trundle
Americanverb (used with object)
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trundles,
present (3rd person singular)
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trundled,
past participle, past
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trundling
present participle
-
to cause (a circular object) to roll along; roll.
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to convey or move in a wagon, cart, or other wheeled vehicle; wheel.
The farmer trundled his produce to market in a rickety wagon.
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Archaic. to cause to rotate; twirl; spin.
verb (used without object)
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trundles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
trundled,
past participle, past
-
trundling
present participle
-
to roll along.
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to move or run on a wheel or wheels.
-
to travel in a wheeled vehicle.
He got into his car and trundled downtown.
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to move or walk with a rolling gait.
noun
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a small wheel, roller, or the like.
-
a lantern wheel.
-
each of the bars of a lantern wheel.
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a truck or carriage on low wheels.
verb
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to move heavily on or as if on wheels
the bus trundled by
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archaic (tr) to rotate or spin
noun
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the act or an instance of trundling
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a small wheel or roller
-
-
the pinion of a lantern
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any of the bars in a lantern pinion
-
-
a small truck with low wheels
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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trundlesimple
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trundlessimple
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have trundledperfect
-
has trundledperfect
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am trundlingprogressive
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are trundlingprogressive
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is trundlingprogressive
-
have been trundlingperfect progressive
-
has been trundlingperfect progressive
Past
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trundledsimple
-
had trundledperfect
-
was trundlingprogressive
-
were trundlingprogressive
-
had been trundlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trundle
First recorded in 1555–65; variant of trindle
Explanation
When you trundle something, you move it or roll it awkwardly. You might have to trundle your broken suitcase down the stairs if you can't find an elevator. When a person trundles, they move slowly and heavily. As a noun, trundle means "a roller," and it usually refers to something on wheels that can be moved around, like a trundle bed, a low bed frame you can slide and store beneath a taller bed. You might roll out the trundle bed when your friend sleeps over, and then try to fall asleep as you listen to your brother trundle around the kitchen looking for a midnight snack.
Vocabulary lists containing trundle
The Lightning Thief
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The Kite Runner
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Uglies
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Private vehicles distribute everything from water and food to toilet paper and soap, while trucks belonging to the World Central Kitchen NGO trundle through the coastal city.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
The game would trundle to a draw, leaving Scotland needing all three groups to go in their favour - a probability of 0.07% - for their World Cup party to continue.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
I could have slept several more people in mine, because it included a pull-out couch and trundle bed in addition to the king-size bed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Stocks trading outside of the U.S. mostly continued to trundle higher in February, with big gains particularly in the South Korean market.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026
I never learned to like sleeping on the floor of her room, but she wouldn’t permit the trundle bed to be brought in.
From "Kindred" by Octavia Butler
And then Kayte usually trundles in, and she’ll offer to tee up some oatmeal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2024
Jack Walton flapped at Lewis Strapp’s long throw and the ball hit an unsuspecting Cameron Blues in a crowded box and trundles wide of the post.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2024
As it trundles around an ancient lakebed on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover is assembling a one-of-a-kind rock collection.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 4, 2024
The six-wheeled, solar-powered rover will rely on the Vikram lander to maintain communications with Earth as it trundles around the landing region for 14 Earth days—or about one period of lunar daylight.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 13, 2023
Rostam trundles onto the rocks to nuzzle his old friend.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
He shot pool now and then at the Playboy Mansion, collected guns, dyed his white hair jet-black and trundled out anecdotes of Old Hollywood over three-hour lunches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
A steady stream of trucks trundled past, sometimes drowning out conversation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
Stocks trundled higher all summer with few interruptions.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2025
They ran and hid in the scrub as the truck trundled on.
From New York Times ● Apr. 14, 2024
The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind us.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
Euphemistically known as “mobile lounges,” these hulking, 40-ton machines from the 1960s and ’70s look and feel like paramilitary vehicles trundling through a desert dystopia.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Buses are infrequent and haphazard, while the subway has only six trundling lines radiating out from the centre, making connections impossible without going all the way in and then all the way out again.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
As a child, Plant recalls trundling in his family’s car through interesting, evocative landscapes and, “Misty Mountains that actually were misty mountains,” he says, making another of his not-infrequent Zeppelin asides.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
Mr. Chen shows the family trundling in a horse-drawn cart toward forbidding mountains wreathed in mist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
But by the time we were trundling past The Coffee Pot Cafe and Uncle Grady was brandishing his sword, the applause began.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
