English Explanatory Dictionary

poll

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.
  2. A formal vote held in order to ascertain the most popular choice.
  3. A polling place (usually as plural, polling places)
  4. The result of the voting, the total number of votes recorded.
  5. The head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which hair (normally) grows.
  6. A mass of people, a mob or muster, considered as a head count.
  7. The broad or butt end of an axe or a hammer.
  8. The pollard or European chub, a kind of fish.
verb
  1. To take, record the votes of (an electorate).
  2. To solicit mock votes from (a person or group).
  3. To vote at an election.
  4. To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters.
  5. To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop.
  6. To cut the hair of (a creature).
  7. To remove the horns of (an animal).
  8. To remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop.
  9. To (repeatedly) request the status of something (such as a computer or printer on a network).
  10. To be judged in a poll.
  11. To extort from; to plunder; to strip. Especially in conjunction with pill for emphasis.
  12. To impose a tax upon.
adj
  1. Bred without horns, and thus hornless.
noun
  1. A pet parrot.
noun
  1. One who does not try for honors at university, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman.
name
  1. A diminutive of the female given name Mary.
  2. A common pet name for a parrot.
noun
  1. A disreputable woman.
name
  1. A surname transferred from the given name.

Pronunciation

/pɔl/ /pəʊl/ [pɒʊl] /pɒl/ /poʊl/ en-us-pole.ogg /pol/ /poul/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-poll (o).wav /pɑl/

Word forms

poll polls pol pole polling polled

Etymology

From Middle English pol, polle ("scalp, pate"), from or cognate with Middle Dutch pol, pōle, polle (“top, summit; head”), from Proto-West Germanic *poll, from Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“round object, head, top”), from Proto-Indo-European *bolno-, *bōwl- (“orb, round object, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Akin to Scots pow (“head, crown, scalp, skull”), Saterland Frisian pol (“round, full, brimming”, adjective), German Low German Polle, Poll (“round object, ball”), German Low German Poller (“head, tree-top, bulb”), Danish puld (“crown of a hat”), Swedish dialectal pull (“head”). Meaning "collection of votes" is first recorded 1625, from the notion of "counting heads".

Synonyms

survey vote election scalp

Related words

pollard polliwog tadpole gentleman's C

Derived words

blackpoll bypoll deed poll dodipole exit poll Gallup poll go to the polls minipoll opinion poll outpoll poleaxe pollage pollarchy poll book pollbook poll card pollee pollercoaster poll evil polling pollist pollman pollmeister poll parrot pollster polltaker polltaking poll tax poll-tax poll worker prepoll push poll push-poll Red Poll redpoll robopoll straw poll stunpoll telepoll tracking poll overpoll pollable poller repoll
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