| 释义 |
▪ I. poll, n.1|pəʊl|
Forms: 3–7 polle, 4–7 pol, 5–7 powle, 6 poulle, poolle, poil (Sc.), 6–7 powl (9 north. dial.), poul(e, pool(e, 6–9 pole, 5– poll; β. 5– Sc. and north. dial. pow.
[ME. polle = obs. Du. polle ‘le sommet de la teste’ (Plantin), polle, pol ‘caput’, ‘cacumen, fastigium’ (Kilian), LG. polle head (Brem. Wb.); cf. Sw. dial. pull (Rietz), Da. puld crown of the head.]
I. The head of man or beast.
1. a. The human head. (Not now in serious literary use, but common dialectally everywhere.)
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 309/325 Þe deuel..wolde fain henten heom bi þe polle. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1265 Pulden prestes by þe polle & plat of her hedes. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 5530 Thei stroke to-gedir with so gret myght, That bothe vpon here pol lyght. c1440Promp. Parv. 407/2 Pol, or heed, caput. 1584Hudson Du Bartas' Judith vi. in Sylvester's Wks. (1621) 750 From his shoulders flew his powle. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 282 Looke, if the wither'd Elder hath not his Poll claw'd like a Parrot. 1639T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 71 Keeping his poule warm. 1820L. Hunt Indicator No. 22 (1822) I. 172 Receiving the full summer showers with an uncovered poll. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Powl, the head. 1876Browning Pacchiarotto ix, From silk shoe on heel to laced poll's-hood.
βa1500P. Johnston Thre deid Powis, Behold our heidis thre Oure holkit eine, oure peilit powis bair. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. viii. 122 Andro Bartayne..slew sa mony piratis, that mony puncheounis full of thair powis he sent to Scotland, in gifte, to the king. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xliii, The..veteran soldier that has..heard the bullets whistle as aften as he has hairs left on his auld pow. 1871C. Gibbon Lack of Gold xx, How is she ever to get married wi' a shaven pow? 1876F. K. Robinson Gloss. Whitby 146/2 Pow, the poll; the human head. 1901G. B. Shaw Devil's Disciple iii. 79 The Devil's Disciple here will start presently as the Reverend Richard Dudgeon, and wag his pow in my old pulpit. 1919Kelso Chron. 4 Apr. 3 My blood's not chill, though near the night, And grey-haired is my pow. 1940E. Pound Cantos lxxi. 186 His daughter told me he had burnt all his papers In melancholia May be from that swat on the pow. 1947E. A. McCourt Flaming Hour ix. 54 ‘Weren't ye lyin’ locked up in yon shed no later than yesterday mornin' with a bump on your pow that should have kept ye still for a fortnight?’ he demanded ferociously. 1963G. Thomson Crocus & Meadowlark Country xi. 75 Ethel added a drawing she made of Jim one cold day when he made his way there with Chaddy's red tam-o'-shanter pulled down on his red pow. 1965Buchan Observer 12 Jan. 2 Ye'll hum an' hae an' claw your pow. 1973People's Jrnl. (Inverness & Northern Counties ed.) 1 Dec. 4/5 I'd got no further than filling my pow with rollers and covering my head with a woollen head square.
†b. The figure or representation of a head.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 246 A pardoun with a peys of led and two pollis amydde.
†c. A skull. Obs. rare.
1721Ramsay Elegy on Patie Birnie viii, He..strak sounds fast and clear Out o' the pow [a mare's skull]. 1725― Gentle Sheph. ii. ii, Boils up their livers in a warlock's pow.
2. spec.
a. The part of the head on which the hair grows; the head as characterized by the colour or state of the hair.
1602Shakes. Ham. iv. v. 196 His Beard as white as Snow, All Flaxen was his Pole. 1713C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 105 With wadling Steps, and frowzy Poles. 1790Burns John Anderson my Jo i, Blessings on your frosty pow, John Anderson, my jo. 1791Cowper Odyss. xix. 308 His back was bunch'd, his visage swarthy, curl'd His poll. 1855Thackeray Newcomes vi, His bald head might be seen alongside of Mr. Quilter's confidential grey poll.
b. The crown or top of the head; the vertex.
