| 释义 |
▪ I. pole, n.1|pəʊl|
Forms: 1 pál, 4 pool, 4– pole; also 4–6 poole, 5 poll (pulle, Sc. poille), 6 polle, poule, poale, 6–7 powle, 9 (dial.) powl.
[OE. pál = OLG. *pâl (OFris. pâl, MDu. pael, Du. paal, MLG., LG. pāl), OHG. phâl (MHG. phâl, pfâl, Ger. pfahl), ON. páll (Norw. paale, Sw. påle); ad. L. pāl-us stake, prop. OE. pál gave regularly ME. pôl, mod.Eng. pole; the phonology of 15th c. pulle, 16th c. poule, and mod. dial. powl, pow, is obscure.]
1. a. In early use, A stake, without reference to length or thickness; now, a long, slender, and more or less cylindrical and tapering piece of wood (rarely metal), as the straight stem of a slender tree stripped of its branches; used as a support for a tent, hops or other climbing plants, telegraph or telephone wires, etc., for scaffolding, and for other purposes. (See also 2.)
The modern sense becomes clear first c 1440.
c1050Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 334/2 Palus, pal. 1340Ayenb. 203 Þe eddre of bres arered ine þe pole. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 52 Poysoun on a pole þei put vp to his lippes. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 369 Ȝif a pole [Higd. palus ligneus, Harl. MS. a staffe or a thynge of a tree] is i-piȝt þerynne, þat partie of þe pole [Caxton shaft or pool, Harl. MS. that tre] þat is in þe erthe schal turne in to iren. c1440Promp. Parv. 407/2 Pole, longe rodde, contus, pertica. c1445Lydg. Nightingale 309 This was the poole and the hygh[e] tree, Whilom sette vp by Moyses of entent. 1457Nottingham Rec. II. 365 For c. allor polls vs. viiijd. c1470Henry Wallace ii. 33 He bar a sasteing in a boustous poille. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop v. xiii. 91 b, I shalle haue alle the rote the pulle [radices cum tota columna] or maste and alle the braunches. 1541Nottingham Rec. III. 383 For iij. powlez to make reylez in Cow Lane. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI 160 The Capitayne..caused his head to be cut of, and pitched it on a highe poole. Ibid., Hen. VIII 139 b, The kyng..lept ouer a diche beside Hychyn, with a polle and the polle brake. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 15 Some saie a long poule. 1559Mirr. Mag., Jack Cade xv, On a poale. 1568Bible (Bishops') Num. xxi. 8 Make thee a fyerie serpent, and set it vppon a pole [Vulg. pro signo, 1382 Wycl. for a tokne; 1388 for a signe; 1535 Cov. for a token; 1539 (Great) for a sygne (so 1560 Genev.)]. 1607in Stonehouse Axholme (1839) 404 [The boundary] towards the north, as the powles and stoupes were set [in the moors] by the said order, to Briscoe Dyke north east. 1616Sir C. Mountagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 250 Lest a man be like a hop without a pole. 1717Prior Alma ii. 12 If, after some distinguish'd leap, He drops his pole, and seems to slip. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 323 A conical tent, with a single pole. 1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy (1905) 286 On the earliest telegraph lines square poles..were employed. Ibid. 295 In countries where wood is extremely perishable..iron poles are very extensively used.
b. Colloq. phr. up the (or a) pole: in trouble or difficulty; in confusion, in error; drunk; mad, crazy; pregnant but unmarried.
1886–96A. R. Marshall in Farmer & Henley Slang (1902) V. ii. 245/1 But, one cruel day, behind two slops he chanced to take a stroll, And..he heard himself alluded to as being up the pole. 1896Daily News 1 Apr. 7/6 She remonstrated with the latter, and told him he was ‘up a pole’—i.e. in the wrong. 1897Daily Tel. 11 Dec. 10/4 Plaintiff:..but your little girl was frequently saying that you were ‘up the poll [sic]’... The Judge: Up the what?.. The High Bailiff explained that the term was a slang one for being intoxicated. 1899Daily Mail 29 Mar. 5/1 When there are nineteen Frenchmen to four Englishmen they were slightly up the pole. 1904Westm. Gaz. 19 Mar. 7/2 Plaintiff's definition of the phrase ‘up the pole’ differed from that of her cousin.. who said it meant being drunk. Mrs. Frasier said that it..meant being crazy. 1905Daily Chron. 14 Dec. 6/4 Alec went to football smoker. Came home up the pole at one a.m... ‘Up the pole,’ Mrs. Norman said, was one of her husband's slang terms for a person under the influence of drink. 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xiv. 188 Then, as a bright afterthought, she added, ‘Yer fair up the pole!’ 1915C. J. Dennis Songs of Sentimental Bloke 49 The dreams I dreamed, the dilly thoughts I thunk Is up the pole, an' joy 'as done a bunk. 1916E. V. Lucas Vermillion Box 165 It must require an awful lot of pluck... Either pluck or so much panic that one was practically up the pole with it. 1917[see blotto a.]. 1922Joyce Ulysses 23 That red Carlisle girl, Lily... Spooning with him last night on the pier. The father is rotto with money.—Is she up the pole?—Better ask Seymour that. 1922Daily Mail 20 Dec. 3 Keith came to her, saying he was ‘up the pole and in a frightful mess’. 1932D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xxii. 295, I think we may take it for granted that our friend Weldon is a bit up the pole financially. 1950J. Cleary Just let me Be xi. 108 If I go and see 'em now, tell 'em what I done and why I done it, I'd be well and truly up the pole. 1961‘F. O'Brien’ Hard Life v. 37 To say nothing of a lot of crooked Popes with their armies and their papal states, putting duchesses and nuns up the pole, and having all Italy littered with their bastards. 1965W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags vi. 92 ‘Right,’ said Curly, agreeing with Ronnie's logic for once. He generally thought Ronnie was all up the pole when giving advice to someone. 1970R. Beilby No Medals for Aphrodite vi. 244 We'd 'a' been up the pole without him, that's why we didn't send him on his way. 1974G. Moffat Corpse Road x. 142 ‘Do you really suspect that Pilgrim—Pilgrim!—killed the girl?..’ ‘You're up the pole,’ Mrs Kent said to Page.
c. Colloq. phr. I wouldn't touch him (it) with a forty-foot (or ten-foot) pole (and varr.): I refuse to have anything to do with him (it). Cf. barge-pole.
1903‘T. Collins’ Such is Life 22 The young feller he used to come sometimes an' just shake hands with her, but otherways he wouldn't touch her with a forty-foot pole. 1909Dialect Notes III. 383, I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. 1941Coast to Coast 167 ‘Me take the harness off him!’ my mother said, surprised. ‘Why, I wouldn't touch that mad thing with a forty-foot pole.’ 1958E. O. Schlunke Village Hampden 26 Attracting a lot of business of the more or less shady sort that our reputable men wouldn't touch with a forty-foot pole. 1974P. Erdman Silver Bears i. 11 No respectable bank..would touch our business with a ten-foot pole.
2. In specific applications:
a. A long tapering wooden shaft fitted to the fore-carriage of a vehicle and attached to the yokes or collars of the draught-animals, serving to guide and control the vehicle, and sometimes also bearing the whiffle-trees.
The application in quot. 1390 is uncertain.
[1390Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 7 Cum emptione poles, girthes, sursengles et aliis necessariis.] 1619[implied in pole-piece in 5 c]. 1647[implied in poleless]. 1683Wood Life 9 Nov. (O.H.S.) III. 79 The pole of a coach hit against his brest. 1699S. Sewall Diary 27 Sept., Pole of the Calash broken by the Horses frighted with a Pistol. 1813Sk. Charac. I. 114 The pole of our carriage ran against the splendid chariot of the Marchioness of Arrangford.
b. Used as a tradesman's sign. Cf. ale-pole, barber's pole s.v. barber 3.
