Pole Definition

pōl
poled, poles, poling
noun
poles
Either extremity of an axis through a sphere.
American Heritage Medicine
Either of the regions contiguous to the extremities of the earth's rotational axis, the North Pole or the South Pole.
American Heritage
Either extremity of the main axis of a nucleus, cell, or organism.
American Heritage Medicine
Either end of any axis, as of the earth, of the celestial sphere, or of a mitotic spindle during cell division.
Webster's New World
Either of two opposed or differentiated forces, parts, or principles, such as the ends of a magnet, the terminals of a battery, motor, or dynamo, or two extremes of opinion.
Webster's New World
verb
poled, poles, poling
To propel with a pole.
Boatmen poling barges up a placid river.
American Heritage
To propel (oneself) or make (one's way) by the use of ski poles.
American Heritage
To manipulate, impel, support, etc. with or as with a pole.
Webster's New World
To push along (a boat or raft) with a pole.
Webster's New World
To strike, poke, or stir with a pole.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
idiom
under bare poles
  • with all sails furled because of high winds
Webster's New World
poles apart
  • widely separated; having opposite natures, opinions, etc.; at opposite extremes
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Pole

Noun

Singular:
pole
Plural:
poles

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Pole

Origin of Pole

  • From Middle English pole, pal, from Old English pāl (“a pole, stake, post; a kind of hoe or spade"), from Proto-Germanic *palaz, *pālaz (“pole"), from Latin pālus (“stake, pale, prop, stay") from Old Latin *paglus, from Proto-Indo-European *pāǵe- (“to nail, fasten"). Cognate with Scots pale, paill (“stake, pale"), North Frisian pul, pil (“stake, pale"), West Frisian poal (“pole"), Dutch paal (“pole"), German Pfahl (“pile, stake, post, pole"), Danish pæl (“pole"), Swedish pÃ¥le (“pole"), Icelandic páll (“hoe, spade, pale"), Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; lustrum").

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old French from Latin polus from Greek polos axis, sky kwel-1 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle French pole, pôle, and its source, Latin polus, from Ancient Greek πόλος (polos, “axis of rotation").

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English pāl from Latin pālus stake pag- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From German Pole.

    From Wiktionary

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