en.wiktionary.org

poll - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English pol, polle ("scalp, pate"), from or cognate with Middle Dutch pol, pōle, polle (“top, summit; head”),[1] 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”, adj), 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".

poll (plural polls)

  2. A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.
    Synonym: survey
  4. A formal vote held in order to ascertain the most popular choice.
    Synonyms: vote, election

    The student council had a poll to see what people want served in the cafeteria.

    • 1942 May-June, Charles E. Lee, “The Brampton Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 140, relating to an election in 1837:

      The other returns having come in, the result of the poll, that Sir James Graham had been superseded by Major Aglionby, was declared at Carlisle soon after 11 a.m.

  5. A polling place (usually as plural, polling places)

    The polls close at 8 p.m.

  6. The result of the voting, the total number of votes recorded.
  8. (now rare outside veterinary contexts) The head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which hair (normally) grows.
    Synonym: scalp

    • 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..

    • 2005, Stuart W. Pyhrr, Donald J. LaRocca, Dirk H. Breiding, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), The Armored Horse in Europe, 1480-1620, Metropolitan Museum of Art, →ISBN, page 53:

      The main plate is formed in two halves, the upper plate having small sideplates, ear guards, an escutcheon plate (blank), and a brass plume-holder, as well as a hinged poll plate.

  9. (in extended senses of the above) A mass of people, a mob or muster, considered as a head count.
  10. The broad or butt end of an axe or a hammer.
  11. The pollard or European chub, a kind of fish.

a survey of a particular group — see also survey

polling place, a place to vote

the result of the voting, the total number of votes recorded

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.
  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.

    • 1717, Thomas Tickell, An Epistle from a Lady in England to a Gentleman at Avignon:

      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

  6. (transitive) To cut the hair of (a creature).
    • 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.
  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. Especially in conjunction with pill for emphasis.

    • 1579, Thomas North, Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Life of Brutus, paragraph 35:

      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.

  12. To impose a tax upon.
  13. To pay as one's personal tax.
  14. To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, especially for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
  15. (law) To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation[2]

    a polled deed

to solicit mock votes from (a person or group)

to remove the horns of (an animal)

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.

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "poll, n.1" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2006.
  2. ^ Alexander M[ansfield] Burrill (1850–1851) “POLL”, in A New Law Dictionary and Glossary: […], volume (please specify |part= or |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: John S. Voorhies, […], →OCLC.

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

poll (plural polls)

  1. A pet parrot.

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

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

Inherited from Old Catalan poll, from Latin pullus.

poll m (plural polls)

  1. chicken (bird)

Inherited from Old Catalan pooll~peoll, from Late Latin pēduculus.

poll m (plural polls)

  1. louse (insect)
  • “poll” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Ultimately from Latin pōpulus.

poll m (plural polls)

  1. poplar
    Synonym: pollancre

From Proto-Brythonic *pull, from Old English pull, pyll (“tidal pool”) or Old Norse pollr, from Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“pool”). Cognate with Breton poull, Irish and Scottish Gaelic poll, and Welsh pwll.

poll m (plural pollow)

  1. pool
  2. pond
    Synonym: lagen
  3. pit
    Synonym: pytt
  4. anchorage
    Synonyms: ankorva, lulyn

From Proto-Brythonic *puɨll, from Proto-Celtic *kʷeislā. Cognate with Welsh pwyll.

poll m (plural pollow)

  1. intelligence
  2. reason

poll

  1. inflection of pollen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

poll

  1. singular imperative of pollen
  2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of pollen

poll

  1. indefinite accusative singular of pollur

From Middle Irish poll (“hole”), from Old English pull, pyll (“tidal pool”) or Old Norse pollr (whence Icelandic pollur), from Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“pool”). Cognate with Welsh pwll.

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

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

  1. (ambitransitive) hole; puncture, pierce, bore, perforate (make a hole in)
verbal noun polladh
past participle pollta
tense singular plural relative autonomous
first second third first second third
indicative
present pollaim pollann tú;
pollair† 		pollann sé, sí pollaimid pollann sibh pollann siad;
pollaid† 		a phollann; a phollas /
a bpollann* 		polltar
past pholl mé; phollas pholl tú; phollais pholl sé, sí phollamar; pholl muid pholl sibh; phollabhair pholl siad; pholladar a pholl /
ar pholl* 		polladh
past habitual phollainn / bpollainn‡‡ pholltá / bpolltᇇ pholladh sé, sí / bpolladh sé, s퇇 phollaimis; pholladh muid / bpollaimis‡‡; bpolladh muid‡‡ pholladh sibh / bpolladh sibh‡‡ phollaidís; pholladh siad / bpollaidís‡‡; bpolladh siad‡‡ a pholladh /
a bpolladh* 		pholltaí / bpollta퇇
future pollfaidh mé;
pollfad 		pollfaidh tú;
pollfair† 		pollfaidh sé, sí pollfaimid;
pollfaidh muid 		pollfaidh sibh pollfaidh siad;
pollfaid† 		a phollfaidh; a phollfas /
a bpollfaidh* 		pollfar
conditional phollfainn / bpollfainn‡‡ phollfá / bpollfᇇ phollfadh sé, sí / bpollfadh sé, s퇇 phollfaimis; phollfadh muid / bpollfaimis‡‡; bpollfadh muid‡‡ phollfadh sibh / bpollfadh sibh‡‡ phollfaidís; phollfadh siad / bpollfaidís‡‡; bpollfadh siad‡‡ a phollfadh /
a bpollfadh* 		phollfaí / bpollfa퇇
subjunctive
present go bpolla mé;
go bpollad† 		go bpolla tú;
go bpollair† 		go bpolla sé, sí go bpollaimid;
go bpolla muid 		go bpolla sibh go bpolla siad;
go bpollaid† 		— go bpolltar
past dá bpollainn dá bpolltá dá bpolladh sé, sí dá bpollaimis;
dá bpolladh muid 		dá bpolladh sibh dá bpollaidís;
dá bpolladh siad 		— dá bpolltaí
imperative
– pollaim poll polladh sé, sí pollaimis pollaigí;
pollaidh† 		pollaidís — polltar

* indirect relative
† archaic or dialect form
‡‡ dependent form used with particles that trigger eclipsis

Mutated forms of poll
radical lenition eclipsis
poll pholl bpoll

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

poll

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

From Old Norse pollr.

poll m (definite singular pollen, indefinite plural pollar, definite plural pollane)

  1. a small branch of a fjord, often with a narrow inlet

Borrowed from English poll.

poll n (plural polluri)

  1. vote, election
  2. opinion poll
  • poll in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

From Middle Irish poll (“hole”), from Old English pull, pyll (“tidal pool”) or Old Norse pollr (whence Icelandic pollur), from Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“pool”). Cognate with Welsh pwll.

poll m (genitive singular puill, plural puill)

  1. mud, mire
  2. pond, pool, bog
Mutation of poll
radical lenition
poll pholl

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.