• Poll

    Pronunciation

    • Australia IPA: /paÉ”l/
    • UK IPA: /pəʊl/, /pɔʊl/
    • US IPA: /poÊŠl/, /plÌ©/
    • Homophones: pole, Pole

    Origin 1

    From Middle English pol, polle

    Anglo-Norman poll ("list")}, from Middle Low German pol, poll ("head") or Middle Dutch pol, pōle, polle ("head, top"), both 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, skalp, skull"), Eastern Frisian pol ("round, full, brimming"), Low German polle ("head, tree-top, bulb"), Danish puld ("crown of a hat"), Swedish dialectal pull ("head"). Meaning "collection of votes" is first recorded 1625, from notion of "counting heads".

    Alternative forms

    Full definition of poll

    Noun

    poll

    (plural polls)
    1. An election or a survey of a particular group of people.The student council had a poll to see what people want served in the cafeteria.
      • BlackstoneAll soldiers quartered in place are to remove ... and not to return till one day after the poll is ended.
    2. A number or aggregate of heads; a list or register of individuals, especially electors.
      • ShakespeareWe are the greater poll, and in true fear
        They gave us our demands.
      • ShakespeareThe muster file, rotten and sound, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand poll.
    3. (usually as plural) A place where voters cast ballots.The polls close at 8 p.m.
    4. Hair
      • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, ...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.
    5. The head, especially its top part.
      • 1908, O. Henry, 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..
    6. The broad or butt end of an axe or a hammer.
    7. A fish, the pollard or European chub.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Verb

    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.
    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.
      • Tickellpoll 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
      • ChapmanWho, 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. 26when he Absalom polled his head
      • Sir T. NorthHis 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.
      • Spenserwhich polls and pills the poor in piteous wise
    12. To impose a tax upon.
    13. To pay as one's personal tax.
      • Drydenthe 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.
      • Miltonpolling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms
    15. (legal) To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation.a polled deed

    Adjective

    adjective

    1. (of kinds of livestock which typically have horns) Bred without horns, and thus hornless.Poll HerefordRed 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.
    not durably archived:
      • The Poll Hereford was first developed in significant numbers by Hereford breeders in the USA. The breeders (from the Mid-West) saw benefits in a hornless breed, so naturally occurring ‘hornless’ Herefords were selected and bred. By 1907 there were sufficient numbers to establish the first Poll Hereford register. NSW Department of Primary Industy
      • The Red Poll Cow is one of the traditional native British dual purpose breeds (beef & milk). It is naturally polled (hornless). Red Poll Cattle Society

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /pÉ’l/

    Origin 2

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

    Noun

    poll

    (plural polls)
    1. A pet parrot.

    Pronunciation

    Origin 3

    From Ancient Greek (polloi, "the many, the masses")

    Noun

    poll

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