pole

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pəʊl/,
• (New Zealand, General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɐʉl/,
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /poʊl/, ,
  • (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl
• Homophones: Pole, poll

Etymology 1

From 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.

Noun

pole (plural poles)

1. Originally, a stick; now specifically, a long and slender piece of metal or (especially) wood, used for various construction or support purposes.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     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.

2. A construction by which an animal is harnessed to a carriage.

   Synonyms: carriage pole, beam, shaft, drawbar

   Meronyms: pole-guard, pole-hook, pole-hound, pole-pad, pole-pin, pole-pin-strap, pole-plate, pole-ring, pole-screen, pole-socket, pole-stop, pole-strap

3. (fishing) A type of basic fishing rod.
4. A long sports implement used for pole-vaulting; now made of glassfiber or carbon fiber, formerly also metal, bamboo and wood have been used.
5. (slang, spotting) A telescope used to identify birds, aeroplanes or wildlife.
6. (historical) A unit of length, equal to a rod (¹⁄₄ chain or 5+¹⁄₂ yards).
7. (motor racing) Pole position.
8. (US, African-American Vernacular, slang) A rifle.
9. (vulgar, slang) A penis.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:stick
• (unit of length): rod

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pole (third-person singular simple present poles, present participle poling, simple past and past participle poled)

1. To propel by pushing with poles, to push with a pole.

   Huck Finn poled that raft southward down the Mississippi because going northward against the current was too much work.

2. To identify something quite precisely using a telescope.

   He poled off the serial of the Gulfstream to confirm its identity.

3. (transitive) To furnish with poles for support.

   to pole beans or hops

4. (transitive) To convey on poles.

   to pole hay into a barn

5. (transitive) To stir, as molten glass, with a pole.
6. (transitive, baseball) To strike (the ball) very hard.
   • 2007, Tony Silvia, Baseball Over the Air:

     Long had poled the ball into the lower deck in right center.

7. (transitive, metallurgy) To treat (copper) by blowing natural gas or other reducing agent through the molten oxide, burning off the oxygen.

   to pole copper

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle French pole, pôle, from Latin polus, from Ancient Greek πόλος (pólos, “axis of rotation”).

Noun

pole (plural poles)

1. Either of the two points on the earth's surface around which it rotates; also, similar points on any other rotating object.
2. A point of magnetic focus, especially each of the two opposing such points of a magnet (designated north and south).
3. (geometry) A fixed point relative to other points or lines.
5. (electricity) A contact on an electrical device (such as a battery) at which electric current enters or leaves.
6. (complex analysis) For a meromorphic function ${\displaystyle f(z)}$, any point ${\displaystyle a}$ for which ${\displaystyle f(z)\rightarrow \infty }$ as ${\displaystyle z\rightarrow a}$.

   The function ${\displaystyle f(z)={\frac {1}{z-3}}}$ has a single pole at ${\displaystyle z=3}$.

7. (obsolete) The firmament; the sky.
   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: , London: [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, , published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus:  (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:

     And the slope sun his upward beam / Shoots against the dusky pole,

     page 211

8. Either of the states that characterize a bipolar disorder.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "complex analysis"): zero

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pole (third-person singular simple present poles, present participle poling, simple past and past participle poled)

1. (transitive) To induce piezoelectricity in (a substance) by aligning the dipoles.

Anagrams

• LEPO, lope, olpe, pleo-

Aiwoo

Verb

pole

1. to work (in a garden or field)

References

• Ross, M. & Næss, Å. (2007) “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 46, number 2. Cited in: "Äiwoo" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

Alemannic German

Etymology

From Middle High German boln.

Verb

pole

1. (Uri) to make noise, clatter, rumble

References

• Abegg, Emil, (1911) Die Mundart von Urseren (Beiträge zur Schweizerdeutschen Grammatik. IV.) , Frauenfeld, Switzerland: Huber & Co., page 35.

Czech

Czech Wikipedia has an article on:

pole

Wikipedia ^cs

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech pole, from Proto-Slavic *poľe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• audio

  (file)

Noun

pole n

1. (agriculture) field
2. (physics) field
3. (algebra) field

   Synonym: komutativní těleso

4. (computing) field
5. (programming) array

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• pole in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• pole in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
• pole in Internetová jazyková příručka

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adverb

pole

1. in Polish

Estonian

Etymology

Contraction of ep ole (Modern: ei ole). ep is the old 3rd person singular form of the negative verb.

Verb

pole

1. Alternative form of ei ole

Galician

Etymology 1

From Latin pollen.

Noun

pole m (plural poles)

1. pollen
2. (motor racing) pole position

Synonyms

• primeira posición

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

pole

1. third-person singular present indicative of pulir

Latin

Noun

pole

1. vocative singular of polus

References

• pole in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “pole”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Masurian

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish pole.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Syllabification: po‧le

Noun

pole n

1. field (land for cultivation)
2. field (plot of separated land)
3. field (area outside a village)
4. battlefield

Further reading

• Zofia Stamirowska (1987-2021) “pole”, in Anna Basara, editor, Słownik gwar Ostródzkiego, Warmii i Mazur‎, volume 6, Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, →ISBN, page 204

Middle English

Alternative forms

• pol, poll, pall, paal

Etymology

From Old English pāl, from Latin pālus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔːl/, /pɔl/

Noun

pole (plural poles)

1. pole, stake, staff

Descendants

• English: pole
• Scots: pale, pall
• Yola: pulmere

References

• “pōl(e, n.²”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old Czech

Alternative forms

• poľe (alternative writing)

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *pȍľe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈpolɛ/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈpolɛ/

Noun

pole n

1. field (land area; wide open space)

   polem / na poli ― outside

   přěs pole přějěti/jězditi ― to have sex

2. plain
3. battlefield, battleground

   polem / v poli ležěti ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• Czech: pole

Further reading

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916) “pole”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *pȍľe. First attested in 1250.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /pɔlʲɛ/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /pɔlʲɛ/

Noun

pole n (related adjective polny)

1. field (arable land)
   • 1930 [Fifteenth century], “Ex”, in Ludwik Bernacki, editor, Biblia królowej Zofii (Biblia szaroszpatacka)‎, 9, 25:

     Zbyl gest grad we wszey szemy egipskyey wszitko, czsosz bilo na polyech (in agris)

     [Zbił jest grad we wszej ziemi ejipskiej wszytko, csoż było na polech (in agris)]

   • 1962 [c. 1420], Stanisław Urbańczyk, editor, Wokabularz trydencki‎, number 7:

     Rus pole, inde rusticus

     [Rus pole, inde rusticus]

2. (figuratively) crops from a field
   • 1415, O zachowaniu się przy stole‎, line 4:

     Sgarne na szø wszytko pole, ... czszole szø na niwe swøze, tho wszytko na stole løsze

     [Zgarnie na się wszytko pole, ... csole się na niwie swięże, to wszytko na stole lęże]

3. field (open land)
   • 1930 [Fifteenth century], “Gen”, in Ludwik Bernacki, editor, Biblia królowej Zofii (Biblia szaroszpatacka)‎, 4, 8:

     A gdisz na polu (in agro) bilasta, podnosl szø Kayn ku Ablowy

     [A gdyż na polu (in agro) byłasta, podniosł się Kain ku Ablowi]

   • 1962-1975 [1439], Stanisław Kuraś, Irena Sułkowska-Kuraś, editors, Zbiór dokumentów małopolskich [A collection of documents from Lesser Poland]‎, volume II, page 311:

     Quia ex recognicione fratrum predictorum... cessit castrum Bankowecz cum villis..., item in campo al. w polyu ville Gebolthow, et utraque Cowalicow, Maloschow... de his fratri predicto iuniori cesserunt

     [Quia ex recognicione fratrum predictorum... cessit castrum Bąkowiec cum villis..., item in campo al. w polu ville Giebołtow, et utraque Kowalikow, Małoszow... de his fratri predicto iuniori cesserunt]

   • 1939 [end of the 14th century], Ryszard Ganszyniec, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Kubica, Ludwik Bernacki, editors, Psałterz florjański łacińsko-polsko-niemiecki [Latin-Polish-German Florian Psalter]‎, Zakład Narodowy imienia Ossolińskich, z zasiłkiem Sejmu Śląskiego [The Ossoliński National Institute: with the benefit of the Silesian Parliament], pages 131, 6:

     Naleszly gesmy gy w polech (in campis) lassa

     [Naleźli jeśmy ji w polech (in campis) lasa]

   • 1939 [end of the 14th century], Ryszard Ganszyniec, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Kubica, Ludwik Bernacki, editors, Psałterz florjański łacińsko-polsko-niemiecki [Latin-Polish-German Florian Psalter]‎, Zakład Narodowy imienia Ossolińskich, z zasiłkiem Sejmu Śląskiego [The Ossoliński National Institute: with the benefit of the Silesian Parliament], pages 103, 12:

     Pycz bødzye wszytek zwyerz pola (agri)

     [Pić będzie wszytek źwierz pola (agri)]

4. campsite; battlefield
   • 1895 [1448–1450], Franciszek Piekosiński, editor, Tłumaczenia polskie statutów ziemskich, Kodeks Świętosławów, page 15:

     Gydączy na woyną na ląnkach any we wszi staacz mayą, yano na polyv (nisi in campo)

     [Jidący na wojnę na łąkach ani we wsi stać mają, jano na polu (nisi in campo)]

5. outside (area not in a building)
   • Middle of the 15th century, Rozmyślanie o żywocie Pana Jezusa‎, page 132:

     Vyschly na polye (ad campum), nalyezly Yesvsa chodzącz y tam, y szam

     [Wyszli na pole i naleźli Jesusa chodząc i tam i sam]

