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Poll

//pɔl// adj, name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective

1
Bred without horns, and thus hornless.
"Poll Hereford"

Proper Noun

1
A diminutive of the female given name Mary.
""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 surname transferred from the given name.
3
A common pet name for a parrot.

Noun

1
A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.
2
A pet parrot.
3
One who does not try for honors at university, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman. UK, dated
4
A disreputable woman. UK, obsolete, slang
5
the counting of votes (as in an election) wordnet

Show 11 more definitions

6
A formal vote held in order to ascertain the most popular choice.
"The student council had a poll to see what people want served in the cafeteria."
7
a tame parrot wordnet
8
A polling place (usually as plural, polling places)
"The polls close at 8 p.m."
9
the part of the head between the ears wordnet
10
The result of the voting, the total number of votes recorded.
11
the top of the head wordnet
12
The head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which hair (normally) grows.
"[…]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."
13
an inquiry into public opinion conducted by interviewing a random sample of people wordnet
14
A mass of people, a mob or muster, considered as a head count.
"We are the greater poll, and in true fear They gave us our demands."
15
The broad or butt end of an axe or a hammer.
16
The pollard or European chub, a kind of fish.

Verb

1
To take, record the votes of (an electorate). transitive
2
convert into a pollard wordnet
3
To solicit mock votes from (a person or group). transitive
4
get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions wordnet
5
To vote at an election. intransitive
"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."

Show 14 more definitions

6
get the votes of wordnet
7
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."
8
vote in an election at a polling station wordnet
9
To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop.
"to poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass"
10
To cut the hair of (a creature). transitive
"when he [Absalom] polled his head"
11
To remove the horns of (an animal). transitive
12
To remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop.
"to poll a tree"
13
To (repeatedly) request the status of something (such as a computer or printer on a network). transitive
"The network hub polled the department’s computers to determine which ones could still respond."
14
To be judged in a poll. intransitive
"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."
15
To extort from; to plunder; to strip. Especially in conjunction with pill for emphasis. obsolete
"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."
16
To impose a tax upon.
17
To pay as one's personal tax.
"the man that polled but twelve pence for his head"
18
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"
19
To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation
"a polled deed"

Etymology

Etymology 1

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".

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Etymology 4

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

Etymology 5

From Ancient Greek πολλοί (polloí, “the many, the masses”), as in hoi polloi.

Etymology 6

From Polly, by rhyming with Molly, from Mary.

Etymology 7

From Polly, by rhyming with Molly, from Mary.

Etymology 8

From Paul.

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