1382Wyclif Dan. xiv. 35 The angel of the Lord toke hym in the poll of hym [1388 top, Vulg. in vertice], and bare hym in an her of his hed, and putte hym in to Babyloyne. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 217 He wolde bende his heer from þe pol toward þe foreheed [L. a. vertice ad frontem]. 1603Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 127 A great round hole in the pole of his head. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 359 Of diseases incident to the eares, and poll of the head. 1622Walter Diary (Camden) 62 The said fish [a Caaing whale] had no gills, but put out his water at his pole.
c. The nape of the neck.
1671Blagrave Astrol. Physic 120, I did..apply raw-fresh meat to the powl or Neck to help..divert the humour from the Eyes. 1675Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 260 The arrow pierc'd his neck from throat to poll. 1711Steele Spect. No. 259 ⁋1 You shall sometimes see a Man begin the Offer of a Salutation, and..stop short in the Pole of his Neck. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVII. 302 An old hare..having a wire round its neck so tight as to have sunk beneath the skin in its pole. 1833Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 48 The bend should be from the poll of the neck.
†3. spec. The head and shoulders of the ling (as a dish). Cf. jowl n.3 2. Obs.
1599B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iv. iii, Hee lookes like a shield of brawne,..or a drie Poule of Ling vpon Easter-eue, that has furnisht the table all Lent. 1671Crowne Juliana iii, I was to go buy a pole o' Ling for the womens dinner.
†4.
a. As the prominent or visible part in a crowd, put for: A person or individual in a number or list (= head n.1 7 b); esp. in phrases, e.g. by (the) poll, by counting of heads; poll by poll, one by one; per poll, for each person. Obs. (exc. in legal phr. challenge to the polls.)
c1325Pol. Songs (Camden) 237 Of gedelynges, gromes,..Harlotes, hors-knaves, Bi pate and by polle. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 33 Payde to here lordes for euery pol twenty schillynge. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 21 §2 None of the said petite Jury..shall..have any Chalenge to tharray or to any persone or poll therin being ympanelled. c1515Cocke Lorell's B. 4 Ye shall here the names poll by poll. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 329 The people greatly murmured for the payment of foure pence the polle. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. xiii. vii. (1622) 188 There was bestowed a gift of forty sesterces by powle to the people. 1602W. Fulbecke 2nd Pt. Parall. 20, I agree to pay for the carriage of euerie poll or person of them a certaine summe of money. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia 167 Some small tax..as a Penny vpon euery Poll, called a head-penny. 1641Termes de la Ley 51 Challenge to or by the Poll, is where exception is taken to any one, or more, as not indifferent. 1648Prynne Plea for Lords 27 Take them poll by poll. 1678Wood Life 20 Mar. (O.H.S.) II. 401 An act for raising money by the poll. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 516 Voting by poll..and by orders.
†b. A unit in numbering domestic animals, chattels, etc. (Plural after a numeral also poll.) Cf. head n.1 7 c. Obs.
1494in Somerset Medieval Wills (1901) 322 A dosyn pollys of pewter vessell. 1534in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 30, iij powles of peauter vessell. 1544R. Broker Will (B.M. Addit. MS. 24925 lf. 21 b), Twenty poule of pultrey. 1601Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 190 The muster file, rotten and sound,..amounts not to fifteene thousand pole.
5. Short for poll-tax. Obs. or Hist.
1684Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 99 Ordered That a pole Proportionably Layd, be debated y⊇ first thing tomorrow. 1689Lond. Gaz. No. 2449/4 An Act for Raising Money by a Poll, and otherwise, towards the Reducing of Ireland. 1692Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. M.'s Wks. 1851 VIII. 71 The Jews, even the poorest of them in the time of their Commonwealth, paid a Poll. 1884S. Dowell Taxes Eng. III. 6 When..in 1379 an immediate sum of money was required..recourse was again had to a poll.
