Pole Definition

pōl

poled, poles, poling

noun

poles

Either extremity of an axis through a sphere.

American Heritage Medicine

Either of the regions contiguous to the extremities of the earth's rotational axis, the North Pole or the South Pole.

American Heritage

Either extremity of the main axis of a nucleus, cell, or organism.

American Heritage Medicine

Either end of any axis, as of the earth, of the celestial sphere, or of a mitotic spindle during cell division.

Webster's New World

Either of two opposed or differentiated forces, parts, or principles, such as the ends of a magnet, the terminals of a battery, motor, or dynamo, or two extremes of opinion.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

poled, poles, poling

To propel with a pole.

Boatmen poling barges up a placid river.

American Heritage

To propel (oneself) or make (one's way) by the use of ski poles.

American Heritage

To manipulate, impel, support, etc. with or as with a pole.

Webster's New World

To push along (a boat or raft) with a pole.

Webster's New World

To strike, poke, or stir with a pole.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
punt

idiom

under bare poles

with all sails furled because of high winds

Webster's New World

poles apart

widely separated; having opposite natures, opinions, etc.; at opposite extremes

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Pole

Noun

Singular:

pole

Plural:

poles

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Pole

under bare poles
poles apart

Origin of Pole

From Middle English pole, pal, from Old English pāl (“a pole, stake, post; a kind of hoe or spade"), from Proto-Germanic *palaz, *pālaz (“pole"), from Latin pālus (“stake, pale, prop, stay") from Old Latin *paglus, from Proto-Indo-European *pāǵe- (“to nail, fasten"). Cognate with Scots pale, paill (“stake, pale"), North Frisian pul, pil (“stake, pale"), West Frisian poal (“pole"), Dutch paal (“pole"), German Pfahl (“pile, stake, post, pole"), Danish pæl (“pole"), Swedish pÃ¥le (“pole"), Icelandic páll (“hoe, spade, pale"), Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; lustrum").

From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old French from Latin polus from Greek polos axis, sky kwel-¹ in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From Middle French pole, pôle, and its source, Latin polus, from Ancient Greek πόλος (polos, “axis of rotation").

From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English pāl from Latin pālus stake pag- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From German Pole.

From Wiktionary