POLL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does poll mean? 

• POLL (noun)
  The noun POLL has 5 senses:

1. an inquiry into public opinion conducted by interviewing a random sample of people

2. the top of the head

3. the part of the head between the ears

4. a tame parrot

5. the counting of votes (as in an election)

  Familiarity information: POLL used as a noun is common.

• POLL (verb)
  The verb POLL has 4 senses:

1. get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions

2. vote in an election at a polling station

3. get the votes of

4. convert into a pollard

  Familiarity information: POLL used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POLL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An inquiry into public opinion conducted by interviewing a random sample of people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

canvass; opinion poll; poll; public opinion poll

Hypernyms ("poll" is a kind of...):

enquiry; inquiry; research (a search for knowledge)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "poll"):

exit poll (a poll of voters as they leave the voting place; usually taken by news media in order to predict the outcome of an election)

straw poll; straw vote (an unofficial vote taken to determine opinion on some issue)

Derivation:

poll (get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions)

pollster (someone who conducts surveys of public opinion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The top of the head

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

crown; pate; poll

Hypernyms ("poll" is a kind of...):

top; top side; upper side; upside (the highest or uppermost side of anything)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "poll"):

tonsure (the shaved crown of a monk's or priest's head)

Holonyms ("poll" is a part of...):

human head (the head of a human being)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The part of the head between the ears

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("poll" is a kind of...):

top; top side; upper side; upside (the highest or uppermost side of anything)

Holonyms ("poll" is a part of...):

Equus caballus; horse (solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times)

cow; moo-cow (female of domestic cattle:)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A tame parrot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

poll; poll parrot

Hypernyms ("poll" is a kind of...):

parrot (usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The counting of votes (as in an election)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("poll" is a kind of...):

count; counting; enumeration; numeration; reckoning; tally (the act of counting; reciting numbers in ascending order)

Domain category:

election (a vote to select the winner of a position or political office)

Derivation:

poll (get the votes of)

poll (vote in an election at a polling station)

• POLL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they poll    ... he / she / it polls   
Past simple: polled   
Past participle: polled   
-ing form: polling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

canvass; poll

Hypernyms (to "poll" is one way to...):

survey (make a survey of; for statistical purposes)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "poll"):

circularise; circularize (canvass by distributing letters)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

poll (an inquiry into public opinion conducted by interviewing a random sample of people)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Vote in an election at a polling station

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "poll" is one way to...):

vote (express one's preference for a candidate or for a measure or resolution; cast a vote)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

poll (the counting of votes (as in an election))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Get the votes of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "poll" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

poll (the counting of votes (as in an election))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Convert into a pollard

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

poll; pollard

Context example:

pollard trees

Hypernyms (to "poll" is one way to...):

clip; crop; cut back; dress; lop; prune; snip; trim (cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They poll the trees

Derivation:

pollard (a tree with limbs cut back to promote a more bushy growth of foliage)

 Context examples 

The country is all scraped as clear as a friar's poll.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Long before it was done, Mr. Trelawney (that, you will remember, was the squire's name) had got up from his seat and was striding about the room, and the doctor, as if to hear the better, had taken off his powdered wig and sat there looking very strange indeed with his own close-cropped black poll.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Here is a hole in the side two ells across, the sail split through the centre, and the wood as bare as a friar's poll.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)