subs. (old).—1. A favorite child.—GROSE (1785); MATSELL (1859).
2. See LOLLPOOP.
Verb. (old colloquial).—To lounge; to lie lazily; to sprawl.
1362. LANGLAND, Piers Plowman (C), x. 215. He þat LOLLEÞ is lame · oþer his leg out of ioynte.
1602. SHAKESPEARE, Othello, iv. 1. l. 137. So hangs, and LOLLS, and weeps upon me.
1609. SHAKESPEARE, Troilus and Cressida, i. 3.
| At this fustie stuffe, | |
| The large Achilles on his prest bed LOLLING, | |
| From his deepe chest laughes out a lowd applause. |
1640. HEYWOOD, Love’s Mistress, i. Juno lay LOLLING in my Uncle’s lap.
1676. ETHEREGE, The Man of Mode, in Works (1704), i. 194. And his looks are more languishing than a lady’s when she LOLLS at stretch in her coach.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. LOLPOOP. … LOLL, to Lean on the Elbows; also to put out the Tongue in derision.
1693. DRYDEN, Juvenal, I. 204. Meantime his lordship LOLLS within at ease.
1711. Spectator, No. 187. Hyæna can LOLL in her coach, with something so fixed in her countenance, that it is impossible to conceive her meditation is employed only on her dress and her charms in that posture.
1725. A New Canting Dictionary, s.v.
1727. GAY, The Beggar’s Opera, i. Air 14. Polly. Fondly let me LOLL! Macheath. O pretty, pretty Poll.
1753. The Adventurer, No. 96. I found him in full health, LOLLING in an easy chair.
1754. The Connoisseur, No. 11. The genuine careless LOLL, and easy saunter.
1864. DICKENS, Our Mutual Friend, Bk. iv. ch. XVI. ‘I wish to goodness, Ma,’ said Lavvy … ‘that you’d LOLL a little.’
1872. Figaro, 22 June, ‘Lay of the Gallant Yachtsman.’ You may see me here, upon the pier, LOLL lazily to and fro.
1876. M. E. BRADDON, Joshua Haggard, x. ‘I don’t see any harm in a good novel once in a way, if you take your time over it, and don’t LOLL by the fireside half the day, poking your nose into a book and letting your house go to rack and ruin.’
1893. W. E. HENLEY, London Voluntaries, 10. Lingers and LOLLS, loth to be done with day.
