poll

poll · noun, verb, adjective¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bew-“to blow, swell”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bolno-
3. Proto-Germanic · derived from*pullaz“round object, head, top”
4. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*poll
5. Middle Dutch · derived frompol
6. Middle English · inherited frompol
7. English todaypoll

From Middle English pol, polle ("scalp, pate"), from or 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, scalp, skull”), Saterland Frisian pol (“round, full, brimming”, adjective), German Low German Polle, Poll (“round object, ball”), German Low German Poller (“head, tree-top, bulb”), Danish puld (“crown of a hat”), Swedish dialectal pull (“head”). Meaning "collection of votes" is first recorded 1625, from the notion of "counting heads".

poll · noun²

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

poll · noun³

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπολλοί“the many, the masses”
2. English todaypoll

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

Poll · proper noun, noun⁴

From Polly, by rhyming with Molly, from Mary.

Poll · proper noun⁵

From Paul.

Words from the same roots