Pole
Pole , noun
[Compare German Pole a Pole, Polen Poland.]
A native or inhabitant of Poland; a Polander.
Pole , noun
[As. pāl, Latin palus, akin to pangere to make fast. Compare Pale a stake, Pact.]
1.
A long, slender piece of wood; a tall, slender piece of timber; the stem of a small tree whose branches have been removed; as, specifically: (a) A carriage pole, a wooden bar extending from the front axle of a carriage between the wheel horses, by which the carriage is guided and held back. (b) A flag pole, a pole on which a flag is supported. (c) A Maypole. See Maypole. (d) A barber's pole, a pole painted in stripes, used as a sign by barbers and hairdressers. (e) A pole on which climbing beans, hops, or other vines, are trained.
2.
A measuring stick; also, a measure of length equal to 5{not transcribed} yards, or a square measure equal to 30{not transcribed} square yards; a rod; a perch. — Bacon
Collocations (6)
Pole bean (Botany) , any kind of bean which is customarily trained on poles, as the scarlet runner or the Lima bean.
Pole flounder (Zoology) , a large deep-water flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus), native of the northern coasts of Europe and America, and much esteemed as a food fish; -- called also craig flounder, and pole fluke.
Pole lathe , a simple form of lathe, or a substitute for a lathe, in which the work is turned by means of a cord passing around it, one end being fastened to the treadle, and the other to an elastic pole above.
Pole mast (Nautical) , a mast formed from a single piece or from a single tree.
Pole of a lens (Optics) , the point where the principal axis meets the surface.
Pole plate (Architecture) , a horizontal timber resting on the tiebeams of a roof and receiving the ends of the rafters. It differs from the plate in not resting on the wall.
Pole , transitive verb
1.
To furnish with poles for support; as, to pole beans or hops.
2.
To convey on poles; as, to pole hay into a barn.
3.
To impel by a pole or poles, as a boat.
4.
To stir, as molten glass, with a pole.
Pole , noun
[Latin polus, Greek {not transcribed} a pivot or hinge on which anything turns, an axis, a pole; akin to {not transcribed} to move: compare French pôle.]
1.
Either extremity of an axis of a sphere; especially, one of the extremities of the earth's axis; as, the north pole.
2.
(Spherics) A point upon the surface of a sphere equally distant from every part of the circumference of a great circle; or the point in which a diameter of the sphere perpendicular to the plane of such circle meets the surface. Such a point is called the pole of that circle; as, the pole of the horizon; the pole of the ecliptic; the pole of a given meridian.
3.
(Physics) One of the opposite or contrasted parts or directions in which a polar force is manifested; a point of maximum intensity of a force which has two such points, or which has polarity; as, the poles of a magnet; the north pole of a needle.
4.
The firmament; the sky. [Poetic]
Shoots against the dusky pole.
Collocations (3)
Magnetic pole , See under Magnetic.
Poles of the earth or Terrestrial poles (Geography) , the two opposite points on the earth's surface through which its axis passes.
Poles of the heavens or Celestial poles , the two opposite points in the celestial sphere which coincide with the earth's axis produced, and about which the heavens appear to revolve.