roily

[John Dunn]

Indeed, but the answers are more interesting on SEELangs, and in any case I wanted to know why I didn't know, which a dictionary wouldn't necessarily tell me.  It seems that part of the problem is that the verb 'to roil', which until this morning was equally mysterious to me, is obsolete in British English, but current in the U.S. variety.

I have also discovered a further complication.  It may be that the adjective 'roily' is derived not from the verb, but from a noun 'roil': this is listed in the Concise Scots Dictionary, which notes that the noun is recorded from the late 19th century onwards in Argyll with the meaning 'a storm, a heavy sea'.   It is conceivable that this noun was used elsewhere in the English-speaking world, not necessarily with the exact same meaning.

John Dunn.

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Matt Tucker [MTucker at AIFS.CO.UK]
Sent: 22 April 2013 12:03
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] roily

roily |ˈroilē|
adjective
(chiefly of water) muddy; turbulent : those waters were roily, high, and muddy.

That's what dictionaries are for!

Matt
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