poll

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A survey of people's opinions or voting intentions.

   A recent poll showed strong support for the new policy.

2. 2
   noun

   (usually plural) The place where people vote, or the voting itself.

   The polls close at eight o'clock tonight.

3. 3
   verb

   To ask people for their opinions in a survey.

   Researchers polled a thousand voters before the election.

4. 4
   verb

   To receive a particular number of votes.

   He polled a hundred votes more than his opponent.

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Simplified etymology

Poll was a Middle English word meaning “head.” Its electoral sense developed from the practice of counting heads, while poll tax similarly referred to a tax assessed per head.

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 pu…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary