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 Frisian pol (“round, full, brimming”, adjective), 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".
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.
The student council had a poll to see what people want served in the cafeteria.
All soldiers quartered in place are to remove […] and not to return till one day after the poll is ended.1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
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The other returns having come in, the result of the poll, that Sir James Graham had been superseded by Major Aglionby, was declared at Carlisle soon after 11 a.m.1942 May-June, Charles E. Lee, “The Brampton Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 140, relating to an election in 1837:
3
A polling place (usually as plural, polling places)
The polls close at 8 p.m.
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.
Now rare outside veterinary medicine contexts
[…]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.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
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..1908, O. Henry, A Tempered Wind:
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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.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:
6
A mass of people, a mob or muster, considered as a head count.
In extended senses of the above
We are the greater poll, and in true fear They gave us our demands.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
The muster file, rotten and sound, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand poll.c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
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 Frisian pol (“round, full, brimming”, adjective), 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".
Mr. Millbank's friends were not disheartened, as it was known that the leading members of Mr. Rigby's Committee had polled; whereas his opponent's were principally reserved.1844, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter IV, in Coningsby; or, The New Generation. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book V, page 271:
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.
poll for points of faith his trusty vote1717, Thomas Tickell, An Epistle from a Lady in England to a Gentleman at Avignon:
5
To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop.
to poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass
Who, 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.[1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:
6
To cut the hair of (a creature).
when he [Absalom] polled his head1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Bible Samuel/#14 2 Samuel:14–26:
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.
The network hub polled the department’s computers to determine which ones could still respond.
10
With adverb To be judged in a poll.
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.2008, Joanne McEvoy, The politics of Northern Ireland, page 171:
11
Obsolete To extort from; to plunder; to strip. Especially in conjunction with pill for emphasis.
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.1579, Thomas North, Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Life of Brutus, paragraph 35:
Which pols and pils the poore in piteous wize1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 6:
12
To impose a tax upon.
13
To pay as one's personal tax.
the man that polled but twelve pence for his head1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Third Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
14
To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, especially for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
polling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:
15
Law To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation
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 Frisian pol (“round, full, brimming”, adjective), 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".
1
Bred without horns, and thus hornless.
Of kinds of livestock which typically have horns
Poll Hereford
Red Poll cows
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Sheep, that is, the Horned sort, and those without Horns, called Poll Sheep [...]1757, The monthly review, or, literary journal, volume 17, page 416:
About 15000 cattle, comprising 10000 Hereford and Poll Hereford, 4000 Aberdeen Angus and 1000 Shorthorn and Poll Shorthorn, are grazed [...]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:
Otherwise, both horned and poll sheep continue to be bred from an inner stud.1970, The Pastoral review, volume 80, page 457:
Poll
noun
US /pɑl/
Etymology From Polly, by rhyming with Molly, from Mary.