poll English · revision 5778

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1290|origins=gml polle}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /pəʊl/, US /poʊl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English polle, pol “head, hair of the head”, probably [[bor|gml|polle|t=head, top]] or Middle Dutch pol,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) probably related to Latin bulla “bubble”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) The SOED notes that Old English poll in place names, perhaps “hill”, may first have meant “head”.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The hair of the head, or the head of a person or animal: about 1290 in the OED, about 1300 in Barnhart.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) It is a surname from the late 12th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By the mid-14th century poll meant a person, an individual, as in ''by polls'', one by one.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) From counting heads (1607, in Shakespeare's ''Coriolanus'') came the collection of votes (1625, the 1620s in Etymonline).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The voting at an election, and the place or time of voting, are from 1832,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and a survey of public opinion from 1902.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The verb meant to cut the hair (before 1300), to remove the top of a tree or the horns of cattle, and since 1625 to take the votes of;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) to receive a number of votes is by 1846.^(Etymonline) A ''poll tax'', a head tax, is from the 1690s,^(Etymonline) and ''pollster'' is American, from 1939.^(Barnhart 1988) A ''deed poll'' was cut straight, not indented.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1290 – the head.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1300 – to cut the hair.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * mid-14th century – an individual.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1625 – a collection of votes; to take votes.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1690s – ''poll tax''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1832 – voting at an election.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1902 – an opinion poll.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1939 – ''pollster''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[election]], or the voting and counting of votes in one.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(the polls)'' The place where people vote.^(AHD)

+ # A survey of public [[opinion]] on a question.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The number of votes cast.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(dialect)'' The head, or the top of the head.^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To receive a number of votes.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To ask people's opinions in a survey.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To cut off the horns of cattle or the top of a tree.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[poller]]

+ * [[pollee]]

+ * [[pollable]]

+ * [[blackpoll]]

+ * [[outpoll]]

+ * [[pollbook]]

+ * [[pollster]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pollard]]

+ * [[polliwog]]

+ * [[tadpole]]

+ * [[poll tax]]

+ * [[deed poll]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Poll, a parrot (''Poll Parrot''), is an alteration of Moll, a pet form of Mary,^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) and ''the Poll'', students reading for a pass degree, is from 1791.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}