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definitions

pole

1
[pohl]
noun
  1. a long, cylindrical, often slender piece of wood, metal, etc.: a telephone pole; a fishing pole.
  2. Northeastern U.S. a long, tapering piece of wood or other material that extends from the front axle of a vehicle between the animals drawing it.
  3. Nautical.
    1. a light spar.
    2. that part of a mast between the uppermost standing rigging and the truck.
  4. the lane of a racetrack nearest to the infield; the inside lane.Compare post1(def 5).
  5. a unit of length equal to 16½ feet (5 meters); a rod.
  6. a square rod, 30¼ square yards (25.3 sq. m).
verb (used with object), poled, pol·ing.
  1. to furnish with poles.
  2. to push, strike, or propel with a pole: to pole a raft.
  3. Baseball. to make (an extra-base hit) by batting the ball hard and far: He poled a triple to deep right-center.
  4. Metallurgy. to stir (molten metal, as copper, tin, or zinc) with poles of green wood so as to produce carbon, which reacts with the oxygen present to effect deoxidation.
verb (used without object), poled, pol·ing.
  1. to propel a boat, raft, etc., with a pole: to pole down the river.
Idioms
  1. under bare poles,
    1. Nautical.(of a sailing ship) with no sails set, as during a violent storm.
    2. stripped; naked; destitute: The thugs robbed him and left him under bare poles.

Origin of pole

1
before 1050; Middle English; Old English pāl < Latin pālus stake. See pale2
Related formspole·less, adjectiveun·poled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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Contemporary Examples of poling

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British Dictionary definitions for poling

Pole

1
noun
  1. a native, inhabitant, or citizen of Poland or a speaker of Polish

Pole

2
noun
  1. Reginald. 1500–58, English cardinal; last Roman Catholic archbishop of Canterbury (1556–58)

pole

1
noun
  1. a long slender usually round piece of wood, metal, or other material
  2. the piece of timber on each side of which a pair of carriage horses are hitched
  3. another name for rod (def. 7)
  4. horse racing, mainly US and Canadian
    1. the inside lane of a racecourse
    2. (as modifier)the pole position
    3. one of a number of markers placed at intervals of one sixteenth of a mile along the side of a racecourse
  5. nautical
    1. any light spar
    2. the part of a mast between the head and the attachment of the uppermost shrouds
  6. under bare poles nautical (of a sailing vessel) with no sails set
  7. up the pole British, Australian and NZ informal
    1. slightly mad
    2. mistaken; on the wrong track
verb
  1. (tr) to strike or push with a pole
  2. (tr)
    1. to set out (an area of land or garden) with poles
    2. to support (a crop, such as hops or beans) on poles
  3. (tr) to deoxidize (a molten metal, esp copper) by stirring it with green wood
  4. to punt (a boat)

Word Origin for pole

Old English pāl, from Latin pālus a stake, prop; see pale ²

pole

2
noun
  1. either of the two antipodal points where the earth's axis of rotation meets the earth's surfaceSee also North Pole, South Pole
  2. astronomy short for celestial pole
  3. physics
    1. either of the two regions at the extremities of a magnet to which the lines of force converge or from which they diverge
    2. either of two points or regions in a piece of material, system, etc, at which there are opposite electric charges, as at the two terminals of a battery
  4. maths an isolated singularity of an analytical function
  5. biology
    1. either end of the axis of a cell, spore, ovum, or similar body
    2. either end of the spindle formed during the metaphase of mitosis and meiosis
  6. physiol the point on a neuron from which the axon or dendrites project from the cell body
  7. either of two mutually exclusive or opposite actions, opinions, etc
  8. geometry the origin in a system of polar or spherical coordinates
  9. any fixed point of reference
  10. poles apart or poles asunder having widely divergent opinions, tastes, etc
  11. from pole to pole throughout the entire world

Word Origin for pole

C14: from Latin polus end of an axis, from Greek polos pivot, axis, pole; related to Greek kuklos circle
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for poling

pole

n.1

"stake," late Old English pal "stake, pole, post," a general Germanic borrowing (cf. Old Frisian and Old Saxon pal "stake," Middle Dutch pael, Dutch paal, Old High German pfal, Old Norse pall) from Latin palus "stake" (see pale (n.)).

Racing sense of "inside fence surrounding a course" is from 1851; pole position in auto racing attested from 1904. A ten-foot pole as a metaphoric measure of something one would not touch something (or someone) else with is by 1839, American English. The ten-foot pole was a common tool used to set stakes for fences, etc., and the phrase "Can't touch de bottom with a ten foot pole" is in the popular old minstrel show song "Camptown Races."

"I saw her eat."
"No very unnatural occurrence I should think."
"But she ate an onion!"
"Right my boy, right, never marry a woman who would touch an onion with a ten foot pole."
["The Collegian," University of Virginia, 1839]

pole

n.2

"ends of Earth's axis," late 14c., from Old French pole or directly from Latin polus "end of an axis;" also "the sky, the heavens" (a sense sometimes used in English from 16c.), from Greek polos "pivot, axis of a sphere, the sky," from PIE *kwolo- "turn round," from root *kwel- (see cycle (n.)).

Pole

n.

"inhabitant or native of Poland," 1650s, from German Pole, singular of Polen, from Polish Poljane "Poles," literally "field-dwellers," from pole "field," related to Old Church Slavonic polje "field," from PIE root *pele- (2) "flat, to spread" (see plane (n.1)).

pole

v.

"to furnish with poles," 1570s, from pole (n.1). Meaning "to push with a pole" is from 1753. Related: Poled; poling.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
poling in Medicine

pole

[pōl]
n.
  1. Either of the two points at the extremities of the axis of an organ or body.
  2. Either extremity of an axis through a sphere.
  3. Either of two oppositely charged terminals, as in an electric cell.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
poling in Science

pole

[pōl]
  1. Mathematics
    1. Either of the points at which an axis that passes through the center of a sphere intersects the surface of the sphere.
    2. The fixed point used as a reference in a system of polar coordinates. It corresponds to the origin in the Cartesian coordinate system.
    1. GeographyEither of the points at which the Earth's axis of rotation intersects the Earth's surface; the North Pole or South Pole.
    2. Either of the two similar points on another planet.
  3. Physics A magnetic pole.
  4. Electricity Either of two oppositely charged terminals, such as the two electrodes of an electrolytic cell or the electric terminals of a battery.
  5. Biology
    1. Either of the two points at the extremities of the axis of an organ or body.
    2. Either end of the spindle formed in a cell during mitosis.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with poling

pole

see low man on the totem pole; not touch with a ten-foot pole.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.