poll
Forms
- Plural
- polls
- present (v1)
- poll
- past (v2)
- polled
- past participle (v3)
- polled
- present participle
- polling
- 3rd person singular
- polls
Definitions
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.
- 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.
- The other returns having come in, the result of the poll, that Sir James Graham had been superseded by Major Aglionby, was declared at Carlisle soon after 11 a.m.
3.The result of the voting, the total number of votes recorded.
4.A polling place (usually as plural, polling places)
- The polls close at 8 p.m.
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.
- 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.
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.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1533
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
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”).