pole

n. [ As. pāl, L. palus, akin to pangere to make fast. Cf. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A measuring stick; also, a measure of length equal to 5&unr_; yards, or a square measure equal to 30&unr_; square yards; a rod; a perch. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pole bean (Bot.), any kind of bean which is customarily trained on poles, as the scarlet runner or the Lima bean. --
Pole flounder (Zool.), 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 (Naut.), a mast formed from a single piece or from a single tree. --
Pole of a lens (Opt.), the point where the principal axis meets the surface. --
Pole plate (Arch.), 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. polus, Gr. &unr_; a pivot or hinge on which anything turns, an axis, a pole; akin to &unr_; to move: cf. F. pôle. ] 1. Either extremity of an axis of a sphere; especially, one of the extremities of the earth's axis; as, the north pole. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The firmament; the sky. [ Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Shoots against the dusky pole. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Geom.) See Polarity, and Polar, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

Magnetic pole. See under Magnetic. --
Poles of the earth, or
Terrestrial poles (Geog.), 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. G. Pole a Pole, Polen Poland. ] A native or inhabitant of Poland; a Polander. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To fell with or as if with a poleax; -- often used figuratively; as, the entire department was poleaxed after the takeover. [ WordNet 1.5 + PJC ]

2. Stunned; astonished;; as, we couldn't speak, poleaxed by the sight in fronnt fo us. [ PJC ]

{ } n. [ OE. pollax; cf. OD. pollexe. See Poll head, and Ax. ] Anciently, a kind of battle-ax with a long handle; later, an ax or hatchet with a short handle, and a head variously patterned; -- used by soldiers, and also by sailors in boarding a vessel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Probably fr. F. poule hen, and originally, a poultry cat, because it feeds on poultry. See Poultry. ] (Zool.) (a) A small European carnivore of the Weasel family (Putorius fœtidus). Its scent glands secrete a substance of an exceedingly disagreeable odor. Called also fitchet, foulmart, and European ferret. (b) The zorilla. The name is also applied to other allied species. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Etymology uncertain. ] A sort of coarse canvas; poldway. [ Obs. ] Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a pole; as, a poleless chariot. [ 1913 Webster ]