roil
[roil]
- to render (water, wine, etc.) turbid by stirring up sediment.
- to disturb or disquiet; irritate; vex: to be roiled by a delay.
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- to move or proceed turbulently.
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Origin of roil
First recorded in 1580–90; origin uncertain
Synonyms
See more synonyms for roil on Thesaurus.com2. annoy, fret, ruffle, exasperate, provoke, rile.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for roiling
Contemporary Examples
In conversation, her ideas emerge at a roiling boil that often takes on a momentum of its own.
An aerial image shows what appears to be a spa, roiling water apparently carrying no nasty connotations.
This official declined to discuss the details of the current espionage case that is roiling the German government today.
It is a seething, boiling, roiling, apoplectic revulsion at the very idea of unions.
Unions now are left in the middle of the roiling family feud that all agree has no easy answers.
Historical Examples
He was looking up at her, as if struck dumb, roiling his eye wildly.
RomanceJoseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer
What cared they that the ship was roiling and tumbling about?
True BlueW.H.G. Kingston
He plunged about frantically and churned up the water, roiling the stream.
ShaggycoatClarence Hawkes
Whitecaps and a roiling sea told him there was plenty of wind in the squall.
The Flying StingareeHarold Leland Goodwin
Roiling waters met the prows from end to end of the straits.
Vikings of the PacificAgnes C. Laut
roil
- (tr) to make (a liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up dregs or sediment
- (intr) (esp of a liquid) to be agitated or disturbed
- (intr) dialect to be noisy or boisterous
- (tr) another word (now rare) for rile (def. 1)
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Word Origin
C16: of unknown origin; compare rile
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for roiling
roil
v.
1580s, of uncertain origin, probably from Middle French rouiller "to rust, make muddy," from Old French roil "mud, muck, rust" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *robicula, from Latin robigo "rust" (see robust). An earlier borrowing of the French verb is Middle English roil "to roam or rove about" (early 14c.). Related: Roiled; roiling.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper