English Explanatory Dictionary

pole

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Originally, a stick; now specifically, a long and slender piece of metal or (especially) wood, used for various construction or support purposes.
  2. A construction by which an animal is harnessed to a carriage.
  3. A type of basic fishing rod.
  4. A long sports implement used for pole-vaulting; now made of glassfiber or carbon fiber, formerly also metal, bamboo and wood have been used.
  5. A telescope used to identify birds, aeroplanes or wildlife.
  6. A unit of length, equal to a rod (¹⁄₄ chain or 5+¹⁄₂ yards).
  7. A pole position.
  8. A rifle.
  9. A penis.
  10. A wicket, especially in the context of the number of wickets taken by a particular bowler.
verb
  1. To propel by pushing with poles, to push with a pole.
  2. To identify something quite precisely using a telescope.
  3. To furnish with poles for support.
  4. To convey on poles.
  5. To stir, as molten glass, with a pole.
  6. To strike (the ball) very hard.
  7. To treat (copper) by blowing natural gas or other reducing agent through the molten oxide, burning off the oxygen.
noun
  1. Either of the two points on the earth's surface around which it rotates; also, similar points on any other rotating object.
  2. A point of magnetic focus, especially each of the two opposing such points of a magnet (designated north and south).
  3. Any of a small set of extremes; especially, either of two extremes that are possible or available.
  4. A fixed point relative to other points or lines.
  5. A contact on an electrical device (such as a battery) at which electric current enters or leaves.
  6. For a meromorphic function f(z), any point a for which f(z)→∞ as z→a.
  7. The firmament; the sky.
  8. Either of the states that characterize a bipolar disorder.
verb
  1. To induce piezoelectricity in (a substance) by aligning the dipoles.
noun
  1. A person from Poland or of Polish descent.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/pəʊl/ [pʰɒʊɫ] /pɒl/ [pʰɒɫ] /poʊl/ [pʰoʊɫ] en-us-pole.ogg /pəʉl/ [pʰəʉɫ] [pʰɐʉɫ] /pɐʉl/ /pol/ [pʰoɫ] /poːl/ [pʰoːɫ] [pʰoəɫ]

Word forms

pole poles poling poled de la Pole

Etymology

From Middle English pole, pal, from Old English pāl (“a pole, stake, post; a kind of hoe or spade”), from Proto-West Germanic *pāl (“pole”), from Latin pālus (“stake, pale, prop, stay”), perhaps from Old Latin *paxlos, from Proto-Italic *pākslos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- (“to nail, fasten”). Doublet of peel, pale, and palus. Cognates Cognate with Scots pale, paill (“stake, pale”), North Frisian pul, pil (“stake, pale”), Saterland Frisian Pool (“pole”), West Frisian poal (“pole”), Dutch paal (“pole”), German Pfahl (“pile, stake, post, pole”), Danish pæl (“pole”), Swedish påle (“pole”), Icelandic páll (“hoe, spade, pale”), Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; lustrum”).

Synonyms

carriage pole beam shaft drawbar rod Polander

Antonyms

zero

Derived words

alepole barber pole barge pole bargepole beanpole boom pole bush pole carrying pole cartpole catchpole clodpole clothespole coupling pole cross-pole dance pole depress the pole double pole double-pole technique eighth pole family pole fencepole Festivus pole firepole fishing pole fishpole flagpole footpole foul pole fuckpole gee pole gin pole grabpole greasy pole habitat pole headpole hiking pole Hop Pole hydro pole ice pole icy pole J-pole antenna lightpole lodge pole lodgepole maypole meatpole memorial pole milepole monkey pole mortuary pole negative pole nerd pole not touch something with a ten-foot pole over-the-pole perch pole pike pole pitchpole polearm poleaxe pole barn
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