II. From I. 4, app. influenced by poll v.
†6.
a. Number of persons as ascertained by counting heads; muster. Obs.
1607Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 134 We are the greater pole, and in true feare They gaue vs our demands. a1613Overbury Trav. 6 The List and the Poll are neuer far disagreeing.
†b. Counting of heads or persons; census. Obs.
1659J. Harrington Lawgiving ii. ii, As appears by the Pole made of Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai. 1674Hickman Hist. Quinquart. (ed. 2) 137 He is..afraid to come either to the pole or to the scale; either to weigh, or to number authorities with us. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece i. ii. (1715) 8 He instituted a Poll causing every one of the Men to cast a Stone into a place appointed.., and..found them to be in number Twenty-Thousand.
7. a. The counting of voters; the entering of votes, in order to their being counted: esp. at the election of parliamentary or other representatives.
1625Sir G. Moore in Commons Debates (Camden) 36 Sir John Savill had sufficiently proved the pole demanded. 1653Relat. Proc. late Parlt. 10 The Question being put, the No's,..had they been prosecuted to the pole, had hazarded the passing of it. 1706Phillips s.v. Poll vb., To take a Poll, to set down the Names and reckon up the Number of Persons concern'd in an Election. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. ii. 178 All soldiers quartered in the place are to remove..and not to return till one day after the poll is ended. 1857Maurice Ep. St. John xiii. 204 It is not a question to be decided by a poll. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. viii. 113 If..a poll be demanded on behalf of any candidate rejected on the show of hands, the returning officer is bound to grant the poll.
b. The voting at an election; the action, or time and place, of voting.
1832Act 2 Will. IV, c. 45 §67 The Poll shall on no Account be kept open later than Four o'Clock in the after⁓noon of such Second Day. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Fate Wks. (Bohn) II. 321 What pious men in the parlour will vote for what reprobates at the polls! 1866Bright Sp., Reform 16 Oct. (1876) 379 Come to the poll and give their vote for the election of a new Parliament. 1877Black Green Past. xxv, The recent reverses at the poll were only the result of a temporary irritation. 1883Women's Suffrage Jrnl. Nov. 198/1 The exclusion of women from the poll was, in his opinion, nothing short of an injustice.
c. The numerical result of the voting; the total number of votes recorded, as a heavy poll or light poll.
1853Lytton My Novel xii. xxxii, He stood at the head of the poll by a majority of ten. 1885Manch. Exam. 10 July 5/3 At Wednesday's election there was a lighter poll. 1906Daily News 16 Aug. 7/5 After the declaration of the poll Mr.― thanked his constituents for their splendid victory.
d. A poll taken to estimate public opinion on a specified issue by questioning a sample intended to be representative of the whole people (see Gallup); spec., (a) = popularity poll s.v. popularity 8; (b) a poll intended to forecast the result of a presidential, parliamentary, or other election (see opinion poll s.v. opinion n. 1 b). Also attrib.
1902F. Clarke tr. Ostrogorski's Democracy and Organization of Political Parties II. v. iv. 306 The poll taken in each locality is of general import for the whole Union, as well as of special significance for each political subdivision in the States. 1940Gallup & Rae Pulse of Democracy iii. 35 In this poll [of July 1824] Andrew Jackson received 335 votes; John Quincy Adams, 169; Henry Clay, 19, and William H. Crawford, 9. 1944Times 9 June 5/5 The recent British Medical Association poll of members' opinions with regard to medical interests caused considerable controversy. 1950Times 8 Feb. 7/6 Public opinion polls and investigations carried out by the Japanese Press show that the Yoshida Cabinet no longer enjoys as much support as it did at the time of the General Election in January, 1949. 1964Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 517/1 Poll denotes..the canvas of opinions, prior to an election, by simple or complex interviewing. 1973Melody Maker 31 Mar. 18 It's time to vote in the Melody Maker Jazz Poll. This..is your opportunity to register your appreciation of the musicians, bands, and singers whom you think have made the finest contributions to jazz over the last year. 1974Times 11 Feb. 15 The poll firms showed their anxiety by conducting their own inquest into their failure... Poll findings are being presented as predictions of the result. 1977New Yorker 9 May 136/2 Polls conducted in April show that Carter currently has the approval of about two-thirds of the public. Ibid. 24 Oct. 42/3 Fetching coffee in paper cups for the poll watchers.
