Pole (p l)n. 1. A native or inhabitant of Poland. 2. A person of Polish descent. |
| Pole, Reginald 1500-1558. English prelate. The last Roman Catholic archbishop of Canterbury (1556), he was a leading figure in the Counter Reformation. |
| pole 1 (pl) n. 1. Either extremity of an axis through a sphere. 2. Either of the regions contiguous to the extremities of the earth's rotational axis, the North Pole or the South Pole. 3. Physics A magnetic pole. 4. Electricity Either of two oppositely charged terminals, as in an electric cell or battery. 5. Astronomy A celestial pole. 6. Biology a. Either extremity of the main axis of a nucleus, cell, or organism. b. Either end of the spindle formed in a cell during mitosis. c. The point on a nerve cell where a process originates. 7. Either of two antithetical ideas, propensities, forces, or positions: "the moral poles of modern medicine: on the one hand, a tinkering with procreation with at best ambiguous, at worst monstrous moral possibilities. On the other hand, scientific skill and cunning unambiguously in the service of hope" (Charles Krauthammer). 8. A fixed point of reference. 9. Mathematics The origin in a polar coordinate system; the vertex of a polar angle. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin polus, from Greek polos, axis, sky; see kwel-1 in Indo-European roots.] |
| pole 2 (pl) n. 1. A long, relatively slender, generally rounded piece of wood or other material. 2. The long tapering wooden shaft extending up from the front axle of a vehicle to the collars of the animals drawing it; a tongue. 3. a. See rod. b. A unit of area equal to a square rod. 4. Sports The inside position on the starting line of a racetrack: qualified in the time trials to start on the pole. v. poled, pol·ing, poles v.tr. 1. a. To propel with a pole: boatmen poling barges up a placid river. b. To propel (oneself) or make (one's way) by the use of ski poles: "We ski through the glades on corn snow, then pole our way over a long one-hour runout to a road" (Frederick Selby). 2. To support (plants) with a pole. 3. To strike, poke, or stir with a pole. v.intr. 1. To propel a boat or raft with a pole. 2. To use ski poles to maintain or gain speed. [Middle English, from Old English p  l, from Latin plus, stake; see pag- in Indo-European roots.] |
poles
- sedan chair - An enclosed chair carried on poles.
- oblate, prolate - Oblate means "flattened at the poles," and the opposite is prolate; the Earth is an oblate spheroid.
- tent - Comes from a Latin word for "stretch," as early tents were made from cloth or skins stretched on poles.
- running boards - Originally extended from bow to stern on canal boats—which men walked along, propelling the boats with poles.
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