scroll

American  

[skrohl] / skroʊl /

noun

• scrolls
  plural

1. a roll of parchment, paper, copper, or other material, especially one with writing on it.

   a scroll containing the entire Old Testament.

2. something, especially an ornament, resembling a partly unrolled sheet of paper or having a spiral or coiled form.

3. a list, roll, roster, or schedule.

4. (in Japanese and Chinese art) a painting or text on silk or paper that is either displayed on a wall hanging scroll or held by the viewer hand scroll and is rolled up when not in use.

5. the curved head of a violin or other bowed instrument.

6. a note, message, or other piece of writing.

---

verb (used with object)

• scrolls,
  present (3rd person singular)
• scrolled,
  past participle,  past
• scrolling
  present participle

1. to cut into a curved form with a narrow-bladed saw.

2. Computers. to move (text) up, down, or across a display screen, with new text appearing on the screen as old text disappears.

verb (used without object)

• scrolls,
  present (3rd person singular)
• scrolled,
  past participle,  past
• scrolling
  present participle

1. Computers. to move text vertically or horizontally on a display screen in searching for a particular section, line, etc.

scroll British  

/ skrəʊl /

noun

1. a roll of parchment, paper, etc, usually inscribed with writing

2. an ancient book in the form of a roll of parchment, papyrus, etc

3. 1. a decorative carving or moulding resembling a scroll

   2. ( as modifier )

      a scroll saw

   3. ( in combination )

      scrollwork

---

verb

1. (tr) to saw into scrolls

2. to roll up like a scroll

3. computing to move (text) from right to left or up and down on a screen in order to view text that cannot be contained within a single display image

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• scroll-like
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• scrolls
  plural

Participles

• scrolling
  present
• scrolled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• scroll
  simple
• scrolls
  simple
• have scrolled
  perfect
• has scrolled
  perfect
• am scrolling
  progressive
• are scrolling
  progressive
• is scrolling
  progressive
• have been scrolling
  perfect progressive
• has been scrolling
  perfect progressive

Past

• scrolled
  simple
• had scrolled
  perfect
• was scrolling
  progressive
• were scrolling
  progressive
• had been scrolling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will scroll
  simple
• will have scrolled
  perfect
• will be scrolling
  progressive
• will have been scrolling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of scroll

1350–1400; Middle English scrowle; blend of scrow, aphetic variant of escrow and rowle roll

Explanation

A rolled up piece of paper is a scroll. If you write a poem on a sheet of paper, roll it up, and tie it with a ribbon, you can call it a scroll. Before books existed, people wrote stories or important information on parchment or papyrus and rolled them into scrolls for easy storage and transport. Sometimes, a scroll would serve as a work of art, a decorated tale that would occasionally be unrolled and displayed. These days, when you scroll through something, you're probably reading it on a computer, moving down the screen.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scroll scrolls scrolled scrolling

Sitting in his van, Jordan watched a wireless broadcast signal scroll down his laptop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Not only are the states seeking billions of dollars from Meta, they are demanding it make changes to Instagram and Facebook, including ending "like" counts and infinite scroll.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

The old crowded wait has become a couch scroll until your green bean skewer and brisket noodles appear by e-bike.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

Just two percent of the 1,000 teenagers polled said they did not currently scroll on social media or watch short-form videos on school nights.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

He unfastened the bark scroll and read his mother’s message.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

As she scrolls through the music library on her mint green iPod, filled with album artwork from 15 to 20 years ago, childhood memories of receiving one as a Christmas present come flooding back.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

On our Zoom call, Herberhold scrolls through the TikTok feed she uses as a shell account to study the Com network.

From Slate ● May 12, 2026

A little later in our conversation, he pulls out his phone, scrolls for a second, then hits play.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026

"It's the first time that he is wearing tefillin", Bandel said enthusiastically, referring to the small black leather boxes containing Torah scrolls.

From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026

Men in gray robes rode upon wheeled ladders, seeming to float through the air, scrolls flapping behind them like wings as they rolled from shelf to shelf.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

"All it knows is that the person hasn't scrolled past."

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

Both were littered with sports events, which I scrolled past, but also had sections for elections, politics, tech and a lot more.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

But as I left Chapter One to check out the desmadre outside and scrolled through social media to see what was happening elsewhere, I felt a vibe I had never sensed among Mexican Americans.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

For me, as I scrolled through them at night, as I thought about why I was so drawn to them, I realized: I am moved because they prove the thing I love is actually there.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

The ten pizza-slice video screens scrolled constantly changing images associated with each category in the library cataloging system.

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

Charting the trajectory of a comedy career is about more than just seeing a comic crush in front of a few crowds or glibly scrolling through their TikTok clips.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Once while scrolling, she stopped to admire pictures of a garden on her feed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

This era of scrolling alone has, as Putnam halfway predicted, coincided with a rise in asocial extremism.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

Medina herself discovered a restock of the Tags while scrolling TikTok and thinking about the product.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026

His back was toward me as he stared at his phone, scrolling through what looked like messages.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

Related Words

• manuscript