rolly polly

plural rolly pollys · plural rolly pollies

1. alternativecountableuncountableAlternative spelling of roly-poly.

   [Romy Tinkle] What is that thing, Quincy?! / [Quincy Tinkle] Um … It's a giant Rolly Polly (Pill Bug). It's been living entirely on my body-building protein powder, apparently!!

   2002 May 26, J[effrey] J. Rowland, Wigu Adventures (webcomic), archived from the original on 13 Dec 2009

   1 more example

   This is one of the games prohibited by Edward IV.; and received its denomination from being played with one half of a sphere of wood. Half-bowl is practised to this day in Hertfordshire, where it is commonly called rolly-polly; and it is best performed upon the floor of a room, especially if it be smooth and level. There are fifteen small pins of a conical form required for this pastime; […] the bowl, when delivered, must pass above the pins, and round the end-pin, without the circle, before it beats any of them down; if not, the cast is forfeited: […]

   1841, Joseph Strutt, William Hone, chapter VII, in The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England. […], new edition, London: […] Thomas Tegg, […], →OCLC, book III (Pastimes usually Exercised in Towns and Cities, or Places Adjoining to Them), section XII (Half-bowl), page 274