polling Definition

poll
noun

1. A political election.

Example: another Tory disaster at the polls
Form: polls
2. The voting or votes cast at an election.

Example: a heavy poll
Thesaurus: ballot, returns, vote, voting,plebiscite.
3. A survey of public opinion carried out by directly questioning a representative sample of the populace.

Thesaurus: survey, sampling, canvass.
Form: opinion poll (also)
4. old use
The head.

verb polled, polling

1. To win (a number of votes) in an election.

Example: He polled three votes at the by-election and lost his deposit
2. To register the votes of (a population).
tr & intr
3. To cast (one's vote).
4. To conduct an opinion poll among (people, a specified group, etc).

Example: We polled 300 voters to find out their favourite coffee
5. To cut off the horns of (cattle).
6. To cut the top off (a tree).

Etymology: 13c as polle, meaning ‘the hair of the head'.