III. Transferred uses.
8. a. The top or crown of a hat or cap.
1704J. Pitts Acc. Mohammetans vii. (1738) 99 Some what like the Poll of a Man's Hat-case covered with Broad-cloth. 1819Chron. in Ann. Reg. 7/2 Surmounted by the poll of an old hat without a brim. 1875R. F. Burton Gorilla L. (1876) II. 116 From the poll of his night-cap protruded a dozen bristles of elephant's tail hair.
b. The flat or blunt end of the head of a miner's pick or similar tool.
1603Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 91 Pickaxes with a rounde poll. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 835 The pick{ddd}One side used as a hammer is called the poll, and is employed to drive in the gads. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Poll (Cornw.), the head or striking part of a miner's hammer.
¶9. The chub or chevin. (? an error: cf. pollard n.3)
1755in Johnson. 1773Ainsworth's Lat. Dict., A poll (club fish), capito [edd. 1736–61 Pollard, or chub fish, capito].
IV.
10. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 7) poll-list, poll-room; (sense 1) poll-clawed adj.; poll-adze, an adze with a poll or striking face opposite the cutting edge (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); poll-book, an official register, previous to the Ballot Act, of the votes given; now, of those qualified to vote; † poll-booth, the booth or temporary structure at which the poll was formerly taken at a parliamentary election, a polling-booth; poll-card, an official notification informing voters of the place and date of voting; poll-clerk, a clerk who records the votes polled; a clerk officially connected with an election; † poll-gatherer, the collector of a poll-tax; poll-hill, humorous, a ‘bump’ on the head; † poll-mad a., wrong in the head, mad-brained (cf. bilwise); poll-pick, a miner's pick with a poll: see quot. 1865; poll-rating, the popularity of a person (usu. a political leader) as indicated by a poll; poll-shorn a., having the head or crown shorn; esp. tonsured; poll-sickness = poll-evil; † poll-silver = poll-tax; poll-suffrage, universal suffrage (Cent. Dict. 1890); poll-taker, usu. in pl., a newspaper or other organization which conducts an opinion poll, = pollster; hence poll-taking vbl. n.; pollwinner, a successful candidate in a poll; so poll-winning ppl. a. Also poll-bill, etc.
1681T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 51 (1713) II. 70 A Man in Authority promises to examine a *Poll-book by the Poors-book,..if he put off the Performance of it till the Poll being declared, it cannot answer any End. 1832Act 2 Will. IV, c. 45 §68 The Poll Clerks at the Close of each Day's Poll shall enclose and seal their several Poll Books, and shall publicly deliver them..to the Returning Officer or his Deputy. 1853Lytton My Novel xii. xxvii, Convinced by his poll-books that he is not able to return both himself and his impertinent nephew.
1810W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXIX. 51 It [Parliament] is becoming a *poll-booth of faction, a place for giving public suffrages on those questions of opinion, which divide the metropolitan public. 1817Bentham Parl. Reform Introd. 280 Divide it into four practically equal districts, and, in a central spot of each, place the Poll-booth.
1908Westm. Gaz. 4 May 2/2 Mr. Amery's final appeal..is going with the *poll-card to every elector. 1975Times 27 Feb. 4/3 Poll cards..remind the elector of his right to vote and they tell him his voting number and where his polling station is.
1855Browning Old Pictures in Florence xxviii, You bald old saturnine *poll⁓clawed parrot.
1832*Poll Clerk [see poll-book]. 1853Lytton My Novel xii. xxxii, Even the poll-clerks sprang from the booth.
1646G. Daniel Poems Wks. (Grosart) I. 99, I'de nothing Glorie, if I had ben made *Poll-gatherer of the Groats.
a1845Hood Craniol. i, Scratching o'er those little *pole-hills.
