poll
Noun · VerbWordNet 3.0
Noun (5)
- an inquiry into public opinion conducted by interviewing a random sample of peopleSynonyms: opinion pollpublic opinion pollcanvass
- the top of the headSynonyms: patecrown
- the part of the head between the ears
- a tame parrotSynonyms: poll parrot
- the counting of votes (as in an election)
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
1.To remove the poll or head of; hence, to remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop; to shear; as, to poll the head; to poll a tree. [1913 Webster]
When he [Absalom] pollled his head.— 2 Sam. xiv. 26.[1913 Webster]
His death did so grieve them that they polled themselves; they clipped off their horse and mule's hairs.— Sir T. North.[1913 Webster]
2.To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop; -- sometimes with off; as, to poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass. [1913 Webster]
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.— Chapman.[1913 Webster]
3.To extort from; to plunder; to strip. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Which polls and pills the poor in piteous wise.— Spenser.[1913 Webster]
4.To impose a tax upon. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
5.To pay as one's personal tax. [1913 Webster]
The man that polled but twelve pence for his head.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]
6.To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, esp. for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one. [1913 Webster]
Polling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms.— Milton.[1913 Webster]
7.To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters; as, he polled a hundred votes more than his opponent. [1913 Webster]
And poll for points of faith his trusty vote.— Tickell.[1913 Webster]
8.(Law) To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation; as, a polled deed. See Dee? poll. --Burrill. [1913 Webster] [1913 Webster]
To poll a jury, to call upon each member of the jury to answer individually as to his concurrence in a verdict which has been rendered. [1913 Webster]
1.The head; the back part of the head. "All flaxen was his poll." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
2.A number or aggregate of heads; a list or register of heads or individuals. [1913 Webster]
We are the greater poll, and in true fear They gave us our demands.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
The muster file, rotten and sound, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand poll.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
3.Specifically, the register of the names of electors who may vote in an election. [1913 Webster]
4.The casting or recording of the votes of registered electors; as, the close of the poll. [1913 Webster]
All soldiers quartered in place are to remove . . . and not to return till one day after the poll is ended.— Blackstone.[1913 Webster]
5.pl. The place where the votes are cast or recorded; as, to go to the polls. [1913 Webster]
6.The broad end of a hammer; the but of an ax. [1913 Webster]
7.(Zool.) The European chub. See Pollard, 3 (a) . [1913 Webster]
Poll book, a register of persons entitled to vote at an election.
Poll evil (Far.), an inflammatory swelling or abscess on a horse's head, confined beneath the great ligament of the neck.
Poll pick (Mining), a pole having a heavy spike on the end, forming a kind of crowbar.
Poll tax, a tax levied by the head, or poll; a capitation tax. [1913 Webster]
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
To check the status of an input line, sensor, or memory location to see if a particular external event has been registered.
Contrast interrupt. [Jargon File]
(1995-01-31)
The Jargon File
1.[techspeak] The action of checking the status of an input line, sensor, or memory location to see if a particular external event has been registered.
2.To repeatedly call or check with someone: “I keep polling him, but he's not answering his phone; he must be swapped out.”
3.To ask. “Lunch? I poll for a takeout order daily.”