pole
/poʊl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.23 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Originally, a stick; now specifically, a long and slender piece of metal or (especially) wood, used for various construction or support purposes.
noun
A construction by which an animal is harnessed to a carriage.
noun
A type of basic fishing rod.
noun
A long sports implement used for pole-vaulting; now made of glassfiber or carbon fiber, formerly also metal, bamboo and wood have been used.
noun
Example Sentences
- "For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand."
- "There she was, walking around with an IV pole, and we were only told that "Mommy isn't feeling so well, so she has to be connected to a special soda.""
- "Only three cricketers have taken all 10 poles in a Test innings."
- "Huck Finn poled that raft southward down the Mississippi because going northward against the current was too much work."
- "He poled off the serial of the Gulfstream to confirm its identity."
- "to pole beans or hops"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-der. Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-slos Proto-Italic *pākslos Latin pālusbor. Proto-West Germanic *pālu Proto-West Germanic *pāl Old English pāl Middle English pole English poleFrom Middle English pole, pal, from Old English pāl (“a pole, stake, post; a kind of hoe or spade”), from Proto-West Germanic *pāl (“pole”), from Latin pālus (“stake, pale, prop, stay”), perhaps from Old Latin *paxlos, from Proto-Italic *pākslos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- (“to nail, fasten”). Doublet of peel, pale, and palus. Cognates Cognate with Scots pale, paill (“stake, pale”), North Frisian pul, pil (“stake, pale”), Saterland Frisian Pool (“pole”), West Frisian poal (“pole”), Dutch paal (“pole”), German Pfahl (“pile, stake, post, pole”), Danish pæl (“pole”), Swedish påle (“pole”), Icelandic páll (“hoe, spade, pale”), Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; lustrum”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /poʊl/
- British English: /pəʊl/
Usage
- Slang
- American usage
- Transitive verb
- Obsolete