poll

Etymology 1

From Middle English pol, polle ("scalp, pate"), probably from or else cognate with Middle Dutch pol, pōle, polle (“top, summit; head”), from Proto-West Germanic *poll, from Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“round object, head, top”), from Proto-Indo-European *bolno-, *bōwl- (“orb, round object, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Akin to Scots pow (“head, crown, skalp, skull”), Saterland Frisian pol (“round, full, brimming”), Low German polle (“head, tree-top, bulb”), Danish puld (“crown of a hat”), Swedish dialectal pull (“head”). Meaning "collection of votes" is first recorded 1625, from notion of "counting heads".

noun

1. A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.
2. A formal vote held in order to ascertain the most popular choice.
   The student council had a poll to see what people want served in the cafeteria.
   The other returns having come in, the result of the poll, that Sir James Graham had been superseded by Major Aglionby, was declared at Carlisle soon after 11 a.m. 1942 May-June, Charles E. Lee, “The Brampton Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 140, relating to an election in 1837
3. A polling place (usually as plural, polling places)
   The polls close at 8 p.m.
4. The result of the voting, the total number of votes recorded.
5. (now rare outside veterinary contexts) The head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which hair (normally) grows.
   And you might perceive the president and general manager, Mr. R. G. Atterbury, with his priceless polished poll, busy in the main office room dictating letters.. 1908, O. Henry, A Tempered Wind
   The main plate is formed in two halves, the upper plate having small sideplates, ear guards, an escutcheon plate (blank), and a brass plume-holder, as well as a hinged poll plate. 2005, Stuart W. Pyhrr, Donald J. LaRocca, Dirk H. Breiding, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), The Armored Horse in Europe, 1480-1620, Metropolitan Museum of Art, page 53
6. (in extended senses of the above) A mass of people, a mob or muster, considered as a head count.
7. The broad or butt end of an axe or a hammer.
8. The pollard or European chub, a kind of fish.

verb

1. (transitive) To take, record the votes of (an electorate).
2. (transitive) To solicit mock votes from (a person or group).
3. (intransitive) To vote at an election.
4. To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters.
   He polled a hundred votes more than his opponent.
   poll for points of faith his trusty vote 1717, Thomas Tickell, An Epistle from a Lady in England to a Gentleman at Avignon
5. To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop.
   to poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass
6. (transitive) To cut the hair of (a creature).
   1579-1603, Thomas North, Plutarch's Lives His death did so grieve them that they polled themselves; they clipped off their horse and mule's hairs.
7. (transitive) To remove the horns of (an animal).
8. To remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop.
   to poll a tree
9. (transitive, computing, communication) To (repeatedly) request the status of something (such as a computer or printer on a network).
   The network hub polled the department’s computers to determine which ones could still respond.
10. (intransitive, with adverb) To be judged in a poll.
    The election was a resounding defeat for Robert McCartney who polled badly in the six constituencies he contested and even lost his own Assembly seat in North Down. 2008, Joanne McEvoy, The politics of Northern Ireland, page 171
11. (obsolete) To extort from; to plunder; to strip. Especially in conjunction with pill for emphasis.
    they slew Julius Caesar, who neither pilled nor polled the country but only was a favorer and suborner of all them that did rob and spoil, by his countenance and authority. 1579, Thomas North, Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Life of Brutus, paragraph 35
12. To impose a tax upon.
13. To pay as one's personal tax.
14. To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, especially for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
15. (law) To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation
    a polled deed

adj

1. (of kinds of livestock which typically have horns) Bred without horns, and thus hornless.
   Poll Hereford
   Red Poll cows
   Sheep, that is, the Horned sort, and those without Horns, called Poll Sheep … 1757, The monthly review, or, literary journal, volume 17, page 416
   About 15000 cattle, comprising 10000 Hereford and Poll Hereford, 4000 Aberdeen Angus and 1000 Shorthorn and Poll Shorthorn, are grazed … 1960, Frank O'Loghlen, Frank H. Johnston, Cattle country: an illustrated survey of the Australian beef cattle industry, a complete directory of the studs, page 85
   Otherwise, both horned and poll sheep continue to be bred from an inner stud. 1970, The Pastoral review, volume 80, page 457

Etymology 2

Perhaps a shortening of Polly, a common name for pet parrots.

noun

1. A pet parrot.

Etymology 3

From Ancient Greek πολλοί (polloí, “the many, the masses”), as in hoi polloi.

noun

1. (UK, dated, Cambridge University) One who does not try for honors at university, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman.