Poll Definition

pōl

polled, polling, polls

noun

polls

The casting and registering of votes in an election.

American Heritage

An individual person, esp. one among several.

Webster's New World

The places where votes are cast and registered during an election, considered as a group.

The polls close in this state at 8:00.

American Heritage

A counting, listing, or register of persons, esp. of voters.

Webster's New World

The amount of voting; number of votes recorded.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
canvass
public-opinion poll
opinion-poll
crown
pate
poll-parrot
pollbook
polling area
polling-place
voting-machines
ballot box(es)
ballot
survey
consensus
vote

verb

polled, polling, polls

To take or register the votes of.

To poll a county.

Webster's New World

To receive (a specified number or proportion of votes)

Webster's New World

To cut off or cut short.

Webster's New World

To require each member of (a jury, committee, etc.) to declare his or her vote individually.

Webster's New World

To vote in an election.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

adjective

(of kinds of livestock which typically have horns) Bred without horns, and thus hornless.

Poll Hereford.

Red Poll cows.

Wiktionary

pronoun

A diminutive of the female given name Mary.

Wiktionary

A common pet name for a parrot.

Wiktionary

A surname.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Poll

Noun

Singular:

poll

Plural:

polls

Origin of Poll

From Middle English pol, polle ("head, hair of the head, list"; > 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".

From Wiktionary
Middle English pol head from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Perhaps a shortening of Polly, a common name for pet parrots.

From Wiktionary
From Polly, by rhyming with Molly, from Mary.

From Wiktionary
From Ancient Greek [script?] (polloi, “the many, the masses")

From Wiktionary
From Paul.

From Wiktionary