Definition of "scroll" in English

noun

1. A roll of paper or parchment; a writing formed into a roll.

2. (architecture) An ornament formed of undulations giving off spirals or sprays, usually suggestive of plant form. Roman architectural ornament is largely of some scroll pattern.

3. Spirals or sprays in the shape of an actual plant.

4. A mark or flourish added to a person's signature, intended to represent a seal, and in some States allowed as a substitute for a seal. [U.S.] Alexander Mansfield Burrill.

5. (lutherie) The carved end of a violin, viola, cello or other stringed instrument, most commonly scroll-shaped but occasionally in the form of a human or animal head.

6. (geometry) A skew surface.

7. (cooking) A kind of sweet roll baked in a somewhat spiral shape.

   • I ordered a glass of lemonade and a coffee scroll.

8. (computer graphics) The incremental movement of graphics on a screen, removing one portion to show the next.

9. (hydraulics) A spiral waterway placed round a turbine to regulate the flow.

10. (anatomy) A turbinate bone.

11. (obsolete) A rough draft of anything.

12. (computing) The act of scrolling

    • I gave the terms and conditions a quick scroll before signing up to the website.

verb

1. (ambitransitive, computing, graphical user interface) To change one's view of data on a computer's display by moving in gradual increments, typically using an input device or touch screen.

   • She scrolled the offending image out of view.
   • She kept scrolling until she found the desired paragraph.

2. (intransitive) To move in or out of view horizontally or vertically.

   • The rising credits slowly scrolled off the screen.

3. (Internet, intransitive, dated) To flood a chat system with numerous lines of text, causing legitimate messages to scroll out of view before they can be read.

   • Hey, stop scrolling!

4. (obsolete, transitive) To draft; to write in rough outline.