1889Gretton Memory's Harkb. 244, I saw by the *poll-list that he voted for the Prince.
1577Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. in Holinshed (1808) VI. 6 Cicero..perceiving his countrimen to become changelings, in being bilwise and *polmad, and to sucke with the Greeke the conditions of the Grecians.
1865Bauerman Geol. Models 22 *Poll pick, single-armed pick with a short bluff point, used for hard veins and working into rock where the slitter is too slight. 1874J. H. Collins Metal Mining (1875) 60 In the..West of England the picks are usually of the form..called the ‘poll-pick’, having its head or ‘pane’ steeled as well as its point... It serves as a hammer as well as a pick.
1967Guardian 16 Oct. 6/1 Mr. Heath's *poll-ratings were unsatisfactory.
1859Smiles Self-Help 30 A sum sufficient to have him put in a state fit to appear in the *poll-room.
1556Olde Antichrist 144 Lecherous *polleshorne masse monging priestes. 1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Sculler xxviii. Wks. iii. 21/2 All the poleshorne crew of Antichrists.
1899Rider Haggard in Longm. Mag. Oct. 529 *Poll-sickness..is a kind of sore or abscess which horses get from knocking their heads against low door-ways and is commonly supposed to be incurable.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 100 The Tribute Capitatio [margin *Pol-silver], which was personall and imposed upon the poll or person of every one. 1848Wharton Law Lex., Poll-money, Poll-silver, Poll-tax, a capitation-tax..formerly assessed by the head on every subject according to rank.
1959Spectator 4 Sept. 288/2 When *poll-takers put the question directly to the citizenry, it seems that vast numbers think it good. 1964Economist 12 Sept. 1021/1 A victory for Mr Goldwater would be the greatest upset for the poll-takers since the Literary Digest predicted a landslide for Mr Landon, the Republican who was crushed by President Roosevelt in 1936. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 11 Dec. 5/3 Poll-taker Teeter told the governors that ‘our Presidential elections have become nonpartisan media events’.
1964I. L. Horowitz New Sociology 31 Problems of this kind can be multiplied a hundredfold—in every sphere of sociology, from *poll-taking to theory-making.
1966Melody Maker 7 May 4 *Pollwinner Tubby Hayes heads a five-man British contingent which will join Austrian composer Friedrich Gulda's all-star international band on its tour of the continent this summer.
1958P. Gammond Decca Bk. of Jazz xviii. 218 Jackson in particular was the equivalent of the *poll-winning trumpet men of today. 1962Melody Maker 7 July 8 Pollwinning bandleader Chris Barber has firm views on the subject.
▪ II. poll, n.3 Camb. Univ. slang.|pɒl|
Also pol.
[Traditionally explained as ad. Gr. οἱ πολλοί the many, the multitude.]
the Poll: those students who read for or obtain a ‘pass’ degree; the passmen. to go out in the Poll: to come out in the list of those who take a pass degree. † Captain of the Poll: formerly, the highest amongst those who passed without honours.
[1791in Bp. Wordsw. Scholæ Acad. (1877) 323 Poor Quiz Carver is one of the οἱ πολλοί.] 1831Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) I. 183 You will see what a good place I have got in the Poll. 1834Oxf. Univ. Mag. I. 289 Those who do not aspire to honours and in the vernacular of Cambridge are styled the Poll (οἱ πολλοί). 1852Bristed Eng. Univ. 342 There are also many men every year contending for the Captaincy of the Poll, some for the honor, such as it is, others because it will help them to get Poll pupils afterwards. 1889W. A. Wright FitzGerald's Lett., etc. I. 2 FitzGerald..modestly went out in the Poll in January 1830, after a period of suspense during which he was apprehensive of not passing at all.
b. Short for poll degree, poll examination.
1884Payn in Cornh. Mag. Apr. 370, I took my degree, however—a first-class ‘Poll’; which my good folks at home believed to be an honourable distinction.
c. attrib. and Comb., as poll coach, poll degree, poll-man.