1566Ann. Barber-Surg. Lond. (1890) 181 No Barber shall..put out any bason or basons..upon his poule on Sundays or Holy days. 1641Tatham Distracted State iv. i. (1651) 22/2 Scotch Apothecary..I ha not ben a Poles-Screamer this twenty yeers far naught. 1797Ld. Thurlow in Hone Every-day Bk. (1825) I. 1269 By a statute still in force, the barbers and surgeons were each to use a pole. 1887T. Hardy Woodlanders i, A master-barber that's left off his pole because 'tis not genteel.
c. Naut. A ship's mast: in phr. with or under (bare) poles: with no sail set, with furled sails. Also, The upper end of a mast, rising above the rigging.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 17 We may have..to spoon before the Sea with our Powles. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1699) 415 We scudded..before the Wind very swift, tho' only with our bare Poles. 1799Hull Advertiser 20 July 2/4 The brig is painted black, with..no pole to her fore top gallant-mast. 1816‘Quiz’ Grand Master ii. 22 The vessel rolls, At ocean's mercy under poles.
d. The long handle of a scythe or the like. dial.
1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Pow, a pole, a scythe pow, the long handle of a scythe. 1903Eng. Dial. Dict., (S. Lancs.) Scythe pow, stang pow.
e. (a) Racing, the inside fence surrounding a racecourse; the starting position closest to the inside fence; (b) Motor racing, esp. in phr. pole position, the grid position which is on the front row and on the inside of the first bend; also fig., any advantageous position.
1851Fraser's Mag. XLIII. 657/1 The distance round is calculated at a mile,.. For a saddle horse that has the pole, it comes practically to a little less... A horse ‘has the pole’, means that he has drawn the place nearest the inside boundary-fence of the track. Ibid. 659/1 ‘What a beauty she is!’ says Harry. ‘And she has the pole too.’ 1868H. Woodruff Trotting Horse xxiv. 206, I had the pole with Kemble Jackson, and soon took the lead. 1902A. D. McFaul Ike Glidden xxii. 198 This stroke apparently gave the friends of the colt more confidence in the result, as drawing the pole was a position in favor of the colt. 1953Motor 22 July 857/3 The newest B.R.M..had to be worked on all night and brought back to the course only just in time to come to the pole position on the starting line. 1963Times 27 Apr. 3/3 J. Clark set a new unofficial lap record in his fuel injected Lotus 25..which gives him pole position on the starting grid. 1966Telegraph (Brisbane) 14 May 17/3 Australian Jack Brabham,..former world champion racing driver, snatched pole position for tomorrow's international formula one race. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 36/2 Two Ford GT40s broke a course record and grabbed the pole positions for this weekend's 24 Hours of Daytona at Daytona Beach, Fla. 1969Australian 24 May 34/4 Won Mobile 12½f event here four starts back. Place claims from the ‘pole’. 1971Sunday Times 12 Sept. 50/3 The German company retained a pole position in hormone research which led to the Pill. 1976Milton Keynes Express 11 June 42/7 Colin Hawker's Cosworth Grand Prix-engined VW was on pole. 1976Listener 8 July 7/3 Brazil's foreign investment needs..would double its foreign borrowing, and take Brazil to pole position in the big league of world debtors. 1977News of World 17 Apr. 24/7 Ipswich relinquished their hold on the pole position to champions Liverpool.
3. a. A pole (in sense 1) of definite length used as a measure; hence, name of a lineal measure, esp. for land: in Statutory Measure, equal to 5½ yards or 16½ feet, but varying locally; a perch, a rod.
1502Arnolde Chron. (1811) 173 In dyuers odur placis..they mete ground by pollis gaddis and roddis some be of xviij foote some of xx fote and som xvi fote in lengith. 1579J. Stubbes Gaping Gulf F iij, Thold English liberall measure of syxtene foote and a halfe to the pole. 1603Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 133 In some place the pole is but ix foote, and in some place xij foote. 1706Phillips, Pole, a long Stick: In measuring, it is the same with Pearch or Rod, or as some call it Lugg: By Stat. 35 Eliz. this Measure is a length of 16 Foot and a half, but in some Countries it consists of 18 Foot and is called Woodland-Measure; in some Places of 21 Foot termed Church-Measure; and in others of 24 Foot under the Name of Forest-Measure. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Mile, Every Furlong forty Lugs or Poles..every Pole sixteen Foot and a Half. 1813T. Davis Agric. Wilts App. 268 A rod, pole, or perch..is of three lengths in this county: 15, 18, and 16½ feet.
b. As a measure of area: A square rod or perch; 301/4 square yards.
1637in N. Riding Rec. IV. 77 To be rated by acree and powle. 1660Sharrock Vegetables 19 A rod or pole of ground, which is the square of sixteen feet and a half. Mod. The land is let in ten-pole allotments at sixpence a pole.
4. In sporting phraseology: The tail of certain beasts and birds, as the otter, pheasant, etc.
1863Atkinson Stanton Grange (1864) 202 His hand missed the otter's hind-quarters, but closed upon its pole (or tail). 1900Shooting Times 15 Dec. 15/2 Pole, the tail of an otter. Ibid., Pole, the tail of a pheasant. 1904Westmld. Gaz. 2 July 5/5 Captain T. presented the pole to Miss L., the pads to the Misses C.,..and the mask most deservedly to..the huntsman.
5. attrib. and Comb.
a. Simple attrib.: Pertaining to, consisting or made of a pole or poles, as pole barn, pole-bridge, pole corral, pole-end, pole-fence, pole-futchel, pole-head (cf. pole-mast in c.), pole plantation, pole-topmast, pole-wood.
b. Objective and obj. genitive, instrumental, etc., as pole-balancing, pole-bearer, pole-jump, pole-jumper, pole-jumping, pole leap, pole-leaper, pole-leaping, pole-setter, pole-setting; pole-armed, pole-shaped adjs.
1950*Pole barn [see pole corral]. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder (Suppl.) 19 Jan. 41/1 In winter they are in pens of 45 in pole-barns. 1969Times 24 Feb. 12/1 They [sc. bullocks]..were present by the score,..making their systematic way to adjacent pole barn silos. 1972N.Y. Law Jrnl. 22 Aug. 13/8 (Advt.), Five bedrooms, 14 room modern home..on 12½ acres,..pole barn suitable for horses, riding trails nearby, would make ideal ski lodge.
1800Sporting Mag. XV. 28 The *pole-bearers were followed by a large ship. 1900G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impress. ii. 38 In the early summer of 1844 I took part as a ‘pole⁓bearer’ in the last Montem. [See poleman b, quots. 1844, 1898.]
1793J. Lindley in Michigan Pioneer & Hist. Coll. (1892) XVII. 574 *Pole bridges..made the tour very disagreeable. a1817T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 131 Mr. L's horse, crossing a pole bridge, fell through, and threw his rider. 1850Congress. Globe 29 Jan. 240/1 Now, his colleague must start by the most direct route the 23rd of November, making provision for..contingencies of travel over corduroy roads, pole bridges, mud turnpikes, etc. 1974D. Sears Lark in Clear Air ii. 34 We crossed a pole bridge over the Perch.
1950Amer. Speech XXV. 85 No longer heard is old land, though pole barn and *pole corral still describe forms of construction. 1962J. Onslow Bowler-Hatted Cowboy v. 51 Two saddle horses which we turned into a small pole-corral. 1973Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ont.) 11 Aug. 7/4 His..sheep..didn't want to bunch in the pole corral for the night.
