roller, a kind of domestic pigeon, a variety of the tum- 
bler. Darwin. Fancy roller. See fancy. Lithograph- 
ic roller. See lithographic. Printers' roller. Seeint- 
ing-roUer. Roller bandage. Same as roller, 6. Roller 
bolt. See bolti. Roller handspike. See handspike. 
Side roller, in sugar-manuf., one of the side cylinders 
of the press. See Icing-roller and macasse. The rollers, 
the local name of a heavy surf peculiar to St. Helena ana 
the Island of Ascension. Hollers prevail on the leeward 
side of the island after a period of strong trades, and are 
due to the confluence of the swell passing around the 
island by the right with that passing around by the left, 
the swell being also heightened by the surrounding shoals. 
The resulting aurf is so dangerous to shipping that single 
and double roller-flags are displayed to warn small craft 
against making for land while the rollers prevail. 
roller-bar (ro'ler-bar), n. The sharp-edged bar 
or knife in the bed of a rag-cutting machine. 
E. H. Kniglit. 
roller-barrow (ro'ler-bar'o), n. A barrow trav- 
eling on a roller of some width, instead of on the 
ordinary small front wheel, so that it can pass 
over smooth turf without cutting into it. 
roller-bearing (ro'ler-bar"ing), n. A journal- 
socket which has antifriction rollers on its in- 
terior perimeter; a ring-bush. 
roller-bird (ro'ler-berd), . Same as roller, 8. 
roller-board (ro'ler-bord), H. In organ-bnild- 
inq. See roller, 1 (e). 
roller-bowl (ro'ler-bol), H. In woolen-man uf., 
a device used with a carding-machine to roll 
the detached slivers into cardings or rolls ready 
for the slubbing-machine. 
roller-box (ro'ler-boks), H. Imprinting, a olipst 
or closet of wood in which hiking-rollers are 
kept. Also roller-closet. 
roller-composition (ro'ler-kom-po-zish"on), H. 
In printing, the composition of which inking- 
rollers are made. See composition, 5. 
roller-die (ro'ler-di), n. A cylindrical die for 
transferring steel-plate engravings, as for print- 
ing bank-notes, and also for the transfer of pat- 
terns to calico-printing rolls. The design is en- 
graved on a plate of soft steel, which is afterward hard- 
ened, and subjected to strong pressure upon the soft steel 
die, to which the incised lines of the plate are thus trans- 
ferred in relief. The die is then hardened, and is used 
in turn to transfer the design to a plate, a roller, or an- 
other die. 
roller-flag (ro'ler-flag), n. A signal displayed, 
as at St. Helena and the Island of Ascension, 