1837B. D. Walsh Hist. Acc. Univ. Cambr. (ed. 2) 88 In the examination for an ordinary, or Pol degree.., the subjects are very limited. 1848‘New Triposes’ in C. Whibley Cap & Gown 228 Go, Pollmen! nay, ye needs must go; for so the Heads determine. 1865L. Stephen Sketches Cambridge 99 Next above schoolmasters in the scale of misery, I should place what we call a ‘poll coach’. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. vi. cii. 446 Separation..between pass or poll men and honour men. Ibid. 448 The poll or pass degrees of Cambridge or Oxford.
▪ III. † poll, polle, n.4 Obs. exc. Hist.
[Origin unascertained.]
A measure of land in Ireland, of 50 or 60 acres.
1607Davies Lett. Earl Salisb. i. Tracts (1787) 223 They reserved unto him a chief rent of ten shillings out of every poll (being a portion containing three score acres or there⁓abouts) in lieu of all Irish cuttings and exactions. 1689R. Cox Hist. Irel. i. Expl. Index, Polle of Land is fifty Acres.
▪ IV. poll, a. and n.5|pəʊl|
Also 6–8 pole, 5–7 pol-.
[Short for pold, polled ppl. a.]
A. adj.
1. Polled or cut even at the edge (see poll v. 3): applied to a legal writing or deed executed by a single party, and therefore not indented, as in deed poll, poll deed (q.v.), writing pole.
1523–[see poll deed]. 1588–[see deed poll]. 1596Bacon Max. & Use Com. Law i. (1635) 43 Such a lease [a lease for years] may be made by writing Pole.
2. in Comb.
a. in names of animals without horns, as poll sheep.
1773G. White Selborne, Let. to D. Barrington 9 Dec., As soon as you..mount Beeding-hill, all the flocks..become hornless, or, as they call them, poll-sheep.
†b. (Usually pol-). In names of beardless varieties of cereals, as polbarley, polbere, polwheat.
c1440Promp. Parv. 407/2 Polbere, corne, idem quod hastybere, trimensis. 1574in Proc. Soc. Antiq. XIV. 234 All manner of croppe ȝerelie..viz. wheet, rie,..barley, ottes, bigge, polbarley. 1601Holland Pliny I. 559 Pol-wheat both red and white, yea and Barley also, is threshed and driuen out of the husk vpon a floore.
B. n. Short for poll-beast, -ox, -cow (see A. 2 a); esp. one of a breed of hornless oxen.
1789Trans. Soc. Arts VII. 73 The cattle are..hardier than the Galloway Poles, or the short-horned breed. 1876Daily News 6 Dec. 2/2 [They] gather in admiring groups behind Tillyfour's big poll. 1880Ibid. 7 Dec. 2/3 The first prize in one of the classes for Scotch Polls.
▪ V. poll, v.|pəʊl|
Forms: 4–5 pollen, 4–6 polle, 5– poll; also 5–7 powle, 6 pol, 6–7 powl, poul(e, poulle, poole, 6 pol, 7–8 pole. pa. pple. (see polled ppl. a.).
[A number of disconnected derivatives of poll n.1 in its various senses. Branch I is the most difficult to account for, since the expected primary sense would be to take, not the hair, but the poll or head off: cf. head v. 1. No corresponding vb. is recorded in the cognate langs. which have the n.]
I.
1. trans. To cut short the hair of (a person or animal); to crop, clip, shear; also b. with the head, hair, etc. as object. Obs. or arch.
