Main Entry: pole
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: post
Synonyms: bar, beam, extremity, flagpole, flagstaff, leg, mast, pile, plank, rod, shaft, spar, staff, stake, standard, stave, stick, stilt, stud, terminus
Main Entry: pole position
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: advantageous position
Synonyms: first chair, front position, front seat, inside position, lead, pole, starting grid
pole1 /poʊl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[pohl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, poled, pol‧ing.
–noun 1. a long, cylindrical, often slender piece of wood, metal, etc.: a telephone pole; a fishing pole.
2. Northeastern U.S.. a long, tapering piece of wood or other material that extends from the front axle of a vehicle between the animals drawing it.
3. Nautical. a. a light spar.
b. that part of a mast between the uppermost standing rigging and the truck.
4. the lane of a racetrack nearest to the infield; the inside lane. Compare post1 (def. 5).
5. a unit of length equal to 161/2 feet (5 m); a rod.
6. a square rod, 301/4 square yards (25.3 sq. m).
–verb (used with object) 7. to furnish with poles.
8. to push, strike, or propel with a pole: to pole a raft.
9. Baseball. to make (an extra-base hit) by batting the ball hard and far: He poled a triple to deep right-center.
10. Metallurgy. to stir (molten metal, as copper, tin, or zinc) with poles of green wood so as to produce carbon, which reacts with the oxygen present to effect deoxidation.
–verb (used without object) 11. to propel a boat, raft, etc., with a pole: to pole down the river.
—Idiom 12. under bare poles, a. Nautical. (of a sailing ship) with no sails set, as during a violent storm.
b. stripped; naked; destitute: The thugs robbed him and left him under bare poles.
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[Origin: bef. 1050; ME; OE pāl < L pālus stake. See pale2]
—Related forms
poleless, adjective
pole2 /poʊl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[pohl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. each of the extremities of the axis of the earth or of any spherical body.
2. Astronomy. celestial pole.
3. one of two opposite or contrasted principles or tendencies: His behavior ranges between the poles of restraint and abandon.
4. a point of concentration of interest, attention, etc.: The beautiful actress was the pole of everyone's curiosity.
5. Electricity, Magnetism. either of the two regions or parts of an electric battery, magnet, or the like, that exhibits electrical or magnetic polarity.
6. Cell Biology. a. either end of an ideal axis in a nucleus, cell, or ovum, about which parts are more or less symmetrically arranged.
b. either end of a spindle-shaped figure formed in a cell during mitosis.
c. the place at which a cell extension or process begins, as a nerve cell axon or a flagellum.
7. Mathematics. a. a singular point at which a given function of a complex variable can be expanded in a Laurent series beginning with a specified finite, negative power of the variable.
b. origin (def. 6b).
8. Crystallography. a line perpendicular to a crystal face and passing through the crystal center.
—Idiom 9. poles apart or asunder, having widely divergent or completely opposite attitudes, interests, etc.: In education and background they were poles apart.
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[Origin: 1350–1400; ME < L polus < Gk pólos pivot, axis, pole]
Pole /poʊl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[pohl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun a native or inhabitant of Poland.
Main Entry: utility pole
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: post that holds utility lines
Synonyms: telegraph pole, telephone pole
Main Entry: Arctic region
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: polar region
Synonyms: Arctic, Arctic Ocean, Artic Circle, North Pole
Main Entry: axis
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: stem
Synonyms: arbor, axle, hinge, pivot, pole, shaft, spindle, stalk, stem, support, turning point
Main Entry: axle
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: shaft
Synonyms: arbor, axis, gudgeon, mandrel, pin, pivot, pole, rod, shaft, spindle, stalk, stem, support