Trindle

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. To move by rolling or turning over a surface, as a wheel or round object does ; a small wheel or roller, especially one on a low frame or cart
2. Of a round object, to roll along or spin around ; a little wheel, often on a low carriage that is pushed or pulled
3. To go along by turning on wheels or rotating over the ground ; a small disc or roller designed to turn on a simple axle

Etymology: "Trindle" started life as a word for a circle. Old English "tryndel" meant "circle" or "ring," and it came from a Proto-West Germanic root "*trundil," which gave rise to the same family of ideas found in Low German "tründeln," meaning "to roll." The surprising part is how the sense moved from shape to motion: the ring became the wheel, and the thing that rolls on a wheel is what the word came to describe in English. By Middle English, "trindel" referred to a wheel or roller, and the word kept that mechanical sense as its core. Its verb use grew out of the same idea, so to trindle is to roll or move along on wheels or in a circular way. The word is built from "trend," meaning to turn or revolve, plus the diminutive-style ending "-le," which often marks small or repeated action in English, so the two parts together carry the sense of turning in a small circle.

Synonyms: roll, trundle