Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Poll

Poll

,
Noun.
[From
Polly
, The proper name.]
A parrot; – familiarly so called.

Poll

,
Noun.
[Gr. [GREEK] the many, the rabble.]
One who does not try for honors, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman.
[Cambridge Univ., Eng.]

Poll

,
Noun.
[Akin to LG.
polle
the head, the crest of a bird, the top of a tree, OD.
pol
,
polle
, Dan.
puld
the crown of a hat.]
1.
The head; the back part of the head.
“All flaxen was his poll.”
Shak.
2.
A number or aggregate of heads; a list or register of heads or individuals.
We are the greater
poll
, and in true fear
They gave us our demands.
Shakespeare
The muster file, rotten and sound, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand
poll
.
Shakespeare
3.
Specifically, the register of the names of electors who may vote in an election.
4.
The casting or recording of the votes of registered electors;
as, the close of the
poll
.
All soldiers quartered in place are to remove . . . and not to return till one day after the
poll
is ended.
Blackstone.
5.
pl.
The place where the votes are cast or recorded;
as, to go to the
polls
.
6.
The broad end of a hammer; the but of an ax.
7.
(Zool.)
The European chub. See
Pollard
, 3
(a)
.
Poll book
,
a register of persons entitled to vote at an election.
–
Poll evil
(Far.)
,
an inflammatory swelling or abscess on a horse’s head, confined beneath the great ligament of the neck.
–
Poll pick
(Mining)
,
a pole having a heavy spike on the end, forming a kind of crowbar.
–
Poll tax
,
a tax levied by the head, or poll; a capitation tax.

Poll

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Polled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Polling
.]
1.
To remove the poll or head of; hence, to remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop; to shear;
as, to
poll
the head; to
poll
a tree.
When he [Absalom]
pollled
his head.
2 Sam. xiv. 26.
His death did so grieve them that they
polled
themselves; they clipped off their horse and mule's hairs.
Sir T. North.
2.
To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop; – sometimes with off;
as, 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.
Chapman.
3.
To extort from; to plunder; to strip.
[Obs.]
Which
polls
and pills the poor in piteous wise.
Spenser.
4.
To impose a tax upon.
[Obs.]
5.
To pay as one's personal tax.
The man that
polled
but twelve pence for his head.
Dryden.
6.
To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, esp. for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
Polling
the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms.
Milton.
7.
To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters;
as, he
polled
a hundred votes more than his opponent
.
And
poll
for points of faith his trusty vote.
Tickell.
8.
(Law)
To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation;
as, a
polled
deed
. See
Dee[GREEK] poll
.
Burrill.
To poll a jury
,
to call upon each member of the jury to answer individually as to his concurrence in a verdict which has been rendered.

Poll

,
Verb.
I.
To vote at an election.
Beaconsfield.

Webster 1828 Edition

Poll

POLL

, n.
1.
The head of a person, or the back part of the head, and in composition, applied to the head of a beast, as in poll-evil.
2.
A register of heads, that is, of persons.
3.
The entry of the names of electors who vote for civil officers. Hence,
4.
An election of civil officers, or the place of election.
Our citizens say, at the opening or close of the poll, that is, at the beginning of the register of voters and reception of votes, or the close of the same. They say also, we are going to the poll; many voters appeared at the poll.
5.
A fish called a chub or chevin. [See Pollard.]

POLL

,
Verb.
T.
To lop the tops of trees.
1.
To clip; to cut off the ends; to cut off hair or wool; to shear. The phrases, to poll the hair, and to poll the head, have been used. The latter is used in 2 Sam.14.26. To poll a deed, is a phrase still used in law language.
2.
To mow; to crop. [Not used.]
3.
To peel; to strip; to plunder.
4.
To take a list or register of persons; to enter names in a list.
5.
To enter one's name in a list or register.
6.
To insert into a number as a voter.

Definition 2024

Poll

Poll

See also: poll, póll, põll, and Pöll

English

Proper noun

Poll

  1. A diminutive of the female given name Mary.
    • 1833 The Pilgrim Brothers [signed Timotheus Scribewell], Romances of Chivalric Ages, H. Cope, page iv:
      "A gentleman, please Sir," said the blushing Mary, (or Poll as some unrespective and light-minded persons have misnamed her), and the gentleman entered.
  2. A common pet name for a parrot.

Etymology 2

From Paul.

Proper noun

Poll

  1. A surname​.

poll

poll

See also: Poll, póll, põll, and Pöll

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) IPA(key): /pɔul/
  • (UK) IPA(key): /pəʊl/, /pɔʊl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /poʊl/
  • Homophones: pole, Pole

Noun

poll ‎(plural polls)

  1. A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.
  2. A formal election.
    The student council had a poll to see what people want served in the cafeteria.
    • Blackstone
      All soldiers quartered in place are to remove […] and not to return till one day after the poll is ended.
  3. A polling place (usually as plural, polling places)
    The polls close at 8 p.m.
  4. (now obsolete outside veterinary contexts) The head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which hair (normally) grows.
    • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
      ...the doctor, as if to hear better, had taken off his powdered wig, and sat there, looking very strange indeed with his own close-cropped black poll.
    • 1908, O. Henry, A Tempered Wind
      And you might perceive the president and general manager, Mr. R. G. Atterbury, with his priceless polished poll, busy in the main office room dictating letters..
  5. (in extended senses of the above) A mass of people, a mob or muster, considered as a head count.
    • Shakespeare
      We are the greater poll, and in true fear / They gave us our demands.
    • Shakespeare
      The muster file, rotten and sound, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand poll.
  6. The broad or butt end of an axe or a hammer.
  7. The pollard or European chub, a kind of fish.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

poll ‎(third-person singular simple present polls, present participle polling, simple past and past participle polled)

  1. (transitive) To take, record the votes of (an electorate).
  2. (transitive) To solicit mock votes from (a person or group).
  3. (intransitive) To vote at an election.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaconsfield to this entry?)
  4. 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.
    • Tickell
      poll for points of faith his trusty vote
  5. To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop.
    to poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass
    • Chapman
      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.
  6. (transitive) To cut the hair of (a creature).
    • Bible, 2 Sam. xiv. 26
      when he [Absalom] polled his head
    • Sir T. North
      His death did so grieve them that they polled themselves; they clipped off their horse and mule's hairs.
  7. (transitive) To remove the horns of (an animal).
  8. To remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop.
    to poll a tree
  9. (transitive, computing, communication) 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.
  10. (intransitive, with adverb) To be judged in a poll.
    • 2008, Joanne McEvoy, The politics of Northern Ireland (page 171)
      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.
  11. (obsolete) To extort from; to plunder; to strip.
    • Spenser
      which polls and pills the poor in piteous wise
  12. To impose a tax upon.
  13. To pay as one's personal tax.
    • Dryden
      the man that polled but twelve pence for his head
  14. To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, especially for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
    • Milton
      polling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms
  15. (law) To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation.
    a polled deed
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)
Translations

Adjective

poll

  1. (of kinds of livestock which typically have horns) Bred without horns, and thus hornless.
    Poll Hereford
    Red Poll cows
    • 1757, The monthly review, or, literary journal, volume 17, page 416:
      Sheep, that is, the Horned sort, and those without Horns, called Poll Sheep [...]
    • 1960, Frank O'Loghlen, Frank H. Johnston, Cattle country: an illustrated survey of the Australian beef cattle industry, a complete directory of the studs, page 85:
      About 15000 cattle, comprising 10000 Hereford and Poll Hereford, 4000 Aberdeen Angus and 1000 Shorthorn and Poll Shorthorn, are grazed [...]
    • 1970, The Pastoral review, volume 80, page 457:
      Otherwise, both horned and poll sheep continue to be bred from an inner stud.


References

  1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "poll, n.1" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2006.

Etymology 2

Perhaps a shortening of Polly, a common name for pet parrots.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /pɒl/

Noun

poll ‎(plural polls)

  1. A pet parrot.

Etymology 3

From Ancient Greek πολλοί ‎(polloí, “the many, the masses”)

Noun

poll ‎(plural polls)

  1. (Britain, dated, Cambridge University) One who does not try for honors at university, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman.

See also

References

  • Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Catalan

Etymology 1

From Latin pullus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpoʎ/

Noun

poll m ‎(plural polls)

  1. A chicken.

Etymology 2

From Late Latin peduclus < peduculus, variant of Latin pēdīculus, from pēdis, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pezd-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpoʎ/

Noun

poll m ‎(plural polls)

  1. A louse.

Related terms

  • pollós
See also

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

poll

  1. first-person singular present indicative of pollen
  2. imperative of pollen

German

Verb

poll

  1. Imperative singular of pollen.
  2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of pollen.

Icelandic

Noun

poll

  1. indefinite accusative singular of pollur

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish poll ‎(“hole”), from Old English pōl (compare English pool).

The verb is from Old Irish pollaid ‎(“perforates, pierces”), from the noun.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [pˠoːl̪ˠ], [pˠɔl̪ˠ]

Noun

poll m ‎(genitive singular poill, nominative plural poill)

  1. hole
  2. storage pit; disposal pit; extraction pit
  3. pool, puddle; pond, sea
  4. burrow, lair
  5. dark, mean place (of prison)
  6. shaft, vent hole
  7. aperture
  8. (anatomy) orifice, cavity
  9. perforation
  10. (figuratively) leak
  11. pothole

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • poll péiste ‎(“worm-hole”)

Verb

poll ‎(present analytic pollann, future analytic pollfaidh, verbal noun polladh, past participle pollta)

  1. (transitive) hole; puncture, pierce, bore, perforate (make a hole in)

Conjugation

Derived terms

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
poll pholl bpoll
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Middle English

Noun

poll

  1. A head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which the hair (normally) grows

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

poll m ‎(genitive singular puill, plural puill)

  1. mud, mire
  2. pond, pool, bog

Derived terms

Etymology

From Polly, by rhyming with Molly, from Mary.

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