1788G. Washington Diaries (1925) III. 346 All hands were..finishing the *Pole fence round the Barley and Pease in field No. 1. 1835–40Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 229 Who should I see but Bobbin in his waggon ag'in the pole fence. 1959W. R. Bird These are Maritimes x. 278 We saw..many ancient pole fences crossing the fields. 1973L. Russell Everyday Life Colonial Canada ii. 32 Probably the pole fence was the kind most frequently constructed at this stage [of land clearing]. In this, the trunks of moderate⁓sized trees were used, cut in lengths of 12 to 15 feet.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Pole-futchel, the jaws between which the hinder end of a carriage-tongue is inserted.
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 16 Top-gallant-masts..have commonly *pole-heads, either stump, common, or long.
1886Year's Sport 21 The other winners..were..*pole jump, T. Ray; and wide jump, J. Purcell. 1898Daily News 22 Feb. 3/4 A party of his pupils are exercising at the pole-jump, across a ditch.
1887M. Shearman Athletics & Football v. 163 Ulverston..has produced many fine *pole-jumpers. 1908Westm. Gaz. 1 July 8/4 Quite recently, Szathmary, the pole-jumper, broke the Hungarian record.
1912,1920Pole jump [see decathlon].
1868H. F. Wilkinson Mod. Athletics viii. 88 *Pole jumping. The leaping pole should be made of fir or ash. 1912[see field events s.v. field n. 21]. 1931E. Linklater Juan in America i. vi. 59 He could not help being tickled by the thought of an American university; pole-jumping and cheer-leaders.
1868Kendal Times 5 Sept. 2/5 (heading) Grasmere annual sports... High *pole leap for {pstlg}1.
1869Ibid. 18 Sept. 4/3 The high *pole leaping..was gone through in capital style. 1885F. Gale Mod. Eng. Sports vi. 67 Running, jumping, and pole-leaping were often the outcome of a very old-fashioned sport, ‘Follow my leader’.
1888T. Bright Pole Plantations & Underwoods i. 1 A *pole plantation is an assemblage of young trees, the produce of plants that have been inserted in the soil at regular distances, or of the stems formed from such plants after their having been cut for poles.
1892A. E. Lee Hist. Columbus (Ohio) I. 363 After the *polesetters had done their work the wires were quickly strung.
1887Pall Mall G. 10 Sept. 7/1 An elderly man..fights with a *pole-shaped stick against a constable.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Maté en caravelle, fitted with *pole topmasts.
1742MS. Agreement (co. Derby), [Lessee] to fall or cut all the large or *pole wood grounds.
c. Special Combs: pole-bean, any climbing bean (Webster, 1890); pole-board, a board or placard carried on poles like a banner; pole-boat now chiefly Hist., a river-boat propelled by means of a pole or poles; so pole-boating vbl. n.; pole-bracket, a bracket on a telegraph pole for supporting the wires; pole-bullock, a bullock that is harnessed alongside the pole of a wagon; pole-burn, a disease affecting tobacco during the curing process, due to overheating when hung too closely on poles (Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895); so pole-burn v. intr., (of tobacco) to be discoloured and lose flavour by overheating (Cent. Dict. 1890); pole-cap, the insulating cap of a telegraph pole; pole-carriage (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875), pole-cart, a vehicle furnished with or drawn by means of a pole; pole-chain, (a) a measuring chain = chain n. 9; (b) the chain by which the end of a carriage-pole is connected with the collar; † pole-clipt a., hedged in by poles; pole-crab, a double metal loop affixed to the end of a carriage-pole to receive the breast-straps of the harness (Knight); pole-cure v., to cure (tobacco) by hanging it on poles; pole-dray, a dray furnished with or drawn by means of a pole; pole-ground, ground or river-bottom suitable for poling a barge, etc.; † pole-hammer, properly poll-hammer, the war-hammer or martel-de-fer; † pole-hatchet, ? = pole-axe ; an opprobrious appellation (cf. hatchet-face); pole-hedge = espalier 1; pole-hook, (a) the hook on the end of a carriage-pole; (b) a boat-hook (Knight); pole-horse, a horse harnessed alongside of the pole, a wheeler as distinguished from a leader; pole-lathe, a lathe in which the work is turned by a cord passing round it, and fastened at one end to the end of an elastic pole, and at the other to a treadle; pole-mast, a mast formed of a single spar; so pole-masted a.; pole-mule, a mule harnessed alongside the pole of a wagon; pole-net, a net for catching fish, etc., fastened on a pole or poles; pole-pad, a stuffed leather pad fastened on the point of the pole of a gun-carriage, to prevent injury to the horses; pole-piece, (a) a heavy strap which attaches the end of the pole to the horse's collar; (b) in roof-construction, a ridge-pole; † pole-pike, ? a pike fixed in the end of a pole, a pike-staff; pole-plate (see quots.); pole-prop, a bar for supporting the end of the pole (esp. of an artillery carriage) when the horses are unhitched (Knight); pole-puller, one who is employed in drawing the poles in a hop-garden; so pole-pulling; pole-rack, a rack on which drying-poles are supported in dyeing, tanning, and other trades; pole-railroad, -railway, a temporary track constructed of two parallel lines of barked poles, serving as rails for the removal of the logs of a district to the sawmill; pole-reed (also pool-reed), Phragmites communis; pole-road = pole-railroad; pole-rose = pillar rose s.v. pillar n. 12; pole-rush (also pool-rush), the Bulrush, Scirpus lacustris; pole-screen, a fire-screen mounted on an upright pole or rod, on which it may be fixed at any point; pole-shank = pole-staff; pole-sling, a kind of palanquin or travelling seat suspended from a pole or poles carried by bearers; † pole-square, a square pole; pole-staff, a net-pole (Cent. Dict.); pole-strap = pole-piece (a) (Knight); pole-tip, a metal cap covering the point of the pole of a carriage; pole-tool: see quot.; pole-torpedo, a torpedo carried on the end of a pole projecting from the bows of a vessel; a spar-torpedo; pole-trailer (see quot. 1971); pole-trap, a circular steel trap set on the top of a post; a bird-catching device which consists of a trap fixed to the top of a pole; pole-trawl, a trawl-net of which the mouth is kept open with a pole; so pole-trawling; pole vault, a jump over a horizontal bar which is achieved by means of a pole; = pole jump; also attrib.; hence as v. trans. and intr.; so pole-vaulter; also fig.; pole-vaulting vbl. n.; pole-wagon, a wagon furnished with or drawn by means of a pole; pole-wedge (also poll-), in a plough: see quots.; pole-wound rare, a wound that has been inflicted with a pole.
c1770‘J. H. St. J. de Crèvecœur’ Sk. 18th-Cent. Amer. (1925) 120, I had once some hops and *pole-beans, about twenty feet high. 1857Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. (1859) III. 503 There are many varieties of pole beans. 1865[see Lima b]. 1871Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Fireside Stories 246 There was thick pole-beans quite up to the buttery-door. 1941J. Stuart Men of Mountains 192 We drove down past Shelton's polebean patch. 1976Washington Post 19 Apr. a10/7 (Advt.), Fresh Florida pole beans. 4 lbs. $1.
1909Westm. Gaz. 29 Dec. 6/4 Others, again, carrying *pole-boards setting forth all deceased's honours and titles.
1827A. Sherwood Gaz. Georgia (1939) 22/1 Cargoes..are thrown into *pole boats. 1835W. G. Simms Partisan II. ii. 12 At this point the river ceased to be navigable even for the common poleboats of the country. 1841― Kinsmen I. xiv. 163 Wherever a pole-boat had made its way, there had the name of Jack Bannister found repeated echoes. 1968R. F. Adams Western Words 232/1 Pole boat, a river boat; so called because of the means by which it was propelled upstream.
1837A. Sherwood Gaz. Georgia (ed. 3) 193 A revolution in the mode and manner of transshipping goods must take place. The slow, tedious and expensive process of *pole-boating will be exploded.
1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 211 *Pole-brackets..are of a tubular form..and made of malleable iron.
