Emily Dickinson Lexicon

POLL, v.t.

1. To lop the tops of trees. – Bacon.
2. To clip; to cut off the ends; to cut off hair or wool; to shear. The phrases, to poll the hair, and to poll the head, have been used. The latter is used in 2 Sam. xiv. 26. To poll a deed, is a phrase still used in law language. – Z. Swift.
3. To mow; to crop. [Not used.] Shak.
4. To peel; to strip; to plunder. [Obs.] – Bacon. Spenser.
5. To take a list or register of persons; to enter names in a list.
6. To enter one's name in a list or register. – Dryden.
7. To insert into a number as a voter. – Tickel.