1388Wyclif Gen. xli. 14 Anoon at the comaundement of the kyng thei polliden Joseph [1382 doddiden, L. totonderunt] led out of prisoun. c1460Towneley Myst. xii. 155 Many shepe can she polle, bot oone had she ay. 1540Rutland MSS. (1905) IV. 302 To Edmond Gresbroke, barbar, for pollying my Lord Talbot.., xxd. 1592Greene Upst. Courtier D iij b, I come plain to be polde, and to haue my beard cut. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 174 Polling and shaving him. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 56 He..who being singular is Poled and closely Cut among those who wear a Bush. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 128/2 Pole me, is cut my hair.
b.13..[see polled ppl. a. 1]. c1440Jacob's Well 101 Sche pollyd here hevyd priuely,..& in an Abbey, ferre thens, sche was made a munke. 1557North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1619) ***iij 2 The Romaines were in Rome 454 yeares without eyther powling or shaving the haires off the bearde of anie man. 1572R. H. tr. Lauaterus' Ghostes (1596) 59 Putting knives unto his head, and therewith polling off his haires. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 192 Being commaunded to come and pole the Emperours head. 1737Whiston Josephus' Antiq. vii. xi. §3 David..was in such grief that he had not polled his head. 1841D'Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 62 They polled their crowns.
II.
2. To cut off the top of (a tree or plant); esp. to top or head (a tree) at a few feet from the ground that it may throw out branches; to pollard; also, to lop the branches of.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 105 Some trees there are, which if you cutte and poule often, will fade and die. 1597Gerarde Herbal i. lxxxvii. §2. 139 Ciues are..cut and polled often, as is the unset Leeke. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 91 We prune, and poll, and cut our trees into unnatural shapes. 1818Keats Endym. i. 486 Again I'll poll The fair-grown yew tree, for a chosen bow. 1889Morris in Mackail Life (1899) II. 221 There were some beautiful willows, and now the idiot Parson has polled them into wretched stumps.
b. transf. and fig.
1594Greene & Lodge Looking Glasse G.'s Wks. (Rtldg.) 139/2 When ministers powl the pride of common-weal. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. ii. Babylon 159 Powle the broad Plains of their branchy glades. 1607Shakes. Cor. iv. v. 215 He will mowe all downe..And leaue his passage poul'd.
†c. To cut off the head of an animal or thing; to behead: cf. head v. 1. Obs.
1602Carew Cornwall 35 Some [pilchards] are polled (that is beheaded), gutted, splitted, powdred and dried in the Sunne. c1611Chapman Iliad xvi. 112 Twas Ioues deed: Who, as he pold off his darts heads; so, sure he had decreed, That all the counsels of their warre, he would polle off like it, And giue the Troians victorie. a1661Fuller Worthies, Cornwall i. (1662) 194.
3. To cut even the edge of (a sheet, as in a deed executed by one person). Cf. poll a. 1.
1628Coke On Litt. 229 A Deed poll is that which is plaine without any indenting, so called, because it is cut euen, or polled. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. xx. 296 A deed made by one party only is not indented, but polled or shaved quite even. 1844Williams Real Prop. (1875) 151.
4. To cut off the horns of (cattle). See polled ppl. a. 2.
III. 5. fig. To plunder by or as by excessive taxation; to pillage, rob, fleece, strip; to despoil (a person or place) of (anything). arch.
c1489Caxton Blanchardyn xxxii. 119 Whiche were wythin their enmyes tentes & pauyllions, whiche they powlyd & brought doune. 1529S. Fish Supplic. Beggers 3 Subiectes..that be after this facion yerely polled. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. i. (1895) 46 Their tenauntes..whom they polle and shaue to the quycke by reysing their rentes. 1565K. Daryus (Brandl) 775 He doth poule poore men and lyueth by theyr sweat. 1634Canne Necess. Separ. (1849) 158 Daily new devices to poll the poor priests of their money. 1670R. Lassels Voy. Italy I. 134 The people here mow their hay three times a yeare, and I am affrayd they are powled [ed. 1698 polled] as often with taxes. 1681Wharton Mutations, etc. Empires Wks. (1683) 139 When the Prince doth too much Poll his Subjects with heavy Tributes and Exactions. [1874Dixon Two Queens IV. xxi. i. 123 Men whom he had tolled and polled..assailed him in the public streets.]
†b. absol. or intr. To practise extortion, commit depredations. Obs.