6. (heraldry) background
   • 1856-1870 [1455], Antoni Zygmunt Helcel, editor, Starodawne Prawa Polskiego Pomniki, volume VII, number 610:

     Niccolaus post awam suam est de sangwine et armis ipsorum dictis Stanczowye, proclamacio autem ipsorum Nabra, deferentes in clipeo tres lineas vlg. trzy *polye in longitudine clipei

     [Niccolaus post awam suam est de sangwine et armis ipsorum dictis Stańcowie, proclamacio autem ipsorum Nabra, deferentes in clipeo tres lineas vlg. trzy pola in longitudine clipei5]

7. corruption of opole
   • 1840 [1252], Edward Raczyński, editor, Kodex dyplomatyczny Wielkiej Polski zawierający bulle papieżów, nadania książąt, przywileje miast, klasztorów i wsi, wraz z innemi podobnej treści dyplomatami tyczącemi się historyi tej prowincyi od roku 1136 do roku 1597‎, page 257:

     Dedimus omnimodam libertatem... a podworowe, ab pole, a bove et vacca annuali

     [Dedimus omnimodam libertatem... a podworowe, ab pole, a bove et vacca annuali]

Derived terms

Descendants

• Masurian: pole
• Polish: pole
• Silesian: pole

References

• Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “pole”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN
• Mańczak, Witold (2017) “pole”, in Polski słownik etymologiczny (in Polish), Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejętności, →ISBN
• Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “pole”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, editor (2011–2015), “pole”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

pole

Wikipedia ^pl

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔ.lɛ/
• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔ.lɛ/

• Audio 1

  (file)

• Audio 2

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔlɛ
• Syllabification: po‧le
• Homophones: Pole, Polę

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Polish pole. Doublet of polje.

Noun

pole n (diminutive pólko or poletko, related adjective polny)

1. (countable, agriculture) field (land for cultivation)

   Synonyms: łan, niwa

2. (countable) field (land designated for some activity)
3. field (area characterized by some activity, i.e. battle)

   Synonym: teren

4. (uncountable, Kraków) outside (area not inside a building)

   Synonym: (Warsaw) dwór

5. (countable, sports) field. ground, pitch
6. (countable) field (part of some surface)
7. (countable) field (extent of someone's interest or activities)

   Synonym: dziedzina

8. (uncountable) field (freedom of action or choice)

   Synonym: możliwość

9. (countable, physics) field (physical phenomenon (such as force, potential or fluid velocity) that pervades a region)
10. (uncountable, mathematics) field (number that expresses the area of a given geometric figure in square units)

    Synonym: powierzchnia

11. (computing) field (area of memory or storage reserved for a particular value, subject to virtual access controls)
12. (obsolete) background (part of an image that is not the main part)
13. (obsolete, anatomy) group of nerve cells located close to each other in the central nervous system and performing the same function
14. (obsolete, hunting) hunting ground

    Synonym: łowisko

15. (obsolete) measure of land
16. (Middle Polish, chess) field (area on a chessboard)
17. (Middle Polish) The meaning of this term is uncertain.
    • 1564, J. Mączyński, Lexicon‎, page 9a:

      Fortuna anatina et anataria, Szcżeśćie ná kácze pole.

Declension

Derived terms

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), pole is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 40 times in scientific texts, 6 times in news, 17 times in essays, 28 times in fiction, and 17 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 108 times, making it the 581st most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

pole f

1. dative/locative singular of poła

References

Further reading

• pole in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• pole in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “pole”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• Dorota Adamiec (25.03.2019) “POLE”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “pole”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “pole”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861‎
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900–1927), chapter 525, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warsaw, page 4

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

pole (Cyrillic spelling поле)

1. vocative singular of pol

Silesian

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish pole.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔlɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɔlɛ
• Syllabification: po‧le

Noun

pole n (related adjective polny)

1. field (open earth, especially for cultivation)
2. (computing) field (area of memory or storage reserved for a particular value, subject to virtual access controls)

Declension

Further reading

• pole in dykcjonorz.eu
• pole in silling.org

Slovak

Slovak Wikipedia has an article on:

pole

Wikipedia ^sk

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *poľe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

pole n

1. field

Declension

Derived terms

• poľný

Further reading

• Peciar, Štefan, editor (1959–1968), “pole”, in Slovník slovenského jazyka [Dictionary of the Slovak Language] (in Slovak), volumes 1–6 (A – Ž; Doplnky, Dodatky), Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo SAV, →OCLC
• “pole”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Spanish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English pole position.

Noun

pole m (plural poles)

1. (motor racing) pole position

   Synonym: primera posición

Etymology 2

Verb

pole

1. inflection of polir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Interjection

pole (plural poleni)

1. sorry

See also

• samahani

Adjective

-pole (declinable)

1. calm, gentle

Declension

Derived terms

• Nominal derivations:
  • upole (“gentleness”)