Meaning

(originally Internet slang) 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"..

Definitions by Sense

1. (originally Internet slang) 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".
2. To surprise or trick (someone) into hearing this song.
3. 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.
4. (Internet slang) An act of or attempt at rickrolling.

Example Sentences

I try not to get rickrolled by sketchy YouTube links, but sometimes you let your guard down.

YouTube ‘Rickrolls’ Everyone [title] […] Let the Internet pranking begin! YouTube, capitalizing on the resurgence of a popular meme, has booby-trapped each of the “featured videos” on its homepage. Click on any of the showcased clips and you’ll be taken instead to a cheesy video of pop singer Rick Astley singing his late-’80s hit song, “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

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.

You send a Web link to someone, promising something exciting or compelling ("Is this you!?")—but the link actually takes your victim to a YouTube video of Rick Astley's 1987 music video, "Never Gonna Give You Up." That's it. That's the joke. Ha! You've been Rickrolled!

The DJ rickrolled the whole audience by suddenly playing Rick Astley’s hit song.

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.

In 2008, Astley proved he was a good sport about the joke, interrupting a song on the float for "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" to Rickroll the parade.

Word Forms

• rickrolls
• rickrolling
• rickrolled
• Rickroll
• rick-roll

Related Words

When Should You Use Rickroll?

Use rickroll when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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