1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. vii. 150 In 1868 Strawberry, one of the *pole⁓bullocks, died after working ten years and seven months on the station. 1933Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 18 Nov. 15/7 Pole-bullocks, the two bullocks which work on the p[ole] of a dray or waggon.
1884Health Exhib. Catal. 78/1 Insulators. *Pole Cap.
1833Wauldby Farm Rep. 102 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, The wain or *pole-cart dragged by oxen is unknown here.
1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Surveying, The surveyor..furnish'd..with a well divided *pole chain or off set rod. 1827Sporting Mag. XXI. 102 The accidental breakings of reins, pole-chains, hame-straps.
1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 68 Thy *pole-clipt vineyard, And thy Sea-marge stirrile, and rockey-hard.
1899Rep. U.S. Dept. Agric. No. 62. 30 The present method of manipulating these tobaccos after they are *pole-cured is quite different from what it was years ago.
1848H. W. Haygarth Bush Life Australia v. 49 In some districts..shaft-drays are used; but *pole-drays are found to be more suitable to the nature of the country.
1773in Crisp Richmond (1866) 316 From the depth of water, the want of *Pole ground would render it difficult..to work the Craft.
1873Sullivan O'Curry's Anc. Irish I. Introd. 459 In the fourteenth century the war hammer was in general use... The foot soldiers had it fixed on a long pole, whence the name *Pole-hammer. [This is an error, founded on false etymology; the poll-hammer (M.Du. pol-hamer) had its name from poll head, like poll-ax, pole-axe.]
a1529Skelton My darlyng dere, etc. 28, I wys, *powle hachet, she bleryd thyne I. 1826Hor. Smith Tor Hill (1838) II. 98 You pennyless pole-hatchet.
1665Rea Flora (ed. 2) 6 Pallisados (or as we usually call them, *Pole-hedges) are much in fashion in France. 1706London & Wise Retir'd Gard. I. 91 The Cultivation of Vines in Vineyards, on Pole-Hedges.
1889Harper's Mag. June 160/2 The leaders sprang upward and onward.., the *pole-horses simultaneously crashing backward and downward.
1815J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 66 The *pole lathe..made of the cheapest materials, and in the simplest manner. 1859Pole-lathe [see back-rest 1]. 1881Young Ev. Man his own Mechanic §539 The pole lathe and the ‘dead-centre’ lathe are..the most simple forms of this useful contrivance. 1932G. M. Boumphrey Story of Wheel 38 When the lathe came here, it was altered into what is called the pole-lathe. 1968J. Arnold Shell Book of Country Crafts xv. 200 Whether a turner uses a pole-lathe or the treadle type seems a matter for individual inclination... The extremely primitive pole-lathe came firstly with a primitive society, but its retention appears largely due to its simplicity and easy portability.
1730in Patents Specific., Masts, &c. (1874) 1 A *pole mast vessell for the better..catching..of all sorts of fish. 1824Ibid. 19 Double pole masts. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) B b ij b, A mast..is either formed of one single piece, which is called a pole mast, or composed of several pieces joined together.
1894Daily News 22 Feb. 2/1 The Britannic is rigged as a *pole-masted schooner. 1915Yachting Monthly XIX. 366/1 This necessitated a change of rig, and a pole-masted ketch was decided on. 1970Mariner's Mirror LXVI. 165 Evidence for the pole-masted brigantine rig was found at the Dubrovnik museum.
1862O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 106 A driver riding the near *pole mule and guiding his team with one line.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Pole-net, a net attached to a pole for illegal fishing in rivers. 1885Bompas Life F. Buckland 163 Imagine an old fashioned, bag-shaped night-cap, with a stick fastened on each side of it, and you have a pole net.
1619in Naworth Househ. Bks. (Surtees) 108 For a paer of duble cotch rains and 2 *poolpeseis. 1794W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 212 Pole-pieces are the straps which couple the horses to the pole, and are regulated by the size and weight of the carriage. 1901J. Black's Illustr. Carp. & Build., Home Handicr. 22 Deal rafters..the lower ends of which rest on the wall plates,..and the upper extremities..abut on the ‘ridge’ or ‘pole piece’.
1451–2Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 147 Pro j *polepike et quinque Sholyrnez, ijs. ijd.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 128 A *pole-plate is a beam over each opposite wall, supported upon the ends of the tie-beam. 1889Cath. Household 30 Nov. 4 Bold king-post principals and traceried windbraces to the purlins and pole plates.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 753 The *pole-puller and pickers..in the hop plantation.
1878Lumberman's Gaz. 6 Apr., They use on these *pole railroads trucks with iron wheels.
1578Lyte Dodoens iv. liv. 514 This plante is called in..English, Common *Pole Reede, Spier, or Cane Reede. 1597Gerarde Herbal i. xxiv. §6. 34 Arundo Cypria..in English, Pole reede, or Cane, or Canes. 1879Prior Names Brit. Plants (ed. 3) 187 Pole-reed,..in our western counties, Pool-reed.
1879Lumberman's Gaz. 16 July 6 The *pole road, ordinarily, is constructed of poles 4 or 5 inches in diameter, of pine or hard wood. 1893Scribner's Mag. June 708/2 ‘Pole-roads’..where cars with wheels with concave faces run on poles instead of rails.
1848W. Paul Rose Garden 67 Pillar or *Pole Roses.
1578Lyte Dodoens iv. lii. 511 The fourth [kind of Rush] is called..in English, the *pole Rushe, or bull Rushe, or Mat Rushe.
1870Mrs. Oliphant Autobiogr. & Lett. (1899) 225, I have just finished the most enchanting *pole-screen. 1937Burlington Mag. Apr. p. xxiv/1 A mahogany Polescreen on a beautifully carved tripod stand. 1960B. Snook English Historical Embroidery 98 Pole screens were not unconnected with vanity. Created in the 18th century to protect the make-up worn by elegant women from the heat of large open fires, they were very practical little pieces of furniture. 1976Northumberland Gaz. 26 Nov. 18/4 (Advt.), Pair Regency mahogany pole screens.
1888Goode Amer. Fishes 250 In this is inserted the end of the *pole-shank.
1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 86 Allowing a Bushel to a *Pole-square, or a hundred and sixty Bushels to an Acre.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Pole-tools, the tools used in drilling with rods.
1878N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 386 The *pole-torpedo could not..avail.
1969*Pole trailer [see expandable a.]. 1971M. Tak Truck Talk 120 Pole trailer, a trailer composed of a single telescopic pole, a tandem rear-wheel unit and a coupling device used to join the trailer to a tractor.
1892Daily News 6 Jan. 5/7 Most cruel of all the instruments of destruction used by gamekeepers..is the ‘*pole trap’. 1909Westm. Gaz. 17 Feb. 5/1 The catching of birds with hooks in Cornwall has been stopped by an Act passed last year, and efforts have been made to abolish entirely the illegal pole-trap. 1972Guardian 3 May 7/2 The illegal and viciously cruel pole trap..a spring trap fixed by a short chain to the top of a pole which kills the captured bird in an extremely slow and painful way—was made illegal in 1904... It appears to be still in common use. 1975Country Life 2 Oct. 849/2 Even in Britain..prosecutions are still being brought for the illegal use of pole-traps.
1836First Rep. Irish Fisheries 166 The *pole-trawl, used in shoal water, is the only one known here.
1774Walsh in Phil. Trans. LXIV. 471 Small vessels, with which they practise *pole-trawling.
