Pronunciations (2)
-
/ˈɹɪkɹəʊl/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
-
/ˈɹɪkˌɹoʊl/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
Verb
To mislead (someone) into following a seemingly innocuous hyperlink, or sometimes a QR code, that leads to a YouTube video of Rick Astley's song "Never Gonna Give You Up".
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
I try not to get rickrolled by sketchy YouTube links, but sometimes you let your guard down.
More examples (2)
Once you start rickrolling people, and more importantly get a reputation for it, you're heading towards being the Zimbabwean dollar in the link economy: it doesn't matter how many you offer, people just aren't going to buy them.
Despite its name, there is one thing the Vote Leave campaign should not have left for so long: registering a domain name. The delay by the anti-EU organisation meant that up to 100,000 people who tried to access voteleave.com, co.uk or .net were rickrolled – redirected to a YouTube clip of Rick Astley's 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up. So far, so internet.
To surprise or trick (someone) into hearing this song.
Usage- broadly
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The DJ rickrolled the whole audience by suddenly playing Rick Astley’s hit song.
More examples (3)
Two men on the sidelines surprised the crowd by blasting the British singer Rick Astley’s 1987 hit song “Never Gonna Give You Up” through the gym, while one, dressed as a look-alike in Mr. Astley’s signature trench coat, lip-synched and mugged to the music: a popular prank known as rickrolling.
With a single tap on its screen, the device can take over any one of the millions of televisions connected to a Google Chromecast digital media player that happens to be within Wi-Fi range and force it to play Astley's canonical “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video—or any other equally annoying or embarrassing YouTube clip of the prankster’s choosing. […] But [Dan] Petro nonetheless imagines a rickmote-wielding hacker moving slowly through around a dense residential area and wirelessly rickrolling one hapless Chromecast owner after another.
He turned on the radio. An oldies station from Phoenix was in the middle of playing Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”. / “Oh my God!” Harlowe screamed and laughed. “Did Phoenix just ‘Rick Roll’ us?”
To cause (someone) to unexpectedly engage with this song through an indirect method, such as through steganography, sheet music, or by inserting the lyrics into an unrelated context.
Usage- broadly
- Transitive
- Examples
-
She inserted the lyrics of “Never Gonna Give You Up” into her speech so casually that most listeners didn’t even realize they’d been rickrolled.
More examples (3)
For their latest hack, students decided to RickRoll the Dome in the nerdiest way possible—by wrapping the first eight notes of the now infamous pop song around it's exterior.
Sairam Gudiseva’s boast on Twitter that he had ‘Rick Rolled my physics teacher …’', posting an accompanying photograph of his essay with the verse from the 1987 hit ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ written with the first word on every line.
Specifically, one passage from [Melania] Trump's inspiring address bears a striking resemblance to Astley's song, which had led to accusations that the Trump campaign may be "Rick-rolling" the electorate.
Noun
An act of or attempt at rickrolling.
Usage- Internet
- Transitive
- Examples
-
You have to check out this link. Not a rickroll.
More examples (4)
Now, I know that the the^([sic]) problem with what I'm saying is that it sounds like a recipe for being really boring and humdrum. Links, links, links. I'm not really; the rickroll has a value, to spike peoples' inflated expectations, or remind them—wittily—of their weaknesses: […]
Chances are that at some point in 2008, you or someone you know experienced a "Rick Roll"—a bait-and-switch prank that dupes you into watching the video for Rick Astley's 1980s hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." […] But perhaps the ultimate Rick Roll occurred on April Fool's Day in 2008, when YouTube rigged up every feature video on the home page to play Astley's infamous clip.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper called Donald Trump's decision to trot out an array of military medal winners before addressing his long-held questions about President Barack Obama's birth a "political Rick-roll." […] "While these American heroes are, you know, people that we should all show reverence and respect, they are much greater men than Rick Astley, it’s hard to imagine this as anything other than a political Rick-roll," Tapper said.
In the Internet world and in multiplayer videogames in particular, to play a hoax on someone is also called trolling. […] One well-known tactic is the ‘rick roll’ meme, wherein someone is led to believe that a certain action, for example, clicking a particular hyperlink, will be relevant to his aims but instead the victim is unintentionally directed to a music video for the 1987 song "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley.
This seems much more likely to be the work of a talented but inexperienced individual. […] The rick-roll in the code seems juvenile and unprofessional.