ballot

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A piece of paper used to record a secret vote.

   Voters marked their choice on the ballot and dropped it in the box.

2. 2
   noun

   The process of voting, usually in secret.

   The leader was chosen by a secret ballot of all members.

3. 3
   verb

   To ask people to vote on something.

   The union balloted its members on strike action.

Borrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage (“second ballot, runoff”)); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ballu (“ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz (“ball”).

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