1893Outing (U.S.) XXII. 154/2 He has..held the world's record in the *pole vault for distance. 1935Encycl. Sports 467/1 In front of the pole-vault bar is a slideway, in which the base of the pole is placed when jumping. Ibid. 467/2 The world's record pole vault is 14 ft. 43/4 in., made by W. Graber..in 1932. 1951Time 29 Jan. 85 Did, or did not, the Rev. Robert Richards become the second man in history to pole-vault 15 feet? 1973Times 2 May 11/2 She..will train regularly with Michael Bull, who holds the British pole vault record and who is preparing for the decathlon in the Christchurch Commonwealth Games next January. 1977Western Morning News 30 Aug. 12/7 Brian Hooper edged a little closer to the magical 18-foot pole vault as another landslide of wins carried Britain to overwhelming victory against West Germany. 1978Times 18 July 2/8 Ape pole-vaults over park moat... A chimpanzee..escaped from an island by pole-vaulting across a moat using an 8 ft. pole.
1888A. Randall-Diehl 2000 Words 165 *Pole Vaulter, one who practices leaping by aid of a pole. 1891W. M'Combie Smith Athletes & Athletic Sports of Scotland viii. 88 From the moment he takes hold of the pole as he commences his run till he lets it go as he crosses the bar the pole-vaulter never shifts his hands. 1893Outing (U.S.) XXII. 154/2 Harding..began training as a pole-vaulter in 1891. 1956Sun (Baltimore) 13 Oct. (B ed.) 12/2 The United States Air Force unit responsible for making these jaunts across the roof of the world a daily routing is the 58th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron—more colloquially known as ‘the pole vaulters’. 1976Milton Keynes Express 30 July 43/2 Saturday's performance was helped by the presence of two new pole vaulters.
1877N.Y. Times 5 Apr. 8/4 The following programme was adopted: one-mile walk, two-mile walk, one-mile run,..*pole-vaulting. 1891W. M'Combie Smith Athletes & Athletic Sports of Scotland viii. 88 Pole-vaulting is comparatively a recent introduction at Scottish sports. 1932Webster & Heys Exercises for Athletes viii. 161 Now let us consider which are the muscles principally involved in the feat of pole-vaulting. 1968M. Watman Hist. Brit. Athletics x. 168 Pole vaulting for height, as distinct from distance, was pioneered in the mid-nineteenth century by members of the Ulverston (Lancashire) Cricket and Football Club.
1908S. Ford Side-Stepping with Shorty vi. 90 The *pole waggon brings up the rear. 1910G. B. McCutcheon Rose in Ring i. i. 6 Here and there, in the gloomy background, stood the canvas and pole wagons. 1968J. Arnold Shell Book of Country Crafts v. 76 The pole-wagon, which was the fore-runner of the present-day motor-hauled trolley, had iron stanchions at its four corners of two transverse beams, each above its respective axle.
1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xxi. 308 The Coulter, which is wedged tight up to it [the Coulter-hole] by the *Poll-Wedge. Ibid. 309 Three Wedges at least will be necessary to hold the Coulter; the Pole-Wedge before it,..another Wedge on the left Side of it above, and a third on the right Side underneath.
1908Hardy Dynasts III. iv. vi. 417 Who knows but that we should have been kings too, but for my crooked legs and your running *pole-wound?
Add: [c indigo][2.] f.[/c] Angling. (a) A rudimentary fishing-rod, esp. one used without fittings other than a line connected to the tip of the rod (chiefly N. Amer.); (b) ellipt. for roach-pole s.v. roach n.1 2 b.
1688[see snapper n.1 6 a]. 1830New Hampsh. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1832) III. 84 They [sc. pickerel] are taken three ways: 1st. A pole of from 12 to 20 feet, with a line about the same length is provided with a hook [etc.]. 1897F. Mather Men I have fished With 30 You h'ist 'em out too quick with a pole, throw that away..and when you get a fish haul him in hand under hand. 1903J. A. Henshall Bass, Pike, Perch & Others 103 Very often hand lines or stiff cane poles are used in estuary fishing. 1917S. Leacock Frenzied Fiction (1918) xiii. 169 As for the railroad man..you can tell him because he carries a pole that he cut in the bush himself, with a ten-cent line wrapped round the end of it. 1934E. Marshall-Hardy Angling Ways x. 74 The lightest roach pole is a heavy and cumbersome affair... The only portion of these poles in which there is any action is the top foot or eighteen inches. 1962K. Kesey One flew over Cuckoo's Nest iii. 235, I sat down and held the pole and watched the line swoop out into the wake. 1982D. Carr Success with Pole 9 Twenty years ago, around 2{pcnt} of match anglers would have carried poles; now 99{pcnt} have them.
g. Athletics. The long, slender rod of wood, fibre-glass, etc., used by a competitor in pole-vaulting.
1888, etc. [see pole-vaulter, -vault (sense 5 c below)]. 1955Track & Field Athletics (Achilles Club) 228 The new tapered metal poles are as springy as the heavier bamboo ones. 1973J. Bronowski Ascent of Man (1976) i. 36 In the act of vaulting, the athlete grasps his pole, for example, with an exact grip that no ape can quite match. 1986N.Y. Times 17 Feb. iii.1/4 Dial failed to clear a height..because his poles did not arrive in time and he was forced to use borrowed ones.
h. Skiing. ellipt. for ski-pole s.v. ski n. 2 b. orig. U.S.
1920Lit. Digest 14 Feb. 115, I need not describe these poles to you, as any dealer will know what you mean by ski-poles. 1938Ski Bull. 9 Dec. 7/2 (Advt.), Complete ski stock available,—skis, boots, bindings, poles. 1963S. Plath Bell Jar viii. 101 There was a skier in front of me and a skier behind me, and I'd have been knocked over and stuck full of skis and poles the minute I let go. 1986Skiing Today Winter 44/3 Positively reaching out down the mountain the pole is planted, the skier rises upward and forward, pressure is taken off the edges, and weight is transferred to the uphill ski.
[5.] [c.] pole fishing, the action, practice, or art of fishing with a (roach) pole.
1982D. Carr Success with Pole 9 ‘Modern’ pole fishing started with the introduction by Continental match anglers, some 15 to 20 years ago, of fibre glass poles, which were much lighter and had a better action than the old cane poles. 1988Coarse Fishing Handbk. June/July 6/3 Pole fishing is..a means of taking big bags of fish at high speed—ideal for those early season attacks on roach with hemp and tares.
▪ II. pole, n.2
Forms: 4– pole; also 4 pool, 4–6 pol, 5–6 poole, 6 powle, Sc. poill.
[ad. L. pol-us the end of an axis, a pole ((Astron.) Plin.), the sky (Virg.), a. Gr. πόλος a pivot, axis, in Astron. the axis of the sphere (Plato), the sky (æsch.). In OF. pole (1372 in Hatz.-Darm.), mod.F. pôle; so It., Sp., Pg. polo, Ger. pol, Du. pool, all from L.]
1. Each of the two points in the celestial sphere (north pole and south pole) about which as fixed points the stars appear to revolve; being the points at which the earth's axis produced meets the celestial sphere. Sometimes also = pole-star.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §22 The heyhte of owre pool Artik fro owre north Orisonte. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xxii. (Bodl. MS.), Polus is a fulle litel sterre... And twei Polus [ed. 1495 Polis] there bene, þat one hatte Articus..þe oþer pole hiȝt antarticus. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. iii. (1555), To enhaunce thyne honour to the heauen Aboue the poole and the sterres seuen. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 261 Alle the grownde that lyethe over the occean..vnder the northe pole. 1513Douglas æneis vi. i. 34 Dedalus, the wrycht,..To aventur hym self heich in the sky,..Towart the frosty poil artik he flaw. 1527R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 253 The altitude of the Poles, that is the North and South starres. 1602H. Briggs (title) A Table to find the height of the Pole; the Magnetical Declination being given. 1604Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 15 To cast water on the burning Beare, And quench the Guards of th' euer-fixed Pole. 1726–46Thomson Winter 741 All one cope Of starry glitter, glows from pole to pole. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. §328. 145 The points where the terrestrial poles would pierce this sphere, if they were long enough, we shall call the celestial poles.
fig.1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xv. 65 The Souldiers pole is falne: young Boyes and Gyrles Are leuell now with men. 1916K. J. Saunders Adventures Christian Soul 68 When God's will is thy heart's pole, Then is Christ thy very soul.
