Meanings
-
1
noun
A long, thin, rounded piece of wood or metal used to hold or support something.
They put up the tent and tied it to two wooden poles.
-
2
noun
One of two completely opposite positions or opinions.
On this issue, the two leaders are at opposite poles.
-
3
verb
To push a boat along by pressing a pole against the bottom of the water.
He poled the raft slowly down the river.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Middle English pole, pal, from Old English pāl (“a pole, stake, post; a kind of hoe or spade”), from Proto-West Germanic *pāl (“pole”), from Latin pālus (“stake, pale, prop, stay”), perhaps from Old Latin *paxlos, from Proto-Italic *pākslos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- (“to nail, fasten”). Doublet of peel, pale, and palus. Cognates Cognate with Scots pale, paill (“stake, pale”), North Frisian pul, pil (“stake, pale”), Saterland Frisian Pool (“pole”), West Frisian poal (“pole”), Dutch paal (“pole”), German Pfahl (“pile, stake, post, pole”), Danish pæl (“pole”), Swedish påle…