pole

Meaning

1. Originally, a stick; now specifically, a long and slender piece of metal or (especially) wood, used for various construction or support purposes.
2. A construction by which an animal is harnessed to a carriage.
3. 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) A telescope used to identify birds, aeroplanes or wildlife.
6. A unit of length, equal to a rod (¹⁄₄ chain or 5+¹⁄₂ yards).
7. Pole position.
8. (slang) A rifle.
9. (slang) A penis.

rod

long stick

polar regions

punt-pole

canoe pole

block of wood

electric pole

fishing pole

go ashore

omphalos

omphalus

tree stump

bamboo pole

violin neck

rheophore

wooden pole

litter shaft

polar area

perch1

nombril

barling

billot

timber stick

poles and towers

culminating point

upright bar

wire pole

cross-pole

stripperpole

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pəʊl/

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. Cognates Cognate with Scots pale, paill (“stake, pale”), North Frisian pul, pil (“stake, pale”), Saterland Frisian Pool (“pole”), West Frisian poal (“pole”), Dutch paal (“pole”), German Pfahl (“pile, stake, post, pole”), Danish pæl (“pole”), Swedish påle (“pole”), Icelandic páll (“hoe, spade, pale”), Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; lustrum”).