2. a. Each of the extremities (North and South) of the axis of the earth; also of any rotating spherical or spheroidal body (pole of revolution).
1551Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., The two poyntes that suche a lyne maketh in the vtter bounde or platte of the globe, are named polis, wch you may call aptly in englysh, tourne pointes. 1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 228 Those found neere the pooles are not perfect, but are of a thick colour; whereas such as are found neere the line, are most orient and transparent. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 19 They entertained a notion that I was going..to search for the South pole. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. i, Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole! 1820W. Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 46 The opinion of an open sea round the Pole is altogether chimerical. 1827Gentl. Mag. XCVII. i. 159 Resolved..that another Expedition to the North-Pole shall be undertaken. 1834Nat. Philos. III. Astron. iii. 83/1 (U.K. Soc.), The points M and m are called..the poles of the moon. 1880G. Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 111 As for matters of the heart between us, we're as far apart as the Poles.
fig.1509Hawes Past. Pleas. v. (1555) D j, The lady Gramer..To whose doctrine, I dyd me aduertise For to attayne, in her artyke poole, Her gylted dewe, for to oppresse my doole.
†b. Each extremity of the axis of a lens. Obs.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Pole of a Glass (in Opticks) is the thickest part of a Convex, but the thinnest of a Concave Glass..sometimes called, The Vertex of the Glass.
†c. Each of the two ends of any axle; a peg on which anything turns. Obs. rare.
1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals ii. i. 124 The Poles upon which the Wheel of Cardinalism ought to turn. 1730A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 303 These Doors have a round Hole in the Threshold, and another above, into which the Poles of the Impost entered.
d. colloq. phr. poles apart (or, less commonly, poles removed), completely opposite to or different from (someone or something).
1917A. Huxley Let. 30 Sept. (1969) 134 They are deeply engaged in something very far removed from the sordid present, poles apart from any clap trap I may be talking about English literature. 1922Joyce Ulysses 618 On this knotty point, however, the views of the pair, poles apart as they were, both in schooling and everything else,..clashed. 1935Discovery Feb. 52/2 Mr Dunne is poles apart from the dry-as-dusts who care not whether or no what they write is read. 1957J. S. Huxley Relig. without Revelation iv. 95 Bringing together whole realms of fact.., which had hitherto seemed poles apart. 1966Listener 13 Jan. 75/2 The world which his symphony inhabits is poles apart from that of Bruckner's symphonic ‘confession’. 1971Scope (S. Afr.) 19 Mar. 32/3 He is poles removed from men like Carel de Wet on the one side and Douglas Mitchell on the other.
3. Geom. pole of a circle of the sphere: Each of the two points on the surface of the sphere, in which the axis of that circle cuts the surface; as the poles of the ecliptic on the celestial sphere. The poles of any great circle of a sphere are also the poles of every small circle parallel to it.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §18 This senyth is the verrey pool of the orisonte in euery regioun. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 33 If I make B.D. the poles of th' equinoctiall..then can thei not be the poles of the zodiack. 1594Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. xvi. (1636) 311 In this Colure there are set downe the two Poles of the Ecliptique line, being distant from the Poles of the world three and twenty degrees and 30′. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vii. ii. 3 Every Dial Plane hath his Axis, which is a straight Line passing through the Center of the Plane, and making Right Angles with it; and at the end of the Axis be the two Poles of the Plane, whereof that above our Horizon is called the Pole Zenith, and the other the Pole Nadir of the Dial. 1795Hutton Math. Dict. II. 255/1 The Pole of a great circle is a point upon the sphere equally distant from every part of the circumference of the great circle. 1816Playfair Nat. Phil. II. 2 They all describe circles having the same point for their Pole.
b. Hence in Cryst., the point at which a straight line perpendicular to a face or plane of a crystal meets the (ideal) sphere of projection.
1878Gurney Crystallogr. 31 The points in which the perpendiculars..meet the surface of the sphere are called the poles of the respective faces. 1895Story-Maskelyne Crystallogr. 27 A pole may therefore also be defined as the point of contact of the sphere and a tangent-plane parallel to a plane of the system on the same side of the origin with the plane.
4. poet., after ancient Greek and Latin usage; also pl. The sky, heavens. arch. or Obs.
1572Satir. Poems Reform. xxx. 134 The storme approches quhen ye Poills are fairest. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV, cclxxiii, Hee,..Ambitious of the Pole, has got moe Eyes But wth less ease. 1715–20Pope Iliad viii. 692 Stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole. 1770W. Hodson Ded. Temple Sol. 2 Mingled Thunders shake the lab'ring Pole. 1794Blake Songs Exper., Poison-Tree 14 When the night had veil'd the pole.
5. Magn.
a. Each of the two opposite points or regions on the surface of a magnet (when of elongated form, usually at its ends) at which the magnetic forces are manifested.
So called originally by analogy with the poles of the earth or the celestial sphere, when it was discovered that a lodestone tends to dispose itself with one extremity towards the north, and the other towards the south.
1574Eden Prof. Bk. Navigation (1579), For lyke as in heauen are two poynts immoueable..vpon the which the whole frame of heauen is turned..euen so the stone Magnes reduced into a globous or rounde forme, laying thereon a needle turneth and resteth, thereby is shewed the place of the poles. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. iii. (1635) 57 Let the two poles both North and South bee marked out in the Loadstone. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 60 A Loadstone..wherein only inverting the extremes as it came out of the fire, wee altered the poles or faces thereof at pleasure. 1738J. Eames in Phil. Trans. Abridgm. VIII. 246 Concerning Magnets having more than two Poles. 1831Brewster Optics x. 93 A steel wire..became magnetic by exposure to the white light of the sun; a north pole appearing at each polished part, and a south pole at each unpolished part. 1866R. M. Ferguson Electr. (1870) 37 Gilbert considered the north pole of the magnet to be a south pole, as he took the north pole of the earth as his standard north pole. 1870Airy Treat. Magnetism 12 This suggests the idea that the whole of the magnetism peculiar to that end of the magnet is collected into that one point: and that point is called a ‘pole’. 1873Maxwell Electr. & Magn. II. 3 The ends of a long thin magnet are commonly called its poles.
Comb.1884S. P. Thompson Dynamo-electr. Mach. 124 By substituting a four-pole field for the original two-pole field..they could get exactly double. 1900Engineering Mag. XIX. 748/2 There being two generating sets, with two-pole dynamos. Ibid. 754/2 A twelve-pole machine, the connections of whose winding can be altered so as to furnish pressures from 385 to 4,000 volts.
b. magnetic pole: each of the two points in the polar regions of the earth where the dipping needle takes a vertical position.
1701Grew Cosm. Sacra i. ii. 9 The Magnetick Poles are also a great Secret; especially now they are found to be distinct from the Poles of the Earth. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) X. 435/2 The magnetic poles of the earth may be considered as the centres of the polarities of all the particular aggregates of magnetic substances. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 178 It is found, that the magnetical poles of the earth change their situation, and this singular circumstance has opened a wide field for speculation.
6. Electr. Each of the two terminal points (positive and negative) of an electric cell, battery, or machine.
1802Med. Jrnl. VIII. 319 It is particularly through the medium of the organs of sight and taste, that we find some difference in the respective action of the two poles. 1834Faraday Exp. Res. (1855) I. 196 The poles, as they are usually called, are only the doors or ways by which the electric current passes in or out. 1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 290 The termination of the conductors or wires, connected with the opposite ends of the voltaic battery, are commonly termed its positive and negative poles. 1881S. P. Thompson Elem. Less. Electr. & Magn. 127 The copper strip, whence the current starts on its journey through the external circuit, is called the positive pole, and the zinc strip is called the negative pole. 1905Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 15 note, The connection at the negative plate is the positive pole and that at the positive plate the negative pole.
