- Poll
- Poll Poll, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Polled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Polling}.]
1. To remove the poll or head of; hence, to remove the top or
end of; to clip; to lop; to shear; as, to poll the head;
to poll a tree.
[1913 Webster]
When he [Absalom] pollled his head. --2 Sam. xiv. 26. [1913 Webster]
His death did so grieve them that they polled themselves; they clipped off their horse and mule's hairs. --Sir T. North. [1913 Webster]
2. To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop; -- sometimes with off; as, to poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass. [1913 Webster]
Who, as he polled off his dart's head, so sure he had decreed That all the counsels of their war he would poll off like it. --Chapman. [1913 Webster]
3. To extort from; to plunder; to strip. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Which polls and pills the poor in piteous wise. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
4. To impose a tax upon. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
5. To pay as one's personal tax. [1913 Webster]
The man that polled but twelve pence for his head. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
6. To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, esp. for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one. [1913 Webster]
Polling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
7. To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters; as, he polled a hundred votes more than his opponent. [1913 Webster]
And poll for points of faith his trusty vote. --Tickell. [1913 Webster]
8. (Law) To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation; as, a polled deed. See {Dee? poll}. --Burrill. [1913 Webster] [1913 Webster]
{To poll a jury}, to call upon each member of the jury to answer individually as to his concurrence in a verdict which has been rendered. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
