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Webster 1913 Edition

Ballot

Bal′lot

(băl′lŭt)
,
Noun.
[F.
ballotte
, fr. It.
ballotta
. See
Ball
round body.]
1.
Originally, a ball used for secret voting. Hence: Any printed or written ticket used in voting.
The insufficiency of the
ballot
.
Dickens.
3.
The whole number of votes cast at an election, or in a given territory or electoral district.
4.
the official list of candidates competing in an election.
There are no women on the
ballot
.
Ballot box
,
(a)
a box for receiving ballots.
(b)
the act, process or system of voting secretly; same as
ballot
{2}.
“The question will be resolved by the
ballot box
.”

Bal′lot

(băl′lŭt)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Balloted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Balloting
.]
[F.
ballotter
to toss, to ballot, or It.
ballottare
. See
Ballot
,
Noun.
]
To vote or decide by ballot;
as, to
ballot
for a candidate
.

Bal′lot

,
Verb.
T.
To vote for or in opposition to.
None of the competitors arriving to a sufficient number of balls, they fell to
ballot
some others.
Sir H. Wotton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Ballot

BAL'LOT

, n.
1.
A ball used in voting. Ballots are of different colors; those of one color give an affirmative; those of another, a (p.21) negative. They are privately put into a box or urn.
2.
A ticket or written vote, being given in lieu of a ballot, is now called by the same name.
3.
The act of voting by balls or tickets.

BAL'LOT

,
Verb.
I.
To vote by ballot, that is, by putting little balls of different colors into a box, the greater number of one color or the other determining the result.
2.
To vote by written papers or tickets.

Definition 2025

ballot

ballot

English

An early ballot box in which balls were used to cast the ballots. This box, once used by the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia, a social club, is in the collection of the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., USA.

Noun

ballot ‎(plural ballots)

  1. Originally, a small ball placed in a container to cast a vote; now, by extension, a piece of paper or card used for this purpose, or some other means used to signify a vote.
  2. The process of voting, especially in secret; a round of voting.
    • Charles Dickens
      the insufficiency of the ballot
  3. The total of all the votes cast in an election.
  4. (chiefly US) A list of candidates running for office; a ticket.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

ballot ‎(third-person singular simple present ballots, present participle balloting, simple past and past participle balloted)

  1. To vote or decide by ballot.
    to ballot for a candidate
  2. To draw lots.

Translations

See also

  • blackballing (also derived from the old practice of using balls to vote)

French

Etymology

balle +‎ -ot

Noun

ballot m ‎(plural ballots)

  1. bundle, package

Derived terms

  • C'est ballot

Northern Sami

Verb

ballot

  1. first-person plural imperative of ballat

Etymology

Borrowing from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta ‎(“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla ‎(“bale, bundle”) + -otta ‎(“suffix forming diminutive nouns”); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte ‎(“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage ‎(“second ballot, runoff”)).

Pronunciation

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