7. Biol. Each extremity of the main axis of any organ of more or less spherical or oval form.
1834McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 462 Their parts are arranged round an axis and on one or several radii, or on one or several lines extending from one pole to the other. 1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life Introd. 22 It is rare for the chromatin to be grouped in two masses on the equator [of the spindle] and the split of the nucleus to take place through its poles. 1893Tuckey tr. Hatschek's Amphioxus 39 The upper pole of the egg. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 338 The upper pole of the right kidney is 5 cm. external to the tip of the eleventh thoracic spine.
8. Geom.
a. A fixed point to which other points, lines, etc., are referred: as, the origin of polar co-ordinates; the point of which a curve is a polar.
b. The point from which a pencil of lines diverges.
1849Cayley Wks. I. 425 A fixed point Q (which may be termed the harmonic pole of the point P with respect to the system of surfaces). 1863R. Townsend Mod. Geom. I. x. 216 The inverse of the foot of the perpendicular from the centre of a circle upon any line is termed the pole of the line with respect to the circle. 1873Williamson Diff. Calculus (ed. 2) xii. §175 The position of any point in a plane is determined when its distance from a fixed point called a pole, and the angle which that distance makes with a fixed line, are known; these are called the polar co-ordinates of the point. 1885A. G. Greenhill Diff. Calculus (1886) 241 The locus of Y, the foot of the perpendicular on the tangent of a curve drawn from the origin O, is called the pedal of the curve with respect to O, and O is called the pole of the pedal.
9. fig. Each of two opposed or complementary principles to which the parts of a system or group of phenomena, ideas, etc., are referable.
1471Ripley Comp. Alch. iv. xv. in Ashm. Theat. Chem. Brit. (1652) 147 Losyng and knyttyng therefore be Princypalls two Of thys hard Scyence, and Poles most pryncypall. 1830Coleridge Table-t. 30 Apr., The..Nominalists and Realists..each maintained opposite poles of the same truth. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxvii. 350 To develope itself [i.e. syphilitic poison] according to certain antitheses (poles or metastases). 1861E. Garbett Bible & Critics 245 Reverting..to the very opposite pole of religious thought and practice. 1898G. B. Shaw Plays Pleasant p. xi, These are the opposite poles of our system, represented in practice by our first rate managements at the one end, and the syndicates which exploit pornographic musical farces at the other. 1935B. Malinowski in M. Black Importance of Lang. (1962) 77 These two poles of linguistic effectiveness, the magical and the pragmatic. 1965New Statesman 30 Apr. 690/2 At the opposite pole to Tchaikovsky's introversion stands Verdi.
10. Math. A point c in whose neighbourhood the magnitude of a function f(z) becomes infinite, but in such a way that, were the function multiplied by an appropriate power of (z-c), it would remain finite.
1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 819/2 A rational (non-integral) function has a certain number of infinities, or poles, each of them of a given multiplicity. 1893Harkness & Morley Treat. Theory of Functions iii. 112 If f(z) be infinite at c, while (z-c)mf (z) is regular at c, m being a finite positive integer, c is said to be a pole of the function, and m is said to be the order of multiplicity, or simply the order, of the pole. 1935E. T. Copson Introd. Theory of Functions of Complex Variable iv. 79 If f(z) has a pole at a, {vb}f(z){vb} tends to infinity as z tends to a in any manner. Moreover, if f(z) has a pole of order m at a, 1/f(z) is regular and has a zero of order m there. 1968P. A. P. Moran Introd. Probability Theory vii. 299 ϕ1(2) is therefore an analytic function with no zeros or poles. 1973L. J. Tassie Physics Elem. Particles xii. 162 F(l, k) is an analytic function of l except for poles above or on the real axis. These poles in the complex angular momentum plane are called Regge poles. The positions of the poles are analytic functions of the energy.
11. attrib. and Comb., as pole-cell [tr. G. polzelle (A. Weisman 1863, in Zeitschr. f. wissensch. Zool. XIII. 111)] any of the cells which move to the posterior end of the embryo in certain invertebrate species, and subsequently give rise to the germ line; pole-changer, a switch or key for reversing the direction of an electric current; † pole-dial = polar dial; pole figure Metallurgy [tr. G. polfigur (F. Wever 1924, in Zeitschr. f. Physik XXVIII. 72)], a circular diagram that is a stereographic projection of a sphere showing the positions of the poles of one or more lattice planes of a crystal or crystalline substance, the intensity of any spot in the diagram being proportional to the number of planes having the corresponding orientation; pole-finding paper, impregnated paper which can be used to identify the sign of an electric terminal or the like by the change of colour it undergoes when brought into contact with it; pole-hunting vbl. n., the act of going on an expedition to either the North or South Poles; pole-piece, a mass of iron forming the end of an electromagnet, through which the lines of magnetic force are concentrated and directed; pole-shoe Electr., a detachable extension of a pole-piece.
1893Tuckey tr. Hatschek's Amphioxus 173 The *pole-cell of the mesoblast still distinguishable. 1941Johannsen & Butt Embryol. Insects & Myriapods ii. 10 This mass of cells are [sic] the germ cells.., also called ‘polar globules’ or ‘pole cells’ by earlier writers. 1969R. F. Chapman Insects xviii. 365 In the Nematocera all the pole cells migrate in to form the germ cells in the gonads.
1839*Pole changer [see alternating ppl. a. d]. 1884Knight Mech. Dict. Suppl., Pole-changer. 1905Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 209 Introducing the pole-changer and compound relay.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vii. A aaaij, A Globe with two *Pole-Dials, and one Shadow-Dial.
[1938Mem. Geol. Soc. Amer. VI. 101 These oriented textures have been..recorded in the pole-diagram of metallography.] 1943Proc. Amer. Soc. Testing Materials XLIII. 785/1 The only feasible method for studying two-dimensional preferment such as this is to make a *pole figure for the specimen. Such a pole figure is a summarization by stereographic projection of data obtained for one set of crystal planes from a series of X-ray photographs taken at different angles to the sheet. 1962R. E. Smallman Mod. Physical Metallurgy vi. 205 The scatter about the ideal orientation can only be represented by means of a pole-figure which shows the spread of orientation about the ideal for a particular set of (hkl) poles.
1902J. E. Hutton in A. C. Harmsworth Motors viii. 145 ‘*Pole-finding’ paper may also be used for this purpose. 1963G. M. B. Dobson Explor. Atmos. v. 84 These instruments recorded on ‘pole-finding’ paper the sign of the electric current flowing through a long wire hanging from the balloon.
1907Daily Chron. 30 July 4/6 The Nimrod..sails from the East India Dock today to pick up Lieutenant Shackleton..and convey him towards the South Pole... But the point is not merely that the Nimrod is to go *Pole-hunting. 1920Glasgow Herald Aug. 4/2 Such an expedition [to the Antarctic], undertaken not for Pole-hunting but for observation and collection in all possible branches of science, accumulates abundant material.
1883Daily News 10 Sept. 2/1 The *pole-pieces of the field magnets. 1884Higgs Magn. & Dyn. Electr. Machines 171 The distribution of the electromotive force in the various sections of the coils on the armature depends very greatly on the shape of the pole-pieces. 1962M. G. Say Conc. Encycl. Electr. Engin. 337/1 The magnets..consist of a circular yoke of cast iron to which inwardly projecting laminated main pole pieces are bolted.
1892S. P. Thompson Dynamo-Electr. Machinery (ed. 4) xxiii. 657 Field-magnet cores, 8½ inches long, 4½ inches diameter; *pole-shoes, 8 inches by 31/4 inches. 1901Sheldon & Mason Dynamo Electr. Machinery iv. 75 Pole shoes are put on the ends of the pole pieces to distribute this flux over a wider area where it has to pass through the air. 1957Encycl. Brit. VIII. 148/2 The enlarged portions of the poles near the armature are the pole shoes.
