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poll

Pronunciation: /pɔl/

The English word “poll” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.
  2. A formal vote held in order to ascertain the most popular choice.
  3. A polling place (usually as plural, polling places).
  4. The result of the voting, the total number of votes recorded.
  5. The head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which hair (normally) grows.
  6. A mass of people, a mob or muster, considered as a head count.
  7. The broad or butt end of an axe or a hammer.
  8. The pollard or European chub, a kind of fish.

verb

  1. To take, record the votes of (an electorate).
  2. To solicit mock votes from (a person or group).
  3. To vote at an election.
  4. To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters.
  5. To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop.
  6. To cut the hair of (a creature).
  7. To remove the horns of (an animal).
  8. To remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop.
  9. To (repeatedly) request the status of something (such as a computer or printer on a network).
  10. To be judged in a poll.
  11. To extort from; to plunder; to strip. Especially in conjunction with pill for emphasis.
  12. To impose a tax upon.

Etymology

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.