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   poll

   /pəʊl/

   noun

   • 1. the process of voting in an election: "the country went to the polls on March 10" Similar voteballotshow of handsstraw vote/pollreferendumplebisciteelection
   • ▪ the number of votes cast in an election: "the ruling party won 24 seats, narrowly topping the poll" Similar voting figuresvotereturnscounttally
   • ▪ the places where votes are cast in an election: "the polls have only just closed"
   • ▪ short for opinion poll
   • 2. a person's head. dialect
   • ▪ the part of the head on which hair grows; the scalp.
   • 3. a hornless animal, especially one of a breed of hornless cattle.

   verb

   • 1. record the opinion or vote of: "over half of those polled do not believe the prime minister usually tells the truth" Similar canvasssurveyaskquestioninterviewballotsample
   • ▪ (of a candidate in an election) receive a specified number of votes: "the Green candidate polled 3.6 per cent" Similar getgainregisterrecordreturn
   • 2. check the status of (a device), especially as part of a repeated cycle: "the network manager can also use the software to poll each Mac on the net"
   • 3. cut the horns off (an animal, especially a young cow).
   • ▪ cut off the top of (a tree or plant), typically to encourage further growth; pollard: archaic "there were some beautiful willows, and now the idiot Parson has polled them into wretched stumps"

   Word Origin Middle English (in the sense ‘head’): perhaps of Low German origin. The original sense was ‘head’, and hence ‘an individual person among a number’, from which developed the sense ‘number of people ascertained by counting of heads’ and then ‘counting of heads or of votes’ (17th century).

   Scrabble Points: 6

   • P

     3

   • O

     1

   • L

     1

   • L

     1

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