Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Pole?

\Pole\, n. [Cf. G. Pole a Pole, Polen Poland.] A native or inhabitant of Poland; a Polander.
\Pole\, n. [As. p[=a]l, 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. 2. A measuring stick; also, a measure of length equal to 5? yards, or a square measure equal to 30? square yards; a rod; a perch. --Bacon. {Pole bean} (Bot.), any kind of bean which is customarily trained on poles, as the scarlet runner or the Lima bean. {Pole flounder} (Zo["o]l.), 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.
\Pole\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Poled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Poling}.] 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\, n. [L. polus, Gr. ? a pivot or hinge on which anything turns, an axis, a pole; akin to ? to move: cf. F. p[^o]le.] 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. --Milton. 5. (Geom.) See {Polarity}, and {Polar}, n. {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.