poll
noun
- surveyence of opinion
verb
- survey, as of voters
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /pɔl/ / /pəʊl/ / [pɒʊl] / /pɒl/
adj
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".
- Bred without horns, and thus hornless.
“Poll Hereford”
“Red Poll cows”
name
Etymology: From Paul.
- A surname transferred from the given name.
noun
Etymology: From Ancient Greek πολλοί (polloí, “the many, the masses”), as in hoi polloi.
- One who does not try for honors at university, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman.
verb
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".
- To take, record the votes of (an electorate).
- To solicit mock votes from (a person or group).
- To vote at an election.
“Mr. Millbank's friends were not disheartened, as it was known that the leading members of Mr. Rigby's Committee had polled; whereas his opponent's were principally reserved.”
- To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters.
“He polled a hundred votes more than his opponent.”
“poll for points of faith his trusty vote”
- To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop.
“to poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass”
“Who, as he polled off his dart's head, so sure he had decreed That all the counsels of their war he would poll off like it.”
- To cut the hair of (a creature).
“when he [Absalom] polled his head”
“1579-1603, Thomas North, Plutarch's Lives His death did so grieve them that they polled themselves; they clipped off their horse and mule's hairs.”
- To remove the horns of (an animal).
- To remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop.
“to poll a tree”
- To (repeatedly) request the status of something (such as a computer or printer on a network).
“The network hub polled the department’s computers to determine which ones could still respond.”
- To be judged in a poll.
“The election was a resounding defeat for Robert McCartney who polled badly in the six constituencies he contested and even lost his own Assembly seat in North Down.”
- To extort from; to plunder; to strip. Especially in conjunction with pill for emphasis.
“they slew Julius Caesar, who neither pilled nor polled the country but only was a favorer and suborner of all them that did rob and spoil, by his countenance and authority.”
“Which pols and pils the poore in piteous wize”
- To impose a tax upon.
- To pay as one's personal tax.
“the man that polled but twelve pence for his head”
- To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, especially for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
“polling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms”
- To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation
“a polled deed”