▪ III. pole, n.3 rare.|pəʊl|
[a. F. pole ‘the Sole-fish called a Dogs-tongue’ (Cotgr.).]
1. A marine flat-fish, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus, of the family Pleuronectidæ, found in north-west European waters and on the North American side of the Atlantic; = witch n.4
1668Wilkins Real Char. ii. v. §3. 141 Plain or flat fish..having the mouth on the left side of the eyes, having bigger scales. Pole. 1836W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Fishes II. 227 (heading) The Pole, or Craig Fluke. 1864J. Couch Hist. Fishes Brit. Islands III. 190 The Pole is a fish of the Arctic Sea.
2. Comb. pole-dab, -flounder = prec. sense.
1838Mem. Wernerian Soc. VII. 370 The Pole Dab is distinguished from the plaise [sic] in having no tubercles on the head. 1896J. T. Cunningham Marketable Marine Fishes 233 The witch..has been called the pole dab, pole flounder, and long flounder by English naturalists. 1925J. T. Jenkins Fishes Brit. Isles 184 The Witch, or Pole Dab, may be recognised by the fact that the eyes are on the right side of the head. 1969A. Wheeler Fishes Brit. Isles & N.-W. Europe 542 (heading) Witch (Pole Dab).
1888Goode Amer. Fishes 260 In Greenland they are said to feed upon the pole-flounder. Ibid. 331. 1890 Webster, Pole-flounder..native of the northern coasts of Europe and America..called also craig flounder, and pole-fluke. 1896[see pole-dab above].
▪ IV. pole, v.1
Also 7–9 poll (8 pool).
[f. pole n.1]
1. trans.
†a. To set on a pole. Obs.
1606Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. xc. (1612) 365 From whom..they hewd his better-worthie head, And pold it on their Citie walls.
b. To convey (hay, reeds, etc.) on poles. local.
1828Webster, Pole,..to bear or convey on poles; as, to pole hay into a barn. 1892P. H. Emerson Son of Fens xvii. 173 We began to pole it inter the boat. 1903Eng. Dial. Dict., Pole, to heap or move grass or reeds, etc., on long poles.
2. To furnish with poles. (Cf. to stake.)
1573[see poling vbl. n.1 1]. 1594Plat Jewell-h. i. 48 margin, New manner of poling of hops. 1707Mortimer Husb. 135 Disperse your Poles between the Hills before you begin to pole, and begin not to pole till your Hops appear above the Ground. 1893K. A. Sanborn Truthf. Wom. in S. California 134 Beans do not need to be ‘poled’ here, but just lie lazily along the ground. 1898Daily News 24 Aug. 5/2 The military telegraph wire is poled to this place.
3. To attach (a horse) to the carriage-pole.
1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. xxi, Crasher..was..revolving in his own mind..whether he wouldn't pole up Marathon a little shorter going home.
4. a. To push, poke, or strike with a pole; to stir up, push off, with a pole.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Polling, in gardening, the operation of dispersing the worm-casts all over the walks, with long ash-poles. 1870De B. R. Keim Sheridan's Troopers 270 While one was poling up the unknown occupants within, the others stood around the entrance with pistols..ready to greet the first appearance of the denizens. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 381 The only thing was to pole the logs off.
b. To strike or pierce with a carriage-pole.
1728Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. ii. i, If we had a mind to stand in his way, he wou'd pool us over and over again. 1824New Monthly Mag. XI. 450 Yon heedless hack Has poled a deaf old woman's back. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. ix, With a footman up behind, with a bar across, to keep his legs from being poled.
c. Baseball. To hit (the ball, a shot) hard. Also with out.
1905C. Dryden Champion Athletics 40 At a tight spot in the game Hoffman poled out a vicious liner. 1943Amer. Speech XVIII. 104 A batter who hits a line drive..is said..to pole one out. 1976Webster's Sports Dict. 326/1 Pole, to hit the ball hard.
†5. intr. (?) To use a pole as a weapon; to fight or fence with a pole. Obs.
a1601? Marston Pasquil & Kath. i. 6, I am as perfect in my Pipe, as Officers in poling, Courtiers in flatterie, or Wenches in falling. c1645Tullie Siege Carlisle (1840) 35 One Watson, poleing with a Skott, was shot by his Comraid. Scisson to revenge his death cut 2 of the Scotts.
6. a. trans. To propel (a boat or raft) with a pole.
1774D. Jones Jrnl. (1865) 47 The canoe was poled up the stream. 1799J. Smith Acc. Remark. Occurr. (1870) 43 Sometimes paddling and sometimes polling his canoe along. 1893F. F. Moore Gray Eye or so II. 57 The boat..was being poled along in semi-darkness.
b. intr. or absol.
1831R. Cox Adv. Columbia River II. 193 After pushing off we poled away with might and main. 1895H. Norman Peoples & Pol. of Far East xxxii. 537 We poled and paddled up the river.
7. To stir (molten metal or glass) with a pole of green wood, with the object of reducing the proportion of oxygen in the mass.
1842[see poling vbl. n.1 1]. 1869Roscoe Elem. Chem. (1871) 265 In order to get rid of the last traces of oxide, the molten copper is ‘poled’ or stirred up with a piece of green wood. 1884Chamb. Jrnl. 1 Dec. 766/1 The tin is first melted and ‘polled’—that is, stirred up with a stick of green wood.
8. To take advantage of someone; to impose or sponge on. Austral. colloq.
1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands vi. 66 ‘What rot, girls; why don't yer get er shift on?’ cried Feathers virtuously... ‘'Taint ther mealy pertater, polin' on the firm like this.’ 1919W. H. Downing Digger Dialects 38 Poll, to take advantage of another's good nature. 1938X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) xxxii. 486 Call me a wastrel, would ya? You—why, you're poling on Jesus Christ! 1945Baker Austral. Lang. v. 107 The N.S.W. Libraries Advisory Committee (1939)..said that inter-library loans had been summed up as ‘poling instead of pooling’. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xiv. 214 Only his own obstinacy kept him working, but Launce was as independent as any other man in Lost Haven. He wasn't going to pole on Alec. 1947V. Palmer Hail Tomorrow i. 10, I asked him why he should come up north and pole on men who were trying to win decent conditions for themselves, but he said he wanted a holiday. 1953‘Caddie’ Sydney Barmaid xxxviii. 220 ‘And while there's anything in the Sutton cupboard, Caddie,’ he assured me when I said I couldn't stay and pole on them, ‘it's yours.’ 1957‘N. Culotta’ They're Weird Mob (1958) xiii. 203 It [sc. bludger] means that you..‘pole on yer mates’.
▪ V. pole, v.2 Physics.|pəʊl|
[f. pole n.2, or a back-formation from poling vbl. n.2]
trans. To render (a ferroelectric material) electrically polar by the temporary application of a strong electric field.
1961Proc. IRE XLIX. 1162/1 Certain polycrystalline ferroelectric substances..can be given lasting polar properties, including pyroelectric and piezoelectric effects, by treatment with high electric fields for a short time. The term ‘to pole’ is recommended for this treatment. 1963IEEE Trans. Ultrasonic Engin. X. 38/2 The shell is poled in the radial direction. 1976Ibid. XXIII. 394/1 The bar is poled perpendicular to the length direction.
So ˈpoling ppl. a.
1956IRE Trans. Ultrasonic Engin. IV. 55 The stress is applied along the axis of the poling field. 1961Proc. IRE XLIX. 1166/2 The shear deformation..occurs in the plane containing both the poling and signal fields.
▪ VI. pole
obs. form of Paul, poll, pool, pulley. |