What does trolleying mean?
Trolleying most plainly means moving goods or people with the help of a wheeled trolley. It also has a familiar British and Commonwealth informal use for shopping with a supermarket cart: a shopper can go “trolleying” for provisions, with the cart serving as both basket and transport. In contexts where a trolley is a streetcar or other rail vehicle, trolleying can mean travelling by that vehicle or carrying passengers or freight in it. The wording is especially useful when the action of the cart or vehicle matters. As a verb form, “trolleying” is the present participle and gerund of “trolley,” so it can describe an ongoing activity, as in “She was trolleying luggage through the terminal,” or an activity viewed as a whole, as in “Trolleying around the supermarket took an hour.” Its best-known social character comes from the supermarket sense, which makes a routine errand sound distinctly British.
verbTrolleying is transporting goods or people by means of a wheeled trolley or cart. In informal British and Commonwealth English, it can also mean shopping with a supermarket trolley.
- Using a wheeled trolley or cart to carry goods, luggage, or people.
- Shopping with a supermarket trolley, especially in informal British and Commonwealth English.
- Travelling by or transporting passengers or freight in a trolley vehicle, such as a trolleybus or streetcar.
"She spent the afternoon trolleying around the supermarket, filling her cart with vegetables and bread."
"A porter was trolleying luggage across the airport terminal."
"We spent the weekend trolleying for everything we needed at the supermarket."
In British supermarkets, the trolley does more than carry groceries: it gives an ordinary shopping trip an unmistakably British accent.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does trolleying come from?
“Trolleying” is the present participle and gerund of “trolley.” The English noun “trolley” originally referred to a small cart and came through French from a word associated with “troll,” meaning to roll; its meaning later extended to wheeled passenger vehicles such as streetcars. The “-ing” form developed through the ordinary inflection of the verb.
Related word forms
How trolleying is actually used
The supermarket sense is informal and especially associated with British and other Commonwealth English, where “trolley” normally means a wheeled shopping cart. Elsewhere, “trolley” may denote a streetcar or other rail vehicle, making trolleying sound formal or historical when used for passenger transport. As the present participle and gerund of “trolley,” “trolleying” can describe an activity in progress or an activity considered as a whole.
Easily confused with trolleying
Trolling usually refers to deliberately provoking online readers or historically to pulling a boat with a rope, whereas trolleying involves using a wheeled cart or trolley vehicle.