1521–2Cardnall Wolse 61 in Furniv. Ballads fr. MSS. I. 335 All prowde knavys full of dysdayne, And þat Can bothe polle & shave. 1566Drant Horace iii. B v, He, for to lend to moe, Doth sheare, and shave and powle, and presse. 1613Answ. Uncasing of Machivils Instr. E iv, But if too nerely thou dost pinch or poule, It may be burdensome vnto thy soule.
†c. Phr. to poll and pill: see pill v.1 9. Obs.
1545, etc. [see pill v.1 9]. 1575–85Abp. Sandys Serm. (Parker Soc.) 287 Not to poll and pill, to extort and wring out of the people what he could. 1650Cromwell Lett. & Sp., Declar. Jan., Whom you have fleeced and polled and peeled hitherto.
†d. trans. To get by extortion or pillage. Obs.
1559Mirr. Mag., Mowbray's Banishm. xxii, Myghty summes whiche I had from hym polde.
IV.
†6. To pay as poll-tax. Obs. rare—1.
1693Dryden Juvenal iii. (1697) 57 The Man that poll'd but Twelve-pence for his Head.
V.
†7. To count heads; to enumerate (persons, etc.). Obs.
1649Milton Eikon. 160 To little purpose is it that we should stand powling the reformed Churches, whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms. 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 65 So prodigious a number..as are said to have been poll'd in the Twelve Tribes at one time. 1711Shaftesbury Charact. (1737) I. 148 If they can poll an indifferent number out of a mob..to attest a story of a witch upon a broomstick,..they triumph in the solid proof of their new prodigy.
8. To take the votes of, register the suffrages of; in pass. to have one's vote taken, to record a vote.
1625[see polling vbl. n. 5]. 1679Wood Life 27 Feb. (O.H.S.) II. 443 We were poled by two writers, without swearing, in the Divinity School. 1679Essex's Excell. 7 There were about 500 came to the Town on purpose to be Polled for Collonel Mildmay and Honeywood. 1723Dk. Wharton True Briton No. 9 I. 79 Whether some Hundreds of Persons were not polled for Hopkins and Feast. 1858Bright Sp., Reform 10 Dec. (1876) 297 Would it be tolerated by the people of this country, if they were fairly polled? 1867Ibid. 20 June 403 That more excellent way of polling by the Ballot. a1888W. Phillips Speeches, etc. 379 (Cent.), I believe you might have polled the North, and had a response, three to one: ‘Let the Union go to pieces, rather than yield one inch’.
b. Of a candidate for election: To bring to the poll as voters; to receive (so many votes).
1846in Worcester. 1864in Webster. 1871M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. II. iii. 71 Don't poll your men. 1885Daily Tel. 26 Nov. (Cassell), His Liberal opponent polled two thousand four hundred and eighty-six votes. 1892Goldw. Smith W. L. Garrison viii. 102 Birney polled just enough votes to defeat Clay and throw the government directly into the hands of Slavery.
9. intr. To vote at a poll; to give one's vote.
1678Sidney in S. Papers (1746) I. 153 Many refused to pole, and others would give no Voice. 1679Essex's Excell. 8 Those that Polled against the Collonel. 1709Steele Tatler No. 73 ⁋15 All such that shall Poll for Sir Arthur de Bradly, shall have one Chaldron of good Coals gratis. 1885Act 48 Vict. c. 17 §9 (3) So that..an equal number of electors may..poll in each district.
b. trans. To give or record (a vote).
1717Tickell Lady to Gentl. at Avignon Poems (1790) 189 Shall he..pole for points of faith his trusty vote? 1858Gladstone Homer III. 117 Votes were not polled in the Olympus of Homer.
10. Comb. ˈpoll-groat, a., that polls groats, extortionate.
1888Morris Dream J. Ball 15 The valiant tiler had smitten a poll-groat bailiff to death with his lath-rending axe.
Hence ˈpollable a., that can be polled; having the right to have one's vote recorded.
1844(title) List of Pollable Persons within the Shire of Aberdeen, 1696. 1868Contemp. Rev. IX. 83 Supposing all votes to be pollable.
▪ VI. poll
obs. erroneous f. pole; obs. f. pool n.1; var. pol Obs. |