POLL

Definitions

1. 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. When he [Absalom] pollled his head. 2 Sam. xiv. 26. His death did so grieve them that they polled themselves; they clipped off their horse and mule's hairs. Sir T. North.
2. 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. 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.
3. 3. To extort from; to plunder; to strip. [Obs.] Which polls and pills the poor in piteous wise. Spenser.
4. 4. To impose a tax upon. [Obs.]
5. 5. To pay as one's personal tax. The man that polled but twelve pence for his head. Dryden.
6. 6. To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, esp. for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one. Polling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms. Milton.
7. 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. And poll for points of faith his trusty vote. Tickell.
8. 8. To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation; as, a polled deed. See Dee. Burrill. 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.