Also 7 stroule, strowle, 9 rare strole. [Belongs to STROLL v.; in sense 2 a new formation on the verb.]
1. = STROLLER. Obs. exc. U.S. (rare).
1623. Middleton & Rowley, Sp. Gipsy, II. (1653), C 2 b. Wee’l entertaine no Mounty-bancking Stroule, No Piper, Fidler, Tumbler through small hoopes. Ibid., C 4 b. Y’are but a Country company of Strowles.
1641. Brome, Joviall Crew, V. (1652), N 1. I’ll undertake that these Players … shall give your Guests much content, and move compassion in you towards the poor Strowles.
1900. J. L. Allen, Increasing Purpose, i. 21. They hired strolls to beat drums that we might not be heard for the din.
2. A walk or ramble taken leisurely, a saunter.
1814. Jane Austen, Mansf. Park, vii. When the evening stroll was over.
1817. M. Birkbeck, Notes Journ. Amer. (1818), 55. In my stroll among the lovely inclosures of this neighbourhood, I called to enquire my way at a small farmhouse.
1860. Sala, Baddington Peerage, I. xvii. 294. Come, take my arm, and we will have a stroll; it’s just the evening for a stroll.
